[CBMC]

I bought a straight razor several months ago. Shaved great for a while, I realized that I was ready to hone my Dovo. The problem I have is that it seems that this Dovo wasn't laying flat on the hone. It seems the blade is slightly lifted towards the middle. I tried sharpening the razor, the heel and tip ended up real sharp, no problem passing the hanging hair off a 12k chineese stone. I have heard warped razors are fairly common, where my problem comes in is that this is a brand new $90 Dovo razor. It came presharpened, so whoever sharpened it must of componsated for the warp. I have shaved several razors (ebay specials) and have been able to get them shave ready, I am having real trouble with this one. My question is, what should I do. I purchased the razor from classicshaving. Should I contact them and ask for a replacement. Should I try a rolling x pattern to sharpen it? Like I said, if I had spend $15 on ebay this would be no big deal, but this is a brand new Dovo razor. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Seraphim]

Send it back!

I recently recieved not one, not two, but three, yes three brandy new Dovos, and they all exhibited the exact same problem you have described. Recieved the first one, sent it back, second one, same thing. And finally, #3 was exactly the same.

Exact same curvature on all three. The side of the razor that did not have the gold wash/etching on it made contact only at the toe and heel, the middle of the blade did not/could not make contact. See attached pic. I simply put some marker on the edge, and gave it a quick trip across my hone. You can plainly see that it is quite curved.

The vendor was very supportive, but we both called it quits after three unsuccesful attempts.

Yes, I'm sure that with some sort of honing contortions you can get it sharp, but that is not how things are supposed to be.

You don't buy a brand new TV and expect to have to wrap some tinfoil around the antennae to get good reception (OK, maybe not the best analogy..)

I also wrote a couple of emails to Dovo directly. I encourage you to do likewise.

I read recently that production of straight razors is up 7 times over the last 4 years. Unless they start to recieve direct feedback that they are shipping out unacceptable product, they will continue to churn out mediocre stuff to a mostly uninformed public.

[Chris L]

I had a TI Super Gnome that exhibited the same issues so closely to your pictured DOVO that it could have replaced your razor in the picture (marker test, middle not making contact, etc). I did send my razor back, not to Classic where I bought it, but directly to TI in France. approx six months later I did receive a new razor replacement from TI. It's not perfect, but does not have nearly the issues the other one did.

One issue may be that the manufacturers seemingly are under the illusion that their razors ARE "shave ready". Look at both the TI and the Dovo video, in each, someone is rapidly honing the razors. I would assume that THEY assume that once received by the buyer, they buyer is only stropping and shaving with their blades rather than taking them to the hones for a proper edge. The woman in the Dovo video that's honing the razors looks like she's taking something just shy of a black licorice stick to perform an HHT! If it severs those logs in half, it must be shave ready.

Chris L

[Seraphim]

Dovo also "offered" to have me ship the razor back to them so they could take a look at it.


I told them that I was not interested in having to pay for my brand new razor to be shipped internationally and then wait who knows how long for it to make it back to me...I told them I was returning the razor to the vendor and that they needed to address the quality control issues at the point of manufacture.

Why should a customer have to go through all that?

I figured that I let the manufacturer know there was a problem. I clearly detailed it for them, pics, descriptions, etc. Ialso sent the product back to the vendor. I would hope that a vendor who starts to get a lot of returns on a product can then also bring a little heat on the manufacturer to do a better job....


I have a Dovo Renaissance, and that razor was perfect. I honed it up in like 5 minutes to the sharpest of any of my razors to that point. I was so impressed with Dovo at that point.

One random razor with an issue, i can understand that.
After three razors all of which exhibit the exact same curvature, I realize that there is a manufacturing problem.

I'll spend my money elsewhere.

[CBMC]

Thanks for all the replies. I just e-mailed classicshaving. I didn't even perform the magic marker test, It was just obvious when I layed it on a hone. I am pretty new at this so I was starting to get real frustrated, I couldn't get a uniform sharp edge on it. (thought I was doing something wrong) Finally, I looked at the razor and I thought, how is this going to get sharpened when the middle is not even contacting the hone. Hope classicshaving is cooperative.

