GD razors are made in China. Are they to be avoided?
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GD razors are made in China. Are they to be avoided?
Not necessarily. My experience of them is that with some corrective work they hone up nicely and can give a nice shave. Sometimes the grinds are off and generally they need a bit of work so they can be used - although this caveat is offset by the price that they sell for.
There are a few models available and my advice pertains to the cheapest (I believe) #66 model.
I have avoided them. I understand that once you fix the small issues with geometry that they are ok shavers. I just don't follow that logic of buying a new razor that needs to be fixed in order to shave with it. I would never do it with anything else. There are so many inexpensive shave ready razors out there, many of them are in beautiful condition. Most of the vintage American razors are inexpensive and if you watch the classifieds they pop up with some regularity. Unless you are wanting to learn how to fix problem razors I don't get it. I have a great pair of pants for sale, they are new and once you restitch the seams they will be top quality! YMMV
Gold Dollars and Gold Monkeys are fun to buy and experiment with. Try your hand at reshaping blades, making new scales, etc. If you make a mess of it you haven't destroyed anything of value and you are out a few dollars. On the other hand if you think that you can buy a Gold Dollar and shave with it, that is not going to happen without doing metal work to be able to hone it and then hone it. Due to quality issues it may be an absolute bear to get that done.
If you want a serious razor to use look elsewhere. If you already have the skills and want a week of experimenting/work and MAYBE a useable razor in the end, buy one.
How may vintage American razors sell for $4.17 with any regularity? (That aren't requiring a ton of restoration) because that's how much a Gold Dollar can be had for as a Buy it Now price.
I don't wish to be argumentative and the issues you raise are salient to be sure - but costing less than $5 is their saving grace, IMHO.
Seriously ????
Here
http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...ld-dollar.html
There are nearly 800 posts about Gold Dollars, Bad, Good, and Inbetween
Enjoy the read..
Ok, I can't say that I'll be surprised after hearing your comments.
I just ordered one for $11. A 66 model.
Let the grinding begin. LOL
I just got a 66 and it's seen some dremel work already.
I can tell it will be a bear to hone.
Like anything else in life, you get what you pay for.
Junk, IMO. No help from me........sorry!
But that's the thing!! How many new guys would even know what to fix?? Sure you can get an OK shave after fixing... But if you've never had a good straight or honed, how would you know what you are missing or what to fix?
I would say avoid at all cost until you have at min a year of shaving/honing experience. The Dollar can kill enthusiasm in a noob!
With respect, is this last point in any way empirical and/or from personal experience?
At no point have I advocated a Gold Dollar razor to a beginner, where did you get this from? I simply said that they aren't necessarily to be avoided - I feel that I quantified this by giving the reason of their very cheap price, as well as adding the caveat that they often come with problems. Are they not very cheap and often affected by manufacturing inconsistencies? I feel I gave both aspects a fair portrayal in my post.
See what you started? Haha. The point has been made that it is heresay to avoid them and promote avoiding them based on what others say rather than ones own experience. However if you search through the years of posts on these razors and note who it is that says what, then you get a sense of the issues. When members here have a reputation for detail, insight and vast experience their words carry weight. If you have zero experience with pakistan or chinese made razors, by all means spend the little $ and test it out for yourself. You can then add to this already dead issue. For some its not worth the time to investigate. I personally have experience from picking up various less suitable razor brands in lots I've bought. I know it is not worth my time investment regardless of $ savings. I will also say I just thus week have picked up several american and english razors needing less work to make shave ready for $5-10 each. The geometry on all of them is already sound. But again, is your time worth the hands on knowledge vs the years of experience from highly respected senior members? If so, don't avoid it, buy one and throw it out with the old bic disposables when done investigating!
I couldn't agree more. In fact that's exactly what I did. I ordered one from Mr Pratt and two untouched ones from another vendor. These will not be replacing my nicer more expensive professionally honed everyday shavers. But these will be my honing /stropping practice razors. His (Mr Pratt's) will be my guide line as to what I need to do to get them to that point. I have almost no experience shaving with a straight and none honing one but I know I'm not gonna ruin my good ones through beginner ineptness on my part ! So they do have a place at my house for now.
