Just received a new gold dollar razor from eBay. I bought this razor to practice my honing skills. Wish me luck.
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Just received a new gold dollar razor from eBay. I bought this razor to practice my honing skills. Wish me luck.
Lol, luck won't help you. What you need are muscles, patience, and fast 400-1k hones.
Cheers, Steve
Go G.D. Go !!! Attachment 197575
Oh come on fellows, if you're learning, you'd have to hone a thousand vintage razors to encounter all the defects almost every Gold Dollar has!
Cheers, Steve
Ha my advise is get 2 3 files , Dremel , 220 / 360 grit stone snd other abrasives and enjoy your self ,practice your stroping skils with it as is dull as spoon . make from it something usefull at home - linoleum knife , letter knife ect .
Once you shave with it , youll understand what i mean . if you whant to use it buy a barber hone ,you must go shaving in the bathroom with a barber hone and a strop . Doesnt hold an edge at all . Shave half face - hone and strop and the other side after .
If you whant something good for shaving modifie the GD , sell it and buy your self a Yapenica razor - i have 2 and i prefer them over some solingens .
I have 3 quality razors. A Dovo and Ralf Aust I bought new. And I bought a boker and the gold dollar simply to practice technique before putting quality razors that I spent good money on to a stone. I don't want to shave with it. I simply want to sharpen my technique before my shaving razors need to be honed. Thanks guys
That's not a bad idea but how are you going to know you did a good job? You could be a great honer, it still wouldn't be a good shave. You may get discouraged I know I did. Spent hours on it so I could even hone it... Still sucked. It does make improve your stroke though because after 1000 strokes you get pretty good and after 1000 it still sucks... Haha
If this is what you want to do, then do it & enjoy it.
My opinion for your situation & many others who are in the same situation as you, is this;
You have "3" quailty razors with "known" edges,, meaning, you are shaving with them & not complaining about the results. You know that eventually the edge/results/shave will start to degrade. Select a finisher & learn to "maintain" the edges on the 3 known edges that you have; maintaining is honing & it is a much simpler process than running a problem/unknown edge through the honing progression. Maintaining the edge can be as simple as 10 to 20 light strokes on the finisher, strop & your back to that comfortable edge that you know.
After you have maintained your 3 good razors for a few months,, then take one of them & drop it to the 8K or even 4K level,,, then put it back through your same finisher. You now have a standard to compare with, that you created.
I can attest that spending days or weeks on a problem razor, when I first started, did not make be a better honer,,, it was just stubborn stupidity on my part, it wore me out mentally & I put it away for 3 years,,,,, got bored one day & finished it to a good shave in 45 minutes.
Your technique can only be sharpened, if your technique is good to begin with.
Build a good technique first,,, JMO......:shrug:
why bother it wont teach you how to hone a real razor ,, but then again why hone when you first start , its cheaper and you get much better edges from the guys who know so you can concentrate on learning to shave at your early entry good luck with the RSO tc
Everyone who replied has good advice. But it's really up to you who's advice you go with. I would however have a pro honed blade to compare my work too. when I started I acquired many razors off the Bay and at antique stores in my area. I cleaned them all and sent them to a real pro in my opium. when I got them back I started my journey to straight razor shaving. When I felt comfortable I ordered the stones and watched the videos by the pros . I practiced on the less expensive razors. these were less expensive but not less quality. I had found names like Henckel boker double duck all for less than 40 dollars each. now they were ruff but the cutting edge was ok so when the edge got to where I could shave with it without crying I thought I was on my way . I don't know what the gold dollar razor cost or how it compares to other brands. I would not buy one because I read the post here and listen to members on which not to buy. I hope you have good luck with your chore ahead of you.
If you can't get a good shave after honing a gold dollar you will not know if it is your skills or the razor. You are better served using a razor you have shaved with one you know can hold an edge and did not cost a fortune or is a favorite. Practice with that and shave. You will know if it is skill rather than GD luck.
Good luck! I think there is plenty to be learned from working with a GD. You're gonna want to get a DMT to go with it.
So Gold Dollars and their brother Chinese razors have been around for some time. They are really more of a razor kit than a ready to shave razor, with all kinds of issues, due to quality control.
Occasionally you can get a good one with few issues, that can easily be made to shave and occasionally you will get one that is beyond repair.
This is why they are not recommended, as a new honer generally does not have the experience to diagnose the problems and make the repairs, so it can be honed. Worst case you are out the cost of the razor that can be as low as 2-3 bucks.
There are tons of videos and tutorials on repairing and honing the GD. Typical issues are thick spines, bent spine, crooked edges, thick stabilizers that keep the heel off the stone, thick poorly shaped heels, occasional bad steel and limp junk scales.
Do some research and maybe you will get lucky? Once you get it dialed in, they can be honed.
Enjoy…
Come on guys Gold Dollars are great. I couldn't live without one. I'd gladly give up all my vintage razors to shave with a $3 gift from God. They have got to be without question the best option out there, great quality and great to hone usually without any issues. I would recommend 100% .. Said nobody.... Ever...
Oh yeah? Meet the newest GD pusher
I will save you from wasting too much of your life 3:58 to 4:23
,,,,,,,,,,,,,:rofl2:
oh well,,,, God Bless
(edit -response to Badgister's Post, removed for formatting)
Really, the blind leading the blind...
Is it just me, I haven't really seen him shave anything other than his already clean shaven face??:shrug:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lbX7VxlrJQ
First I’d like to apologize to Donboblo if any of my comments were off-putting. It was Saturday morning on the hone forum and a Gold Dollar thread is always good for some light humor. I also wholeheartedly agree with Euclid440’s post, spot-on.
