Thread: Gold dollar or alternative?

Hi!

I would only recommend a GD if you are willing to endure the learning curve of how to hone and maintain it. I ordered 4 GD 66ers for my first razors. I knew from the forums what to expect. It was more of a challenge/a project for me than a necessity of having a good razor to start with.

Here are three of the four. I dumped the fourth one rather quick because I just couldn't get the heel half (!) of the blade to cut hair. They are a pretty crooked bunch:

The first one looks worst - is far far off center. The other two are "OK" - the middle one being my best. As long as they lie completly on the hone you'll be alright. They all do, although two have a wavy grind, so that some sections of the bevel stay matt while polishing. Remarkably, one side of the "wave" does lie on the hone, so that the edge still sharpens.
To make my project even harder, I honed solely on a Belgian Blue Whetstone at first. Setting the bevel on the hard steel didn't work right though, so I set it on a 600 grid Diamond Sharpener, which flattend the "waves" a bit too, then went to the BBW and did something similar to the Dilucot Method. After that, I stroped them on Cromiumoxyde and leather. I took serveral attemps, changing and improving the steps along the way. I figure I should get a 1000 grid stone for bevel setting. For maintenance my BBW and strop is sufficient.

As a conclusion I can say that it is possible to get the GDs shaveready with honing alone, but you must reckon with several razors before you find one really useful one. Two of my four have turned out to be decent shavers. If you can regrind them much more is possible. I fancy thinking that in China men are using the same primitive and badly made razors and have nothing else. I'm sure they get good shaves out of theirs as well.

Happy Honing,
OldSalt

Crikey those grinds are all over the place ! I didn't expect them to be so inconsistent, I know they are cheep but there is cheep good and cheep junk (which IMO is expensive), the gold dollars judging from them pictures fall into the latter category.

Each to their own but I would rather spend £90 on a know quality razor than but 9 or 10 of those hoping to find one with a sensible grind.

I suppose as an exercise in honing they do a job

Originally Posted by mike1011

I suppose as an exercise in honing they do a job

Yes, they do. I've learned alot about honing off them. I have no reference to honing a quality razor just yet, but when I need to hone my Solingen ERN Razor some day I'll probably be suprised how easy it is to hone. I bought the ERN off a german forum user for very little and use it as a reference for keeness. I'm proud to say that it doesn't shave better than my GDs. Still I would recommend to get a used quality razor over a GD, if money is tight and you are not into projects like mine.

Best wishes,
OldSalt

Originally Posted by zero2005

I've alloted 50-75$ [approx] for the razor, that doesnt include the things i'm also willing to spend such as brush,strop,soap, etc. it just amazes me that there's no middle ground for a new razor in that approx range, its either 150$ or bust, with the exception of the Dovo Best at ~$80.

Yes, unfortunately that's the nature of things. A razor is a very precise instrument - it has the sharpest edge of any common object you would encounter, and producing that isn't trivial. The grinding which is the important part is still done largely by hand and as you've most likely found out from your research, even in the old days the grinders were the most skilled workers in the factory.
It isn't hard in principle, the hard part is doing it well, and that requires skill, experience, and putting the time.
The Gold Dollars and the various other brands the same production is sold under are a good example of what you get when you try to cut the cost. They are of poor quality with a lot of issues.
Some people would say those issues are not a big deal, others would say they are a big deal. The thing is that even after correction of the basic problems and honing, you could make them to shave but they still remain poorly made. Some people go as far as to spend hours to heavily modify them and still the signs of the original poor manufacture are there. It looks OK at a first glance, but on closer inspection you see the crooked grind and the amateurish transitions. At this point those are largely aesthetic things, and if you only care for function you would have a razor that shaves.
Some people would tell you that they shave just as well as any other razor out there, some will tell you they shave poorly. I personally don't care for the way they shave. I don't care for the way many current production razors shave compared to their vintage counterparts either, but to me the gold dollars are inferior shavers compared to the regular brands.

You don't have the budget to try and decide for yourself, so you've got to pick either a gold dollar or the entry level dovo. Ultimately it's your decision and I guess the best you can do is look at the people's background.
I've been around for about 7 years now and have seen pretty much all of those who recommend stuff start from zero. Many of them have a terrible track record of being poseurs, and even if they have more experience now, their character hasn't changed.

Just a quick query regarding vintage razors, I have bought seven now off ebay. Two are beyond repairing (far to much rust on the edge) but all of them appear to be quality bits of kit.

My question is, are there any vintage makes which are junk or, are all of them well made. From what I can tell they just didn't make junk back then (not a disposable society like today) but I would be nice to know if there are any vintage makes to avoid.

There is particularly famous brands, but no particular vintage junk (they wouldn't have survived till nowadays ).

There were also a lot of cutlers who were selling renamed blades (by their own name), they bought themselves to big manufacturers.

It's matter of training, to see which razor seems to be restorable and which seems to be not. We all begin buying some junks ^^

Originally Posted by gugi

Yes, unfortunately that's the nature of things. A razor is a very precise instrument - it has the sharpest edge of any common object you would encounter, and producing that isn't trivial. The grinding which is the important part is still done largely by hand and as you've most likely found out from your research, even in the old days the grinders were the most skilled workers in the factory.
It isn't hard in principle, the hard part is doing it well, and that requires skill, experience, and putting the time.
The Gold Dollars and the various other brands the same production is sold under are a good example of what you get when you try to cut the cost. They are of poor quality with a lot of issues.

Here's a very good video to show you how much of making a straight razor is done by hand. It's in German but even if you were to turn off the sound you would still get a good idea of how it's done:

Dovo wmv - YouTube