[Seraphim]

Please also email Dovo, so they can hopefully fix the issues for future razors!

[CBMC]

Originally Posted by Seraphim

Please also email Dovo, so they can hopefully fix the issues for future razors!

Will do that too.

I performed the magic marker test...Verified with visual evidence the warp.

[Seraphim]

Send that pic to Dovo too (I did)

It is the same side problem as my blade. There is definitely a production error.

[CBMC]

Originally Posted by Seraphim

Send that pic to Dovo too (I did)

It is the same side problem as my blade. There is definitely a production error.

I sent it to dovostahlw@aol.com .

Is this the correct address?

[AusTexShaver]

Add me to the list. Brand new Dovo special tortoise 5/8.

Funny thing is though on mine it doesn't look like the blade is warped as the etched side takes a perfect bevel. It's more like the other side spine is wider on the ends or something.

I too will be contacting the vendor and sending Dovo a nastygram but I have a question for the honemeisters about this problem in case it comes up with an Ebay special.

Could this be corrected by using the marker and just honing the one bad side on say a 2k stone until it starts making contact with the blade...thus correcting the problem with the spine...and then doing a normal hone ritual?

[Seraphim]

I just bought an EBay Dovo #41 blade (the same one as I had the problems with...) it was listed as having been purchased in 2000. So I figured back then Dovo perhaps gave a hoot about their product.


Yup, just gave it the marker test, and it is nice and straight...


The way it should be!

[CBMC]

Originally Posted by Seraphim

I just bought an EBay Dovo #41 blade (the same one as I had the problems with...) it was listed as having been purchased in 2000. So I figured back then Dovo perhaps gave a hoot about their product.


Yup, just gave it the marker test, and it is nice and straight...


The way it should be!

Mine just wouldn't take a uniform edge because it was so warped. It really is a shame that Dovo's manufacturing has went so down hill. I have bought 5 razors on ebay that were manufactured long ago and probably have not been taken the best care of and only one is really Unshavable because of extreme hone wear.

I sent Dovo and here is the reply they gave me:

Thank you very much for your email. Please be so kind as to return the razor to Classic Shaving, I will contact them to have the razor returned to the factory, so we can examine the problem.


Unfortunately, I don't want to wait for the razor to be returned to Dovo in Germany when I know that it is a manufacturing defect and there is nothing that can be done about it. Hopefully Classic Shaving will send me out another one, and hopefully it won't display the same problem.


I am still waiting to here back from classic shaving. Are they good to deal with or can I expect having all sorts of problems with this return?

[English]

Hey Guys, stop and hold fire for a minute,

If you won't send it back to DOVO, you don't have a leg to stand on. DOVO need to see the problem to respond. Common sense.

Think about it.

The truth is that the distributor who sold it to you should offer this service and offer a replacement. The postal problem is the distributors , not yours. They sold you the razor, not DOVO and they need to own up. Not only this, if the razor was pre sharpened by the distributor, they are responsible for the edge you received and not DOVO.

If the distributor won't do this, then that distributor is not reputable. If that is the case please tell us that fact so we can make sure we don't purchase from them in the future.

Speak directly to the people who sold you the razor and let them do the job for which they are paid by both you and DOVO.

But if you meddled with the razor, it's your fault and be prepared if this is the case. We who deal with razors on a daily basis know when someone has been meddling. Believe me, it's not difficult to tell.

Neither is it difficult for DOVO to tell.

[Chris L]

I sympathize with your experience completely since I did have the same problem with a new TI and sent it back to France. However, and I hope others chime in on this, but a perfectly ground razor which lays flat on the hone on both sides of the blade is an ideal that I'm sad to say IME is rarely seen on new and also on vintage razors. Some are worse than others, but rarely have I owned a new or vintage razor that had marker disappear evenly and completely within a few strokes on each side of the blade. It SHOULD happen that way, but no way have I experienced that. It's the exception and not the rule it should be. Each razor really is different in what it needs on the hone.

