Thread: Dovo Best Quality vs. Gold Dollar

I am a newbie, so this might be a good comparison from someone who doesn't really know what he's doing yet.

I purchased the Dovo shave ready about two weeks ago, and I've finally gotten to the point where I can shave my entire face with only one or two nicks. Ain't perfect, but I've got a long way to go.

For only about $75 the Dovo is a great looking razor anyone would be proud to own. I like the 5/8 size as it give me a little manuvering room around my face, and it's a little lighter than the Gold Dollar. The razor has jimps both above and under the grip which helps, and the finish is flawless. The scales are plastic, but well made, with an internal post the razor rests on when closed.

The Dovo shaves well, based on my limited experience, and easily passes a HHT after stropping.

The Gold Dollar, at least that's what it was advertised as, has absolutely no markings on it anywhere, but I trust Ken to sell a quality product. I got it to have a good backup razor, and to have something to practice honing on, even though it comes shave ready (HHT no problem) and with a 30 day edge guarantee. Advertised as a starter razor, this is great, because many newbies often ruin their razors stropping or banging them against the sink, which will probably happen within the first 30 days if not hours. (The Dovo also came with a certificate for a free honing.)

I got the Gold Dollar today, and shaved with it tonight. It's a little heavier, with jimps only on the bottom. It cuts well, and even gets those rough spots around the chin, but is not as easy for me to maneuver around those spots.

Again, the scales are made of plastic, not quite finished as well as the Dovo, and the only thing that stops the blade from dropping through is the spine of the razor, not to say the pin is lose.

The extra weight and added width should make the razor easier to strop, and I believe the design is to be forgiving to a newbie.

Once I learn to shave a little better I might see each razor as very good but just different. And, at this stage of the game I would have been very happy with just the Gold Dollar, but I'm glad I got the Dovo first.

It's fun to experiment with different soaps, brushes, aftershaves and whatnot, but it's even more of a luxury to be able to experiment with different razors.

The Gold Dollar gets a big thumbs up as a starter razor, especially when combined with the Filly strop -- incredible value. But, the Dovo beats the Gold Dollar on a lot of counts, and I consider it my first "pretty" razor, worthy of a scales upgrade. I can't say that for the Gold Dollar.

In a nutshell: The Gold Dollar is worthy of passing on to a friend who wants to try a STR8. The Dovo is worthy of passing on to your son.

Hope this helps anyone looking for a first razor.

Never tried a Gold Dollar, but I think your comparison will be helpful to anyone looking to buy their first new straight razor.

Originally Posted by dannywonderful

Never tried a Gold Dollar, but I think your comparison will be helpful to anyone looking to buy their first new straight razor.

Indeed it will. Now if only we could do something about those round points

It sounds like a very educated comparison between the two razors. I think that is awesome for a beginner. I think the Gold dollar is a perfect razor to learn how to strop and hone on. After all it was shave ready to begin with. I'm also thinking about collecting one myself. Honing is the only thing in the learning curve that has not come easy to me. I have a Dovo myself, it was my first straight razor and I love it. It's a Bergischer Lowe 5/8 spanish point with Black Buffalo horn scales. Well, take care and good luck. Oh yeah, welcome to the brotherhood.

Thanks for the insightful evaluation of these two razors.

Thanks for the kudos. I thought a comparison from another newbie might be helpful, and I had heard so much about the Gold Dollar.

Actually, one reason I got the Gold Dollar was to compare a well prepared shave ready to my Dovo, wondering if I had dulled it, being a newbie and all. Glad to say the sharpness was about equal on the two.

Also, the Gold Dollar has a curve in the blade, so I'm wondering how the thing is sharpened -- makes it a little more difficult to use the toe of the blade.

Originally Posted by DPflaumer

Indeed it will. Now if only we could do something about those round points

Agreed. Can someone identify (with pix or links) a Dremel tool that would allow for grinding the tip into a square point?

Originally Posted by Basset

Agreed. Can someone identify (with pix or links) a Dremel tool that would allow for grinding the tip into a square point?

You might want to shoot a PM to Seraphim. I know he does a lot of blade modification, appropriately enough for this thread, on Gold Dollars

I'm a beginner myself and also have the 5/8 best quality dovo and the ruprazor gold dollar. I actually bought each as part of a a beginner's set: the 3" black latigo vintage blades with the dovo, which I got about 3 weeks ago, and the filly with the gold dollar. I actually posted about it on B&B, but here was my assesment in sum:

• The dovo is certainly a nicer razor in many respects in terms of finish, but as a beginner I don't feel that I am at a point where I can appreciate the differences. That said, the Gold Dollar wasn't without its aesthetic problems, but as far as shaving goes, it's just as good for learning.
• For the filly, I actually found it easier to use than the 3" black latigo. Even though I'm forced to use an x-pattern, I don't feel I'm having as many issues stropping well with it. Plus, the crox on the back is good as I suspected that I my dovo was in need of a touch up after about 10 shaves or so (I think I probably damaged it stropping.) In truth, the reason I went to ruprazor was initially for the filly, but figured ordering a GD razor couldn't hurt
• If I had to do it over again, I would actually still get both sets... but, if I could only chose one of them, I'd go with the gold dollar + filly.

Originally Posted by Basset

Agreed. Can someone identify (with pix or links) a Dremel tool that would allow for grinding the tip into a square point?

Originally Posted by DPflaumer

You might want to shoot a PM to Seraphim. I know he does a lot of blade modification, appropriately enough for this thread, on Gold Dollars

I find it ironic that, in this thread, folks are talking about making round points into squares and there is another thread here where someone found a lotof vintage blades, but they are all square points. He doesn't like them, so we was asking about rounding them. Maybe you guys all need to arrange a trade LOL