It's not very complicated, in fact there may be a
PDF somewhere here that describes the shapes etc. These blades are 5/8" wide, which was the commonest size during the heyday of straight razors. There are 4/8 blades but they are less common, and these days wider blades are more popular - 6/8 or 7/8. These particular razors are what I'd call 'pretty' - dressed up with etching, gold wash and engraving to allow them to sell for more, even though the underlying blade and scales are ordinary and cheap routine production. But at least they are made in Germany. Dovo's entry razors are made in China these days (and they wonder how they ended up in the German equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection during a great renaissance of straight razor sales? Greed will do that.)
If I were wanting to start out these days, and willing to listen to experience, I'd buy a polished and honed vintage blade from a
guy at straightrazorplace.com who does decent work for very cheap prices. And if I then decided I'd like to stick with shaving that way, I'd buy one very good custom razor and stick with it. What you pick there depends on budget. Lou Mowan of Snake River Razors, or Robert Williams of Custom Straight Razors, or Tim Zowada of Zowada Knives. No doubt there are others, but those are good guys. The problem is just the opposite of
Highlander - here, it's more like there must be more than one! But maybe you might prove to be a man of great strength, resolution and self-denial. Yeah, good luck with that.
As for maintenance, you need a strop for daily use, and maybe a second for use with green chrome paste now and then. If you just want to maintain a razor that came to you well-honed and needs only touch ups, I'd buy a good
coticule and a finishing stone as you won't need to make new bevels. The finisher could be a Naniwa 12k, a Spyderco UF or many more expensive options (Shapton 30k, Suehiro Gokumyo 20k). I've got them all, and now I would pick a black Arkansas from Dan's as my desert island finishing stone.
Finally, if at all possible, a honing lesson in person will save you time - time as in
years of error and mistakes. I'm not doing anything now I could not have done twenty years ago. But it took me that long and much expense of hones, pastes, strops and razors before I figured out what should be available to every beginner. Just use the right tools in the right way and it will be simple.