Whoh!! I never said anything about noobs in response to your post lol!! Matter a fact I said you had a point with respect to cost lol!!
As for empirical evidence... Dude!! I don't know of any scientific body taking on the issue of a smooth shave Via a straight lol! Seriously! If there was... Gillette bought the findings bahahaha!!!
The tone of your post is very confident considering you don't have personal experience with the razors in question and are basing it upon hearsay (Unless I have misread you post).
You may have picked up those razors without problems (For prices all exceeding the Gold Dollar razors) and likewise, some of the Gold Dollar razors are going to inevitably come with decent grinds according to the law of averages - this doesn't prove of disprove anything.
I don't even like the Gold Dollar very much but some of the arguments against them in this thread have been (I'm sorry, no offense meant) unconvincing to say the least.
Dude, yes you did!
"But that's the thing!! How many new guys would even know what to fix?? Sure you can get an OK shave after fixing... But if you've never had a good straight or honed, how would you know what you are missing or what to fix?"
You definitely did buddy! :)
Ok, we'll drop the empirical part, it was silly on my behalf. Do you have personal experience of them? I'm not calling you out but you kinda made a strong statement and I wondered whether this was based upon your own experience or hearsay. Please don't feel I'm attacking you, I'm really not. :)
You know, As you speak to Silverloaf in that manner, you know not of his extensive experience.
You have simply started another gold dollar thread. There are many. They are all the same.
This does not contribute to the forum. If your goal is to clog our pages about Gold Dollars, do a favor. Just chime in on one of the other many threads instead of starting your own dead end thread. JMHO
Damnit, I sense I may have neglected the teachings of How to Make Friends and Influence People in this thread!
It wasn't my intention to cause offense or be abrasive to other members - and I apologise if anything I have said came out this way. :)
You are right, I don't - that's why I asked him what his experience of them was. I don't feel my manner was rude and I'm sorry if it was - it wasn't my intention.
This isn't my thread and nor had I any nefarious intentions - I apologise if this has been the result.
Well, to be honest, it is more like 'how to make friends and NOT have time wasting threads on razors in the razors to avoid list!'
;)
I get the impression that this is something that has been dragged about a lot in the past and people are fed up with it being dragged up time and time again - is this a fair guess?
I must have missed the previous threads where it was discussed, I wasn't aware that this had been discussed ad finitum/ad absurdum and I apologise if it seems I was just dragging it up again.
Lol!! I didn't realize I responded to to two of your posts lol!! My bad too! Hilarious! Sorry!
Yeah I have a Gold dollar, and a Pakistan blade - what can I say?? I was hoping (that and one had a cool elephant etched into it - I like elephants) :).
Honestly, even after I got to knowing a little about honing, I still find mine "tinny" with a harshness to the shave. I try to be nice about them but truth be told I hate them (but note i hate another brand too that isn't cheap either), and were I to have started with one... I would have never continued short of finding something that would settle it down. Maybe I should try again??
That said, I am but one data point. I have read both good and bad about them but I personally could never recommend one.
Thank you for your reply earcutter. :)
That's fair enough, your opinion counts for a lot to me and you've said that it is from your own experience - I certainly can't take that away and nor would I wish to. My experience is that contrary to the hideous hardware and manufacturing inconsistencies, they shave rather well - but they are by no means straight forward and I think it's been highlighted why this is the case.
I realise that this topic seems to have been a source of contention in the past and that my posts might have come across as trolling but I had good intentions at heart.
A ton of new guys (and veterans) never search or use the library. Its new to them... And that's all that matters. That's called enthusiasm! Which is great! This forum as many others rehashes the same old topics over and over. I am OK with that. Every rendition has a new individual seeking... this is what we are all about :)!
that's the whole point why gssixgun posted the link on the first page of this thread. a main purpose of this forum is helping people in the wet shaving community to get the best possible shaves, whether newbies or veterans. these controversial threads always seem to attract a lot of attention and always become debates which cause divisions. there is absolutely no place on this forum for divisive comments and debates. it muddies up the waters of the community. have you ever shaved with muddy water? me neither, but if you know many people who have in the past and they say "don't!" I would refrain from doing so.
to the original poster- sorry this got out of hand quickly, I know that if you pm any of the moderators or honemeisters or restorers, they will give you a completely honest answer that will help.
