Description
Providing the best of both worlds in a Dovo straight razor, the “88” borrows the form of their Bergischer Löwe flagship razor and gives it some mild practical ‘enhancements’ so you’ll hopefully use it often! We want you to consider this razor an iconic reason The Superior Shave’s somehow stayed afloat in our Amazon Age.
This razor has a “blank face” version of the familiar Dovo Bergischer Lowe shape, similar in that way to our famed deceased “Dovo Palisander”.
Peerless, Collectible Dovo Straight Razor
No Gold to Just Wear Off
First off, the gold spine wash has been eliminated as the first practical touch. Gold must be covered with tape, or honed away. Both options stink! Taping spines changes razor geometry for the worse, however minute. The razor becomes a “trophy case queen”. The 88 eliminated the gold so its bevel stays as acute as possible. That is an important change!
Satin-Matte Handfinish
Secondly, the blade faces here are satin-matte, by hand. Currently, only our own Sunday Shaver and Dovo’s flagship (“Flowing” #118) share the finish. The finish is slightly more practical, inhibiting oxidation’s growth should one neglect the carbon steel (don’t do that, yo!)
Spanish Point
Furthermore, the Dovo 88’s Spanish point style (only shared among Dovo straight razors with the ‘BL’ and ‘Sunday Shaver’) is terrific for getting under the nose and maintaining a crisp mustache/goatee.
Tremendous Concavity
Finally, the grind is wafer thin. The Dovo 88 is hollow ground by Dovo’s most senior master grinders. The Dovo 88 straight razor is substantially thinner than all 5/8″ Dovo round point models with the exception of “Prima Klang”. Indeed it is as thin as the PK, even if only designated full hollow.
No Pesky Shoulder
The 88 is a “shoulderless” razor, as secondary ridge is near the tang. This is a rare feature on any 5/8″ razor. Furthermore, it involves extra skilled steps by master grinders during production. Shoulderless razors lack a ridge to avoid during stropping and honing.
There is no finer production Solingen straight razor in a 5/8″ size made today, and it has a practical finish and handle to boot.
Limited 110pc Run
Dovo devoted <1% of 2018’s capacity for this 88’s 109-piece production run. This is a “manufactured rarity” cut throat razor, this being opposed to materials-scarcity rarities (genuine-mother-of-pearl or wooly-mammoth-tusk scaled Dovo straight razors, deceased blanks, etc.) Whisky distilleries adore the “manufactured rarity” shtick, so it is nice to see it pop up in the str8rzr industry.
Wood Handle in Two Finishes
The production of 88 is offered in redwood or yew wood scales as here, and we do not intend to re-scale this particular razor, given its small run and presumed demand for a ‘blank’ razor.
Select Yours From Images of Our Actual Stock!
You’ll receive the exact razor YOU pick. Please note if you choose the factory-sealed option, you’ll receive a sight-unseen piece (only seen by Dovo at the factory when it was made in 2018).
“Shave Ready”?
If you elect for the factory edge (= do nothing, no note needed @ checkout), you’ll receive your razor exactly as its manufacturers intended…pretty simple!
If you elect for The Superior Shave to further hone your razor [plz add “note to vendor” @ checkout], your Dovo 88 will be delivered to you Guaranteed Shave Ready! Observe this model of razor (it is a #91, but they’re geometrically identical) being honed by TSS here! The Superior Shave hones via a method best coined (by the old Thiers-Issard director) as “the opposite of tape“, where the hones’ shapes cater to performance and little else; you begin with your coarsest stone that’s shaped as the smallest imaginary wheel, and you progress to finer abrasives that are shaped as larger wheels, thus sharpening the bevel from the spine toward the actual edge, and leaving a *thin*, concave edge first and foremost.
At one time, years ago, natural stones were used for the establishing and refining of a bevel. But the lapidaries necessary for such extremely refined stones no longer exist, to say nothing of sourcing the strata itself from Earth. So today, Dovo uses a pair of manmade, convex spinning discs to establish their bevels, and thereafter refines with bench stones hand shape to be mildly convex, before finishing on a pasted strop. The spinning discs are coarser, and have a shorter effective diameter, while the bench stones are finer, and have much longer effective diameters. Thus, the bevels are indeed concave, same as ever.
But the steel itself can withstand much more concaving than practical today at any factory, with no negative effects for the longevity of your razor, so long as you keep exclusively to shaving with it, keeping a low spine angle, and keeping skin well stretched and lathered; for its intended job, concaving a razor bevel toward its metallurgical limits only benefits the shaver. If you intend to use your razor at an angle outside of normal shaving work or upon a surface unlike a well lathered and stretched beard, however, a flat or even a convex bevel will better endure such odd usage of these tools.
There is no wrong or right choice for factory edge/further honed, but please do not believe all factory edges are never ‘Shave Ready’ – that is an absurd, yet common, belief. It is certainly the intention of Dovo when producing the razor that you to only need strop (after wiping off the factory oil!) just prior to shaving to receive a terrific shave. Thanks for reading this, and happy shaving!
