Thread: Had a wierd shave tonight

A couple days ago I had asked here about Gold Dollar razors. Got some good replies and looked through all 80 pages of a string on the subject that ran over several years (got some good info from there, too).
The razor arrived today and I saw some things right off.
The scales are real crappy, but usable.
The blade heel did not stick through the scales when closed (relieved there).
The bevel looked strange on one side like the hollow grind was not deep enough (that needs more pondering).
The tang takes a right turn about 3/32" to 1/8". It doesn't seem to interfere with the blade.
The edge looks like it has some frown.
The heel web needs to be ground down.
All these things will be looked at closer when in the shop.

Now for the shave. I was going to just plop it on the work bench, but decided to give it a run on my face. No stropping, just go shave.
The face was nervous.
Starting at the side burn, the razor just glided smooth as glass. I did a double take, looking to see if I had picked up the Ralf Aust by mistake. I continued shaving and thought this is the smoothest shave I ever had.
On to the other side and the same thing; just gliding a long.
I felt my face and it felt bristly. Looking close I could see stubble. What?
Then it dawned on me that the edge was so dull, that it was like shaving with a butter knife.
I had thought a bad hone job would be uncomfortable.
I guess if it's bad enough, it will be smooth but no hair removal.
So, I have a project in front of me if I decide to work on it. It may be my training ground for bevel setting.

the smoothest way to shave is with the spine instead of the edge no skin burn garenteed !

I hope you have some experience honing blades, you say the tang is bent, if the spine is bent as well you've got a lot of work on your hands

Those razors get a lot of controversy but something that is universally agreed on is that they will at the very least need honing, if not corrective work. I'd probably feel more confident in trying to shave with my cat than a razor which is hardly touted as the most noble of cutlery, prior to any sort of sharpening.

The scales are awful - but I found that if you rub them down with abrasive paper you can at least get rid of that nasty gold logo. I went further and used micromesh and the scales polished to a smooth, plain black surface. In my defense it was for a friend who insisted on having one of those razors as a daily traveling hack and wanted it to be shiny.