Thread: Gold dollar or alternative?

My first razor was a Dovo from Lynn. It is getting honed by him as we speak. I still use it all the time. I can't stress to you the importance of a quality, sharp razor. It has a very steep learning curve and it will only make it more complicated if you have a dull razor that is less than quality. Good luck to you in your journey. This is a great place with lots of info. If I had it to do all over again I would probably go with a vintage.

In my opinion the best choice to begin is a vintage straight prepared and sold by a member who is used to straight razors.

It's a best option than any new razor.

Originally Posted by Thaeris

In my opinion the best choice to begin is a vintage straight prepared and sold by a member who is used to straight razors.

It's a best option than any new razor.

Just out of curiosity why would a shave ready vintage be better than a quality shave ready new razor, is it better just because of the price ?

It's not better. Some might say vintage is better and depending on the brand like new Boker and vintage or new Henkels or vintage some of the vintage are better however it all boils down to the specific razor. You can't make a blanket statement.

Originally Posted by mike1011

Just out of curiosity why would a shave ready vintage be better than a quality shave ready new razor, is it better just because of the price ?

If the new razor was prepared by a person who knows how to make a razor shave-ready, and if the new razor is from a known name, of quality, there is no difference but the price.

We give the advice to our knew members (of the CCC french club) to check for vintage straights restored by "old" members because they're _ cheaper (we think it's better if a new member start with a cheap blade, so he doesn't spend too much money to check if he enjoys or not shaving with a straight) _ and shave ready (with a protocol of disinfection after test).

Most of the new razors are bought in stores, where they are sold with no additional preparation than the "industrial finish", so they are often not really shave-ready, and more expensive than restored vintage. They can also check for salesman who add a preparation to make sure the blade is shave ready, but it's still more expensive.

But it's just a matter of opinion

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