Thread: Gold Dollars..which is the best?

I've had a the one with "german steel" in the past. Still just another gold dollar...not a good experience. Mine unfortunate had a warped blade right out of the box and the bevel was only cut on one side making it more of a knife than a straight razor. I was terrified to even put it to my face because I knew it would end badly. I would have rather tried to dig in and shave with a rusty butter knife than that piece of crap. I did however receive a new one after sending pictures of the original razor to the company which turned around and sent me a 208 instead of the one I ordered. Looking at the 208 it had a chip on the edge of the blade so I let a local knife shop who deals with straight razor honing and sharpening rework the blade to get the chip out. Upon receiving it back I test shaved it and to my surprise it was actually a pretty nice shave. Not a torrey or dovo nice shave but overall a nice shave. It shaved like a razor you would actually want to buy as a good starter or intermediate type blade to make sure you actually like using a straight without spending a lot of money on the first one you ever buy. Couldnt complain with the 208 but their quality control is terrible.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

So what your saying is,, Gold Dollar is like a virus,,

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

,,,,,,,,,,,

Originally Posted by Mafuzul

Gold Dollar has been bashed so bad and yet they manage to stick a around. a couple websites even sell them for $49.99, one with custom scales. they don't advertise them as equal to the big boys, but entry level. even people on here play around with them. some even say they can get a excellent shave out of them. They more people bash them, the more I seem to want one. heavily modified by someone from here of course.

There is also no shortage of praise of the sort that 'they shave just as good as any other razor', yet they haven't managed to put out of business, or even challenge, any of the remaining razor manufacturers.
Some people do 'heavy modifications' and others have somebody else do it for them, still I am yet to see one where the crappy quality of the underlying GD has been completely hidden. May be that's just the amateurish work (even when called 'professional', 'artisan', and what not), or may be I'm conditioned to consider the likeness of, say Revisor, 'high quality', and the likeness of GD low quality. I also see some people buy 'custom' razors that look worse than a GD, and brag about the great workmanship and fantastic 'deal' they've got.

I have experience with exactly two GD, so it may well be a statistical aberration, but they were mediocre shavers after my honing (I tried to improve it few times) and still looked like GD (not appealing).
I definitely don't consider them anywhere in the ballpark of any of my Dubl Ducks - not in looks, not in how easy they are to hone, not in how smooth they shave.

They're pretty cheap by the western standards or normal razors, so I don't see why anybody who finds them appealing wouldn't simply buy one. They'll probably have to spend some time on the hones, or pay any of the number of newly-minted honemeisters who have jumped into this as a great business opportunity.

At the end of the day everybody gets to spend their money any way they like.

And time to refill...

Even if I were new day 1 from the reads here a GD would not even come close to being purchased. Only because for just over $100 a Ralf Aust can be had and that razor is hands down so much a great value with great German craftsmanship.

IMO GDs are best viewed as a hardened piece of steel that can be ground into a decent razor if one wants to put in the time. As someone who makes razors, I think buying something that is that far along for $3 is a pretty good deal for someone so inclined. The grain seems to be a bit large from the ones I've seen that people have broken for testing, but I've honed 3 or 4 and have never had problems getting a good, long lasting edge on them.

Now you've reminded me of a story in the shaving book 'Sharp Practice - the man's guide to shaving'

Basically 2 cowboys need a shave to go whoring and have no razor, so they sharpen up their axe and use that.
It states that any blade can be made to shave pretty well but some alot better than others.

Time to get rid of my DDs or find someone else to hone them up I think.
Either way the overwhelming response to a GD never being a great shave has given me an excuse to increase my collection. ..again :-D

Originally Posted by lethalgraphix

I have only seen 4-5 models in the GD. Your right, it is hard to locate info on them. But I believe there are about 10. These are the ones I know of by searching.
I own a 208 that I fiddle with now and then. 66-100 are $1.68-3.56 ea.
200-300 are$4.36-5.86 ea. 800 are $29.67-41.57. And the 900 averages $99.00-109.00

66 ss alloy
100 ss alloy
200 SS alloy
208 cs
300 ssalloy
800 ss advanced alloy ?
900 440c German steel

Goldollar Razor And scissors - buy hair scissors, provide tailoring scissors, manufacture household scissors, supply straight razor

End of discission.

Thanks for providing a website to the factory, I have e-mailed them a link to this thread and all other GD related threads from SRP. Hopefully quality control don't face the firing squad, but if google translate works correctly we can expect a much better product in the near future....

Originally Posted by Grazor

Thanks for providing a website to the factory, I have e-mailed them a link to this thread and all other GD related threads from SRP. Hopefully quality control don't face the firing squad, but if google translate works correctly we can expect a much better product in the near future....

Holy Hanna, if you used google translate to do that you could just as easily started the clock ticking on WWIII.

Bob