Thread: Gold Dollars..which is the best?

Originally Posted by mainaman

Someone could start selling GDs at cost, $5 for the blade

It is actually US$2 or less if you source locally.

Originally Posted by RobinK

It is actually US$2 or less if you source locally.

Agree, depends where they are sourced from. The lowest I have seen was something like $3 but the minimum lot was 100 razors.
Any way the only way to cut the profiteering out is to hit them in the bottom line. Not an easy thing to do due to the amount of work needed to actually produce a shavable razor.

Originally Posted by mainaman

Any way the only way to cut the profiteering out is to hit them in the bottom line. Not an easy thing to do due to the amount of work needed to actually produce a shavable razor.

It's not profiteering, it's artisan custom razor manufacture.

Sorry, could not resist.

So you order 100 @US$2 per piece, free shipping. 30 will shave, with a bit of luck 50. A well made modern Western production razor starts at US$75. There is absolutely no way you can undercut the GDGD prices, because the markup is phenomenal.

So, coming back to ethics, who wants to own a tool that was made in a sweat shop? Razor, brush, cheap soap ingredients?

I do not. Which is why I avoid "artisans" and "small vendors" like the plague. Case in point: Straight Razor Designs has no such products in stock. Zero. Because they run their business in an ethical fashion, and they treat their suppliers well. And that, gentlemen, is how business should be.

@RobinK - Robin I recall a previous thread where you claimed ready made Chinese knots were made by children in sweatshops - this time you have named a supplier many of us will have used - TGN. I asked you in that thread what evidence you have to support the claim but don't recall getting a response - so, once again, I'm not disputing you claim but would like to see something backing it up.

For the record, I have several knots from TGN and they are unfailingly good quality - I also have a Thater 2 band finest and it's in a different league.

I feel my point still stands, if you need to spend hours getting the thing perfect, and you need to buy scale materials assuming you want the wretched stock ones gone, what is the actual cost.. Unless you luck into one out of the box that sits on a hone well, it's false value. You can buy any number of old razors for dirt cheap... The sketchy quality would be forgivable if they had the kitch visual value so many of those old, awesome japanese straights do, but they are just dreary on top of it

Originally Posted by RobinK

That is complete and utter bollocks. It is also provably untrue. But what do you expect to hear from someone who sells $2 razors?

Pray tell, how many modern Western production razors have you personally tried and tested?

First let me commend you on using the word bollocks and also trying to be eloquent in the same comment haha.

Anyways I have used around 20 or more straights..most sheffield steel and german produced razors dating from early 1800s to mid 1900s.
Im not trying to sell you anything and because I have no long standing reputation on this forum I have no reason to care what youi think of my statements.
Why would I lie?

anyways, i can tell you for a fact that the NOS G&F Adoration deluxe I own was nothing compared to after I had it honed by the chap mentioned.

Were the people honing all of these blades constant, because that makes a huge difference in your experience.

Originally Posted by UKRob

@RobinK - Robin I recall a previous thread where you claimed ready made Chinese knots were made by children in sweatshops - this time you have named a supplier many of us will have used - TGN. I asked you in that thread what evidence you have to support the claim but don't recall getting a response - so, once again, I'm not disputing you claim but would like to see something backing it up.

Badger Hair Knots - Wet Shaving "All knots are product of China unless otherwise specified." And that is not mentioning the marketing nonsense with five billion grades of badger hair. There are three: black, grey, and silvertip. Black is used for actual brushes, grey can be used for entry level badgers, silvertip is what should be used. Any further questions?

Not all no. In fact only a handful.
The dubl duck I have left is on its way to the same gentleman so that I can truly evaluate it.
I bought it as shave ready and it seems far from it to me.

I do use decent shaving cream (castle forbes), strop (Neil Miller), brush(vintage opal silver tip) in case anyone wondered or thought that I'm a cheap skate in general.

That is probably the source of a certain level of disappointment. You can make an edge behave thousands of different ways good or bad depending on the tools and the ppl using them. If he was the one who made the gd shave to your liking, he should be able to hone the dd just as readily. Those are a breeze to max out.