Thread: Gold Dollar?

How long will a gold dollar hold a good edge?

Depends on who put it there, and how its maintained.

More than anyone would possibly ever want to know about Gold Dollar razors:
HERE

Funny thing about Gold Dollar razors, some love them, some hate them, I have no real opinion, because I have no personal experience with that brand. I do however think that Mike hit the nail on the head for the basis of all razor edges. Quality of the edge to start, followed by the maintenance of that edge is the greatest variable. I do not know anyone having done a time test comparison side by side with another razor. Which I think is the underlying question.

From my experience I would rather flush $8 down the toilet than waste any time or $ on a GD razor. I bought one just to play with and did not even enjoy that nor did I ever do anything with it aside from throw it into the garage floor at Mach1 with my buffer. Lesson learned and I will not buy another.
That all said I agree with Mike, who puts the edge on and then from there whom maintains the razor depends on a lot.

Ahhhh the Gold Dollar question. It is about time. One of my first razors was a GD that took a great edge. I only honed it once and I don't ever remember touching it up on a hone at all. I had it for maybe 1.5 -2 years I think before getting rid of it. Cheap scales but with a new set of horn or wood or even bone I think they would be great.

Good or bad, there are better options and if you pay attention not a lot more money either, especially after you spend the time to get it right, Your money, but wise men invest wisely, Tc

After last week, I welcome this thread.

Put it this way...

Do you think that the distance from the spine to the edge should remain uniform along the length of the blade?



Also, try breaking a few Gold Dollars in half. Trust me it is very satisfying. We broke several down in Howard Clark's shop. Howard is one of the best, if not the best, sword makers at least in this country. He is quite knowledgeable of heat treatment and he showed us the very large grain structure of the Gold Dollars. He also demonstrated how much better the steel could be made with proper heat treatment, but of course that ruined the blade by potato-chipping the edge. The point is that the Gold Dollars are dismally heat treated and that is reflected in the quality and durability of the razor's edge.

These razors have poor steel and are badly ground. I ground down the stabilizer in the razor in the photo to allow it to be honed. If you buy one from anyone who has not fixed the stabilizer, you WILL have trouble honing it because the stabilizer will prevent the heel from contacting the hone.

That said, they WILL shave and they can hold an edge for a decent length of time. If you like to hone, then these will give you a lot of opportunity to do so because you will have to touch them up more often than almost any vintage razor.

The edge retention will depend on how often the razor is used. I have one that has been holding its edge for months now, I have used it two times. I have heard some"experts" say they hold edge for 60-90 shaves, but those folks sell them at about 30 bucks profit margin so their claims, of course, have to be taken with a pound of salt.