I thought I had read a great deal of this site but I clearly have a lot more to read. The thread that Glen linked to was fascinating and I wish I'd seen it before now.
I can see how newcomers to straight shaving wouldn't be doing themselves any favors by starting with a Gold Dollar from stock and I had no intention of recommending it to them. I still can't shake the feeling that if you spend $4 and learn a lesson, it's far from the most expensive lesson you'll learn - divorce springs readily to mind.
Yes, it seems to be a broken record thing! Earcutter does make a point on the search function. I have begun to use it more than ever. I also must apologise for my thinking you had started this thread. All it takes is a new guy to come along... They plant a seed and same thing all over, it seems. I almost think some do it on purpose and stand back to laugh! :rofl2:
Now in all honesty I used to collect gold dollars. Granted they were issued by the us mint but gold dollars they were:D and I was paying $335 an ounce for them at that point, my dad convinced me not to sink my savings into them......... the one time I shouldn't have listened to pappy! Now as for the brand in question I have a junk box I keep such razors in as they come to me. A cold dark place..... occasionally I offer them for free to customers just starting out. Usually those customers don't even own a strop when they buy a razor so I try to convince them to practice stropping technique prior to doing it to one of my edges!
On one hand I'm sorry I started this thread, but on the other hand, I learned some things.
I have a Dovo and Ralf Aust to shave with. I have honed the Dovo once.
I would rather not beat the snot out of either of these razors to perfect my honing techniques.
What I have learned here is that 'grinding' will be needed on the Gold Dollar to sweeten the shoulder, and maybe some straightening.
Once it is fixed to where it lays on the stone nicely, the honing practice can begin. It may never become a decent shaver, but maybe I'll become a decent honer.
Also, this junker will be a good test bed for replacing scales. Drilling, shaping, peening, etc. that need to be done at least once before attacking a more valuable piece.
So, for $11, I'll have some fun and will try not to be discouraged by keeping in mind what I'm working on.
Thanks for the help fellows.
For $6US to the front door it has been a good practice razor for me. Before I damaged strop and face trying to learn. I butter knifed the GD and learned to strop with it so as to not damage strop. I use it to practice left handed grips and strokes to become two handed shaver. I've dropped it and banged it. YIKES!! I learned to tighten the pins with it. It has paid for it self ten times over as a practice tool. (^8
I will get a couple more when I graduate to learning to hone touch up and bevel setting.
Being new to SR shaving I find them an inexpensive learning tool for many purposes.
My first razor was a Dovo "Best." I have honed that thing to death, but it still looks great if I can say so myself. :). Tape was my friend.
All joking aside (I am not advocating you don't practice with your Dollar), but because I practiced on my Dovo so much, I have gotten to know the razor really well. So much so, whenever I get a new rock I use my Dovo on it first. Its my benchmark razor :).
Had I practiced on my Dollar maybe I would have learned faster :).
Glad this worked out well! :)
Have fun, I hope you enjoy learning with it. :)
Some people swear by them, others swear at them.
I avoid them not because they are cheap, but because they're inferior as far as I am concerned. I recommend others avoid them as well, but ultimately everybody makes their own decisions and lives with the consequences.
I am certainly happy to not have to deal with these razors ever again, not with their dc-styled grind, not with their aesthetics suitable for 4-year olds' artwork exhibit, not with their shaving prowess which sets a benchmark for the 5% of the hundreds of razors I've tried (the bottom 5% that is).
I know that I will never convince those who think they are great shavers - may be I am just a bad honer I still don't care for them even if they shave like filarmonica (I'd still pay the few hundred for a real filarmonica).
But, cheap is cheap and for the right price lots of things can and get overlooked (that is after one knows enough to recognize overlooking is in order).
This is not unique for the gold dollar razors - I see horrible razors posted here all the time and they get tons of 'should be an easy fix' from guys who've never fixed such a razor. Sure, doing lots of work is 'experience', but I've always found learning from other people's mistakes, whenever possible, the smarter way of learning.
In any case the OP already ordered his razor after the first few responses, so he will find out soon enough if he did well or not.
I've honed a couple modified GD razors and while they took a usable edge I too avoid them. Something that needs that much work to use isn't my idea of a good deal.