I received this Dovo Prima Silver for Christmas and I have tried everything to sharpen it. I am finishing on a Shapton 12k and I've been practicing for 6 months on a Gold Dollar. I am not able to get the Dovo to shave smoothly, it tugs, the hairs on my arm don't "pop", and I was at my wits end until I noticed the spine wear near the stabilizer. There is a high spot on the spine at that point and you can see how it is lifting the blade up, the wear at that point tapers out because the spine is being lifted off the stone. It feels terible when I try to run the stone anywhere near the heel. I don't think its me, I think the blade is malformed. Thoughts?
Is this Dovo Prima Silver malformed?
- Thread starter Dave Hill
- Start date
rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
That change in the spine wear just near the stabiliser should not be affecting the shave quality, unless possibly you only shave with the heel of the blade.
What is your honing progression with the Dovo blade? How did you determine that the bevel on the Dovo was properly set? Are you able to shave comfortably with the GD?
My guess is that maybe the Dovo blade's bevel has not been properly set.
What is your honing progression with the Dovo blade? How did you determine that the bevel on the Dovo was properly set? Are you able to shave comfortably with the GD?
My guess is that maybe the Dovo blade's bevel has not been properly set.
- Thread starter
- #3
You are probably correct. I thought at first it came from the factory properly set and I didn't want to wear the spine more than needed and just used the 12k. When that didn't work I put it on a cheap amazon 8k for several dozen strokes and back to the 12k. It really feels terrible honing near the heel and I plan to tape the blade and toe and try to flatten out that part of the spine by the shank. Then I'll take the tape off and do a proper bevel set per Dr Matt. Thanks.
rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
It is very rare for a Dovo to come from the factory with a properly set bevel.
Whenever I get a new or used SR, the first thing I do is a sharpie test on the bevel to see how it was previously honed. Only once (out of over 70) have I received a SR with factory edge that was shave-ready. The honer must have had an off day
. That happened to be a Titan ACRO T.H-70, my tenth purchase of one of those SRs.
Whenever I get a new or used SR, the first thing I do is a sharpie test on the bevel to see how it was previously honed. Only once (out of over 70) have I received a SR with factory edge that was shave-ready. The honer must have had an off day
. That happened to be a Titan ACRO T.H-70, my tenth purchase of one of those SRs.You can correct this high spot, or you can use a x stroke starting with the heel leading. By doing that this high spot wil not be on the stone.
All the Dovo razors I have came with a set bevel. They usually never needed much work.
My Boker razors have also come with high spots close to the transition to the tang.
I have followed Dr Matt's correction video when I was new to SR honing. I wish someone would have advised me not to do this.
There is nothing wrong with the razor as it is.
All the Dovo razors I have came with a set bevel. They usually never needed much work.
My Boker razors have also come with high spots close to the transition to the tang.
I have followed Dr Matt's correction video when I was new to SR honing. I wish someone would have advised me not to do this.
There is nothing wrong with the razor as it is.
I have 3 Dovo's in my collection and they all needed work before I could hone them.
Stabilizers being too thick and not even close to a proper bevel set. One of them was so badly ground that the toe on one side had never touched even the factory stone. Id recommend that you stop watching dr. Matt and learn to hone. I say this because the first step in learning to hone is checking the bevel. You just assumed it had a bevel. Get out the sharpie and start from step one. I will leave it at that. Sorry.
Stabilizers being too thick and not even close to a proper bevel set. One of them was so badly ground that the toe on one side had never touched even the factory stone. Id recommend that you stop watching dr. Matt and learn to hone. I say this because the first step in learning to hone is checking the bevel. You just assumed it had a bevel. Get out the sharpie and start from step one. I will leave it at that. Sorry.
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If you bought the razor as shave-ready from a seller like GSG, Maggard, The Superior Shave or The Invisible Shave, I would contact them. Otherwise, I would send the razor to @Doc226 for expert honing.
Not sure how much honing experience you have and I realize the razor is not crazy expensive, but I would not learn to hone on a new razor (other than a GD). For learning, get a GD and a couple of beaters from eBay.
