Fourth Gold Dollar custom

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09-09-2013, 06:59 PM
Laurens

8 Attachment(s)

Fourth Gold Dollar custom

From my little bunch of Gold Dollars, this is the fourth attempt! This time in plain black acrylic, white acrylic wedge. I gave it a modest Spanish point and tried my hand at filework, but found it too difficult for me, yet. Finish is brushed. Honing is just finished, she's up in two days time.

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I would like a drill press to prevent these angled pins, they're a bit sloppy:
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Thanks for watching and I'm looking forward to your comments and criticisms!
09-09-2013, 08:56 PM
joostmoree

A golden bit does not make the horse any better!
In Dutch: Ook al draagt een aap een gouden ring, het is en blijft een lelijk ding ( Although a monkey wears a golden ring, it remains an ugly thing.).
Sorry for this strong opinion Laurens but you're pulling at a dead horse. I'd rather propose to spend your precious time and first class accomplishments on a neglected aged quality product.
09-09-2013, 09:40 PM
Trimmy72

Laurens, I'm going to go the other way and say nice job. Hope it serves you well!
09-09-2013, 11:32 PM
Berthold

Beautiful job. I restored a GD. They are worth the time and effort IMHO. They are excellent shavers. And the practice can be used later for restoring a more expensive and higher quality vintage razor. Besides that, it's fun to do.
09-09-2013, 11:56 PM
souschefdude

I think there is validity in using a GD to learn scale making. I destroyed a beautiful old razor early on in my learning. Wish I hsd learned the mistake on one of these.
I still feel sick about that razor.
09-10-2013, 01:51 AM
mrsell63

I recently posted some good advice in this thread http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...-too-many.html and I think I would recommend the same advice regarding the Gold Dollar blade above. My advice is to stick with top quality purchases and stay away from bargains. I speak from bitter experience.
09-10-2013, 03:17 AM
sharptonn

I think you did well! This is your best GD yet! I understand you are learning on them.
If one thinks about it, better than risking an expensive blade. This one is neat!
09-10-2013, 04:53 AM
10Pups

Do you drill the holes before or after you shape the scales ? Reason I ask is it's a lot easier to drill them straight when you can lay the scales flat. Then maybe use something square next to the hole as you drill to kind of help you guide it in straight. A block or even dice would work. Use the corner close to the hole so you can see both directions. Then do the shaping. Drill press is nice but same problem unless you drill em when they are flat. Your doing great, getting better for sure.
09-10-2013, 05:30 AM
joostmoree

1 Attachment(s)

add value to value

I agree with Mrsell. Some years ago I spilled blood, sweat and tears on pimping some Giesen & Forsthoff ~ new production. The endproducts looked good but they were as razors horrible and useless. My work on them (and my frustration) ended with unpinning the scales, taping the steelwork for safety sake and disposing of the junk.
Laurens did excellent work. But I advise him tot put his energy and craftsmanship into restorable vintage blades. They are available for a few pounds on Ebay. I could introduce to him a fine trustworthy vendor. Then he will really add value to value.
09-10-2013, 09:05 AM
Laurens

Thank you for your diverse and helpful comments! This makes for an interesting discussion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by joostmoree

A golden bit does not make the horse any better!
In Dutch: Ook al draagt een aap een gouden ring, het is en blijft een lelijk ding ( Although a monkey wears a golden ring, it remains an ugly thing.).
Sorry for this strong opinion Laurens but you're pulling at a dead horse. I'd rather propose to spend your precious time and first class accomplishments on a neglected aged quality product.

Quote:

Originally Posted by souschefdude

I think there is validity in using a GD to learn scale making. I destroyed a beautiful old razor early on in my learning. Wish I hsd learned the mistake on one of these.
I still feel sick about that razor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrsell63

I recently posted some good advice in this thread http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...-too-many.html and I think I would recommend the same advice regarding the Gold Dollar blade above. My advice is to stick with top quality purchases and stay away from bargains. I speak from bitter experience.

I'm a little on both sides. Working with these cheap GDs is a way for me to relax and focus my thoughts completely at the job at hand. I find that every time I improve a little bit and with four more to come, I wonder how well I will do on the next projects.

