Well, it was a 5/8 and a freckle and still close to a 5/8 yet....maybe lacks 3 or 4 thousandth. I had originally dulled it down with bread-knifing to use as a practice razor, and for that it excelled. Then, later on, I decided to get it back to shave ready condition, but there were the tiny pits near the blade edge. Some were up in the bevel area a bit, and I wanted to get to solid clean metal before tackling it with the hones. With the sander I removed metal at a more aggressive angle, not flat against the spine. This allowed the blade to stay straight across the blade while at the same time removing some metal. Took a lot less time stripping out the edge imperfections that way than merely honing and honing with coarse grits. At 1000 grit the belt did not heat, nor cause any distortion. Edge is holding up great. I'll shave with it again tonight.

Other thing was I wanted to see how the 1x30 belt sander was for the beginning phase of restoration. My observations is it's marvelous! There is also a 1400 grit German belt I'd like to get in someday but this 1000 grit works great for re-profiling the front or "toe" of a razor to give it a round nose rather than a square nose. I used it for re-doing the AK-SAR-BEN from a spike to round point,



I shaved with it 2 nights ago, and a smooth and clean shave I got!!

And this razor, and Empire Cutlery that someone had really done a number on the Toe...



That little "shorty" Empire gives one of the nicest shaves I have gotten. Very sharp and easy to more around on the lips and chin area. It just doesn't take as much whiskers per swipe as the others, BUT, because of the decreased width of the blade edge, it also glides along a bit easier than some of the wider blades.

The Gold Bug razor is every bit as good a shaver as the 6/8 DOVO (new) I have. That, and then some. Of that I'm 100 % sure.