Not sure how much honing experience you have and I realize the razor is not crazy expensive, but I would not learn to hone on a new razor (other than a GD). For learning, get a GD and a couple of beaters from eBay.
You pay shipping I'll hone that razor.
“ It really feels terrible honing near the heel and I plan to tape the blade and toe and try to flatten out that part of the spine by the shank. Then I'll take the tape off and do a proper bevel set per Dr Matt.”
No, don’t do that.
First post a photo of both sides of the blade for better advice.
Yes, the taper at the spine where it meets the stabilizer can alter the bevel angle, and on some razors dramatically, but yours is very slight and should not affect the bevel angle much, and your bevels appear even.
These razors are factory honed with the spine off the stone, so the bevel angle is completely different from the angle honed with the spine on the stone.
First Ink the bevel with a sharpie and do a single lap on the 12k with the spine taped with scotch or packing tape, thin tape. Scotch tape is good enough for a single lap.
Now look at the bevel and see where ink is removed, are you removing ink all the way to the edged and off the whole bevel?
As asked, how are the shaves off the Gold Dollar?
No, don’t do that.
First post a photo of both sides of the blade for better advice.
Yes, the taper at the spine where it meets the stabilizer can alter the bevel angle, and on some razors dramatically, but yours is very slight and should not affect the bevel angle much, and your bevels appear even.
These razors are factory honed with the spine off the stone, so the bevel angle is completely different from the angle honed with the spine on the stone.
First Ink the bevel with a sharpie and do a single lap on the 12k with the spine taped with scotch or packing tape, thin tape. Scotch tape is good enough for a single lap.
Now look at the bevel and see where ink is removed, are you removing ink all the way to the edged and off the whole bevel?
As asked, how are the shaves off the Gold Dollar?
The 'meat' of the stabilizer continues forward toward the toe a little bit. This causes the steel by the heel to be 'thciker' where the bevel/edge meets the stabilizer area. That pushes the cutting edge forward a tiny bit.
It's a very common thing, razors are ground by hand and people being people are not always perfect in all their affairs. Most of the time you can find discrepancies in the grind between both sides of almost any stabilizer.
So if you are trying to hone 'head on' - you will run into the 'lift' and terrible feeling you are describing.
99.999% of the time, the perceived issue is alleviated by using heel forward strokes.
Employing extreme gymnastics and tactics will mostly likely result in making things worse.
Trying to grind the spine 'flat' will probably result in more geometry issues.
It's a very common thing, razors are ground by hand and people being people are not always perfect in all their affairs. Most of the time you can find discrepancies in the grind between both sides of almost any stabilizer.
So if you are trying to hone 'head on' - you will run into the 'lift' and terrible feeling you are describing.
99.999% of the time, the perceived issue is alleviated by using heel forward strokes.
Employing extreme gymnastics and tactics will mostly likely result in making things worse.
Trying to grind the spine 'flat' will probably result in more geometry issues.
- Thread starter
- #11
Thanks guys, that did the trick. My expectations for a good quality Dovo exceeded reality and I had not been prepared to be that aggressive with it. My preference is to alternate a bit with the heel and then with the toe first and the high spot was seriously throwing off my technique. I am extremly happy with how it glides now that the area near the tang is flat and even with the rest of the spine. Additionally I used a marker and ground it on the cheap 8k till the bevel set was perfect, then took it to the shapton 12k under running water until it was perfect. I paddle stroped it with light but firm pressure 20 times on the rough side of the paddle with coarse compound and 50 times on the smooth side with the fine compound. The shave was vastly better than anything I've gotten out of that blade yet. I do not have experience shaving with anything better so I'm not yet sure where the upper limit is, it's a little rougher than a shavette but I believe that is expected? Still applying a little pressure to get the whiskers off but they all came off smoothly, even the chin area, and left a good shave. Thanks!
It should be able to cut your whiskers with just the weight of the blade. If you are having to apply pressure then maybe the bevel either needs a little more work? Also, how coarse is the coarse compound and the fine compound? The reason I ask is that with a coarse compound, you could be taking the edge backwards from the 12k?
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