Chris L

[CBMC]

Originally Posted by Chris L

I sympathize with your experience completely since I did have the same problem with a new TI and sent it back to France. However, and I hope others chime in on this, but a perfectly ground razor which lays flat on the hone on both sides of the blade is an ideal that I'm sad to say IME is rarely seen on new and also on vintage razors. Some are worse than others, but rarely have I owned a new or vintage razor that had marker disappear evenly and completely within a few strokes on each side of the blade. It SHOULD happen that way, but no way have I experienced that. It's the exception and not the rule it should be. Each razor really is different in what it needs on the hone.

Chris L

I am a newbie, so I haven't messed with a alot of razors. I have 5 ebay purchased razors, all but one I was able to sharpen up nicely. I really don't see how this Dovo could be sharpened without using some sort of an alternate sharpening method. Using a normal x pattern motion, the middle of the blade does not come in full contact with the hone. Being a newbie I thought I was doing something wrong, why were the tip and heel getting sharp and the middle wasn't?

The truth is that the distributor who sold it to you should offer this service and offer a replacement. The postal problem is the distributors , not yours. They sold you the razor, not DOVO and they need to own up. Not only this, if the razor was pre sharpened by the distributor, they are responsible for the edge you received and not DOVO.

Absolutely, that is why I was asking about Classic Shavings customer service. I do however think that Dovo should hold some accountability, and at least be made aware of the problem so that in the future they can fix the problem. (Hopefully)

[English]

Hey CBMC,

I'm not blaming anybody, least of all you.

You are the customer.

Classic should ask you to send it back, send you a replacement and handle the rest of the issue with DOVO.
Either this or offer you a full refund.

Look stuff happens and if you read this forum regularly, you are not the first to experience problems with a new razor. Not all new razors are perfect and often the solution is just to re establish a new bevel properly.

Give them another call and put what I have said to them and see what happens. Classic have a good reputation.

Hope this helps and good luck. Be nice now.

[Seraphim]

Originally Posted by English

Hey Guys, stop and hold fire for a minute,

If you won't send it back to DOVO, you don't have a leg to stand on. DOVO need to see the problem to respond. Common sense.

Think about it.

The truth is that the distributor who sold it to you should offer this service and offer a replacement. The postal problem is the distributors , not yours. They sold you the razor, not DOVO and they need to own up. Not only this, if the razor was pre sharpened by the distributor, they are responsible for the edge you received and not DOVO.

If the distributor won't do this, then that distributor is not reputable. If that is the case please tell us that fact so we can make sure we don't purchase from them in the future.

Speak directly to the people who sold you the razor and let them do the job for which they are paid by both you and DOVO.

But if you meddled with the razor, it's your fault and be prepared if this is the case. We who deal with razors on a daily basis know when someone has been meddling. Believe me, it's not difficult to tell.

Neither is it difficult for DOVO to tell.

I sent Dovo the pics of my blade and of my proceedure to establish that the blade was warped (precision granite plate certified to 2um flatness).

I also wanted to let you know the method I used to determine that the blades were warped, it may help when discussing issues with the manufacturing/QC department, as I know there can be many variables (a hone that is not lapped correctly, etc..). It only took me about 30 seconds to determine that razors 2& 3 were curved, as I knew what I was looking for at that point. The first razor I spent 30 minutes trying to hone before I finally took a look under the microscope and saw that there was something not right with the razor (I'm an engineer...)

I have a precision flat granite plate, certified flat to 2 microns accuracy (see attached pics), I mount a sheet of diamond lapping film (3um grit) to the granite plate. I put a line of marker pen down the edge of the razor and then give a few passes over the lapping film. In the third attached picture it can be clearly seen that material is being removed only at the toe and heel of the razor, the main portion of the blade is not making contact with the hone at all.

On the other side of the blade, the reverse is true: it makes contact only in the middle, and not at the ends. While contact only in the middle is usually indicative of a "smiling" razor, the fact that the other side of the razor makes contact only at the ends shows that it is curved lengthwise.

All three of the razors were curved exactly the same. The side of the blade without the gold wash & etching was the side that made contact only at toe & heel.