On the other hand, GDs will never have the same character a vintage blade or a custom razor has. I might decide to keep vintage blades as close to original as possible, and use Gold Dollars for custom shapes and scales.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10Pups

Do you drill the holes before or after you shape the scales ? Reason I ask is it's a lot easier to drill them straight when you can lay the scales flat. Then maybe use something square next to the hole as you drill to kind of help you guide it in straight. A block or even dice would work. Use the corner close to the hole so you can see both directions. Then do the shaping. Drill press is nice but same problem unless you drill em when they are flat. Your doing great, getting better for sure.

I drill them before shaping the scales, but I only have a big fat hammer drill for all my drilling :P Using a guide as you suggest may solve that, thanks for the hint!

Quote:

Originally Posted by joostmoree

I agree with Mrsell. Some years ago I spilled blood, sweat and tears on pimping some Giesen & Forsthoff ~ new production. The endproducts looked good but they were as razors horrible and useless. My work on them (and my frustration) ended with unpinning the scales, taping the steelwork for safety sake and disposing of the junk.
Laurens did excellent work. But I advise him tot put his energy and craftsmanship into restorable vintige blades. They are available for a few pounds on Ebay. I could introduce to him a fine trustworthy vendor. Then he will really add value tot value.

I have no experience myself with Giesen & Forsthoff, but I believe some of the new production razors do not keep an edge as well as a Gold Dollar. In fact, they are on the list of brands to avoid (Brands of Straight Razors to avoid - Straight Razor Place Wiki). The shaves I have gotten from my Gold Dollars are on par with those from my other razors, so I'm happy with the final result!

Thank you for you kind words, and I would like to hear more about the vendor you mention or buying from eBay in general. While I have been browsing on eBay a bit, I found too much junk to sort out the quality blades (zag door de bomen het bos niet meer).
Perhaps we can even meet up, I live at the Leyweg in The Hague!
09-10-2013, 10:32 AM
joostmoree

Laurens, I think it is against forum rules to disclose the name of a vendor; anyway I'm not sure if it is allowed. It could be considered as commercial promotion. So I'll introduce him by means of a private message.
I agree with you that vintage razors are to be kept in their original state. For that reason I try to lay hands on razors that are stripped from their scales of with malfunctioning or damaged ones. Sometimes I run against a razor, for instance a Filarmonica with such horrible scales that I do not hesitate to damage the integrity of the razor knowing that I do not enjoy myself only with a good rescaling job but especially when I'm shaving with it or maintaining it. It sounds selfish but when I'm convinced that rescaling is an aesthetical and utilitarian improvement, the originals disappear in the dustbin. Even when it is a new razor like a Wacker 7/8 I recently achieved with horrible birdy num num wooden scales which were immediately replaced by Cocobolo ones.
By the way, I said goodbye to pinning. I switched to microbolts/nuts most of the time in brass.
I live at the Keizerstraat. I'll publish some more fotographs in this thread. When you like them we could arrange an appointment. I'll have to make the pics first because I'm not a fanatic fotographer of my own work. Actually, the pic I added hereabove, was the first one I ever published so I had to experience and practise how it works.
The reason for adding the pic was showing a cheap vintage razor. The ebony scales are not in a perfect proportion and do not exist in the depicted form anymore.
10-13-2013, 08:31 PM
TulaneBoy

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I don't know. I think they are fun to mess with. Blank canvasses. I was told to regard them as half-finished blanks and just go for it. My favorite razor is a highly modified Gold Dollar, shaves just as good as any I have, takes and holds an edge quite well. I have a couple that I am working on myself, hoping to get results like that. I think it is cool to be able to take a "razor shape object" and turn it into something nice with just my own two hands, a piece of wood, and a scrap of brass. Here is one of my projects in progress.

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One of these days I will mess around with some vintage razors that need restoring. But these $4 razors I can get a little crazy with if I feel like it. I don't feel like I am wasting my time with the GD. I already got one that shaves great and looks great so I know it can be done. And it will be cool to shave with a razor that basically, I made out of a razor shaped piece of steel from China.