People have problems with them because they buy them for the wrong reasons or don’t really understand that like Alfredo said, “they really are a mess from the factory” and take a lot of work to get them up to snuff. Once you do, the steel is good and they shave fine, but make no mistake, I cannot remember a time I’ve ever reached for a Gold Dollar because I wanted to enjoy shaving with it. No matter what you do short of skilled machine work, grinding, and re-scaling you’ll still have a crudely made razor.
If you want to learn maintenance honing and don’t already know maintenance honing, they are a bad choice because they require so much corrective honing before they’re usable. If you want to experience the pleasure of fine straight shaving, they’re not a good choice because they are a crudely made razor and not particularly well balanced. Factory problems aside, they’re still the yellow school bus of the straight world, and that’s what they’re supposed to be. If you want to see if you like straight shaving please, please don’t buy a factory-fresh Gold Dollar.
When they are a good choice is if you know what you’re in for, have the tools and want to learn corrective honing and/or need or want several razors to test hones, naguras, technique, and so on. They’re great for edge exchanges because they’re all pretty much the same so you don’t have to worry if anything happens to one or you don’t end up with the exact razor you sent out. I like them for international travel too because I don’t have to worry about losing or forgetting one. If I left the hotel 20 minutes ago and left it behind, I’m probably not going back for it.
Cheers, Steve
I learned the same way ! I bought 3 GD's for wholesale which mean appx . $3 yes you read correctly $3 and that is for "better" GD's . I used them solely to learn to hone.
Here is the downside I haven't seen mentioned ( sorry if it was and I missed it ), to really learn to hone you need to shave with the razor ! I hate to say it but you can hone wonderfully and in any other razor and scenario be very proud of your work.... With a GD the shave test even when honed perfectly will be dull or, misleading by the second shave !!! Hell it's happened to me in 2 passes !! I since invested in some Shumate straights and some other "cheaper" options and guess what ? These razors not only taught me how to hone, but are legit razors in my rotation now ! They may not be top line vintages, but I was actually proud of my work with the vintage Shumate, Puma, Dubl Ducks etc... And All shaved better and honed easier than any Gold Dollar ever will. I still wish you luck though, and have fun ! Lots of us will be happy to give you tips a long the way regardless of the blade.
Started watching the video, got past the stallion part, lost interest and stopped watching at "wassup" . If I had a dollar for every time I have seen the Gold Dollar take a kicking around here, I would be quite well off. To each their own, yeah they are cheap, but in relative terms, so are vintage razors.
Why would you throw pearls before swine?
Spend good money for bad products?
yada yada yada you know
I believe there is a thread dedicated to just Gold Dollars because they are controversial. Some say your odds are less than good to get a decent one others swear they have never got a bad one yet. To each their own. Many members here use them and others despise them. The video posted above is actually a member here. I guess my point is some love them and some hate them. Don't just listen to opinionated hype. Make up your own mind.
I move to move this to the GD thread.
The one GD I have is pretty nice. Holds an edge pretty well..I can't complain. YMMV
I think a lot of people are missing the point here. It's a cheap razor that you can experiment with and not worry about destroying it. Wanna see what lots of pressure does? Wanna breadknife it and see how long it takes to set a bevel? Wanna chip it just to learn how to hone out a chip? It can be a learning tool. It's not a great razor, but it's cheap! It's totally okay if you destroy it. OP, get a DMT and a 1k and have at it. Haters gonna hate!
Then buy a case of Chinese knock offs and have at it. Fun is fun .If that is your definition of a good time I acquiesce.
Gentlemen,
Several years ago, a friend sent me a 6/8 Gold Dollar with fancy blade etching to hone. I was reluctant to work on it, because I had already had several bad experiences with the razor brand, but he was my friend and was just starting out as a straight razor shaver. He didn't have much.
Trying to hone the Gold Dollar was about as much fun as waltzing with a guerrilla.
First thing, I wiped the blade and some of the red coloring smeared on the rag. I thought I was bleeding. After that it was all downhill. The grinding was off, and the bevel looked like a floor mat for a peg legged pirate. For the next two hours, no matter what I did, honing with or without tape, changing from one set of stones to another, the best I could do was a feeble edge. This thing shaved, but then my kitchen knife might shave, too.
Had I been a newbie trying to hone a piece of junk would have taught me nothing. Junk begets junk. Unfortunately, the Gold Dollar fans wax poetry about this low quality razor and the newbies buy it. I don't consider myself a honing master, but there are enough honing greats on SRP that sound the alarm about the Gold Dollar.
I wish newbies would steer away from the guerrilla ballroom.
The Gold Dollar Cheap Razor Merchant, a ballad written by Peter Pindar, Esq. 1806, London
Still very relevant today.
Attachment 197870
The size doesnt maters , it maters what they are made from. I was a big fan of GD as a newbe , but after i get some quality razors, i refuse to use them and i give them as a gifts .The 60 years produced chinese LARK , with fluorescent handles is a quality rasor but the modern day chinese had no equal qualitty snd they are very rought as a blank
THEY DID NOT HOLD AN EDGE - this is the main reason they are useless . They are heavy , the handles sucks and they have to be modified - a bunch of throuble that doesnt deserve the efforts .
Better option is Yapenicas - they hone a little bit harder but the steel is wear resistant and they hold an edge , like an old , mean dog his favourite bone .i have 2 and i confirm that they are amazing shavers . If you rescale rescale something that worth .
That is a reasonable but pointless suggestion. Get rid of one and another will pop up.
"It's a cheap razor that you can experiment with and not worry about destroying it."
The problem with this logic is that it is a cheap razor that is already destroyed when you get it; and you have to hope that you may be able to salvage it.
Aaaaaahhhhh the old GD discussion, I personally have not taken the dip but I migh just to see what all the fuss is about. Then again I bought a Krieger before I had a real razor and used that to test out dremmel action before I took it to a good razor.