I would encourage your QC department to employ some sort of test such as this to determine blade flatness prior to shipment. The precision plate cost me $20, and the test only took me about 30 seconds to complete. The fact that the three razors all were curved in exactly the same manner would seem to also indicate a possible tooling error, or something that is causing repetitive defects, not just random errors.

My vendor was excellent at customer service. As I said, they tried three times to send me a replacement, and all of them were unaceptable. At that point between they and I , we were spending altogether too much $$$ on shipping alone and we decided to give up.

Having to ship it back and wait 6-9 months (as has been what is commonly occuring in direct to manufacturer returns on the forum) is completely unreasonable.

I don't really want Dovo to "do" anything for me at this point. I just want them to know that they have a problem with their product.

I'm not encouraging people to flame Dovo with angry emails, but to simply give them feedback, let them know there are issues with the razors that may be more common than they should be.

[Seraphim]

Originally Posted by Chris L

I sympathize with your experience completely since I did have the same problem with a new TI and sent it back to France. However, and I hope others chime in on this, but a perfectly ground razor which lays flat on the hone on both sides of the blade is an ideal that I'm sad to say IME is rarely seen on new and also on vintage razors. Some are worse than others, but rarely have I owned a new or vintage razor that had marker disappear evenly and completely within a few strokes on each side of the blade. It SHOULD happen that way, but no way have I experienced that. It's the exception and not the rule it should be. Each razor really is different in what it needs on the hone.

Chris L

I am no expert. I currently own 8 razors, and previously had another 4.

A mix of vintage and new,and NOS.

Yes, not all razors lay perfectly flat on the hone. Some had smiles, some had frowns. A smile is a good thing, and needs a ceratin type of honing. I'm cool with that.

A frown needs to be ground out. A frown also means that alot of material has already been removed, so all bets are off. It's to be expected of a 70+ year old Ebay special.

The only new razors that I have had where the blade didn't curve in the razor plane (i.e.-"smile" or "frown"), but rather out of the plane of the razor, thus meaning that you cannot sharpen the edge were the three brand new Dovos, and one of the Wapis I recieved.

The first Dovo I recieved I didn't just give it a few passes and call it done, I worked at it rather vigorously,and still got nowhere. After returning it, I then knew what to look for for the next two.

I was not going to take my brand new $135 Dovo and proceed to have to hone away steel until the entire edge made contact, as it would have resulted in a ridiculous amount of hone wear for a new razor.

I've attemted it on that Wapi, as it only was $22, and while I started to get some contact on the hone by doing some hone gymnastics with taping the ends of the razor, etc etc, it resulted in horrendous hone wear. To be expected of a cheapie like that, not a mainstream razor IMHO.


Look, I love my Dovos. Read my review of the Renaissance. I gush over that damn thing!

I'm also looking forward to my new 5/8 SS #41 blade Dovo,even though I had to resort to Ebay to get it.

I'd just like Dovo be aware of the issues, so they can turn out more beauties like those ones.

[PonderingTurtle]

Originally Posted by English

Hey Guys, stop and hold fire for a minute,

If you won't send it back to DOVO, you don't have a leg to stand on. DOVO need to see the problem to respond. Common sense.

The retailer should also ship it back if it is returned to them. DOVO should get the thing either way, it is an issue of who sits their while the razor is being looked at by DOVO the retailer or the customer.

[CBMC]

Originally Posted by English

Hey CBMC,

I'm not blaming anybody, least of all you.

You are the customer.

Classic should ask you to send it back, send you a replacement and handle the rest of the issue with DOVO.
Either this or offer you a full refund.

Look stuff happens and if you read this forum regularly, you are not the first to experience problems with a new razor. Not all new razors are perfect and often the solution is just to re establish a new bevel properly.

Give them another call and put what I have said to them and see what happens. Classic have a good reputation.

Hope this helps and good luck. Be nice now.

My original post was not intended to be confrontational at all, I am sorry if it was taken that way.

By the way Classic sent back a reply saying that they would replace the razor.

Thanks for all the help...

On a warped razor how do you strop it properly? How about on pastes? I ask because I figure you could use a rolling x pattern on hones but not on strops or pastes?