Thread: Ruined my first razor.

Not having seen your razor, I will throw out a guess, that you are letting the stabilizer or shoulder ride up on the stone. In the short term you can simply hone the razor with the heel leading a bit, taking care not to let it ride up on the hone. The more permanent fix has been discussed in several threads here and on other forums, and that is reprofiling the heel. Essentially removing the heel "point" altogether. You can grind out a thumb notch and remove the stabilizer, or you can round it using a washer or a coin as a template. Basically the last 3/16" or 1/4" or so of the heel end of the blade will "go away". You mentioned starting over with a Gold Dollar, and most models will benefit from a heel trimming right out of the box. It only takes a few minutes. Without power tools, maybe an hour. It makes honing a LOT easier, especially that critical first bevel setting session.

I used to sell Gold Dollars, shave ready, and will probably resume some day. I have honed and sold literally hundreds of them. They are usually easier to hone than a straight out of the box Dovo "Best Quality", FWIW, but still a handful and still easy to get discouraged with as a beginner, and sometimes you do get a REALLY wonky one. So if you get one, get several. If you destroy one, and discard one due to it simply being an unrejected factory reject, (quality control is pretty slap dash at the factory in Ningbo) then you should still have one or two left to play with. The nice thing about fooling around with GDs is they are utterly expendable. At least until there is a total ban on Chinese goods. The steel is not up there with Swedish or Solingen or vintage American, but it isn't bad so don't worry about anybody throwing shade on them just because they are sold at RSO prices. Yes, a "good" razor is better in nearly every way and detail. But you won't get a quality razor for five bucks any time soon.

I often get down and dirty with very coarse stones, initially beating GDs and some abused vintages into shape. However early in your honing journey I must agree that slow and steady wins the race, and very coarse stones should best be avoided for now. A 600 grit Chosera will handle those Gold Dollars. The steel is not overly hard and usually not very chippy either. A new production 1K Norton also works well. It is a lot coarser than Japanese 1K stones and cuts pretty fast. Be sure you are PROPERLY lapping your stones.

In setting the bevel, you REALLY need a bright work light that casts a single point of very bright illumination, and some magnification. You can absolutely do no better than the 10x Belomo Triplet loupe. The focal distance is ideal because it helps to eliminate accidental contact with the razor's edge. It is a little pricey these days, I bought mine when they were only about half what they sell for now, but it is still worth it. That, and a bright work light, will let you roll the reflected light around on the bevel and see where you have improved bevel surface, and where you do not, and where you have a good apex or intersection between the bevel faces, and where you still have jagged and broken steel that will never get sharp. It does NO GOOD to try to hone a razor with finer stones until the bevel setter has done it's job completely, and well. The bevel is key, and if you aren't sure your bevel is set, then don't waste your time proceeding in the grit progression. Learn to read those reflections as you roll and tilt the blade in the light.

A well set bevel will shave arm hair with ease. WITH EASE. It should even shave your face, although comfort will be lacking, to be charitable about it. More importantly, the edge will pass your detailed visual inspection. Major faults in the edge will not be removed by finer stones in your lifetime. By the 1k Naniwa SuperStone level, your edge should be very consistent and the bevel face should be a nice level plane that goes all the way out to the edge. There should be nothing left to do that the bevel setter can do. There will only be the scratches left by the stone, and the resulting micro teeth in the edge. Each honing stage in your progression must completely remove the coarser scratches left by the preceeding stage, and replace them with its own finer scratches, all the way out to your finisher. Never move up to the next grit until you are sure that the current one has done everything possible for it to do.

If it takes 4 or 5 days to get your first good shave ready edge, that's okay. Eventually you will be doing a razor in an hour. Eventually maybe 20 minutes or even less. But speed is not really the essence. When you are only honing your own razors, there is no timetable and your labor is free, and you should enjoy the ride.

Once you are getting good edges on your GDs, try some more ebay beater vintages. When you master them, try a Dovo Bismarck, and see just how easy honing can be. Very straightforward form factor for honing, and very ergonomic one for shaving with.

The cheapest GD model is the 66 and it is the one most people think of whey you say "Gold Dollar". It is a fairly heavy and clunky razor with a very obtuse bevel angle due to the thick spine. Do yourself a favor and NEVER tape the spine of this model, no matter what. You WANT "spine wear". It is not a thing of beauty in the first place, and you will never grind the spine down so thin that the bevel angle is too acute. Much nicer is the #208 and the P-81, but I don't think I like the new P-81 razors due to the thick and heavy wood scales and monstrously heavy flat metal spacer in lieu of a proper wedge. They used to have acrylic scales that did not overbalance the razor. The 208 has very flimsy but serviceable ABS scales, covered in a checkered pattern plastic layer. The 208 hones up fairly easy, the P-81 better due to not having a full stabilizer. Nevertheless, I suggest rounding off the heel anyway. The model 200 and other "00" models are still more refined but more pricey. The 800 is the best that they make, and costs quite a bit more. The 900 is the most expensive but they suck. The "W" models are meant to look kewl and to have visual appeal to know-nothing fleabay shoppers, so give them a miss.

A slight upgrade over a GD if you want to go Asiatic, is the Titan. The cheapest model Titan, with the ACRM-2 T.H. 60 steel is IMHO the best, and the closest to a traditional Western straight razor. They run about $22 on Ali Express. They are much easier to hone than a GD, as a general rule. While that price is edging up into the range of a decent vintage razor, there are far fewer wild cards involved, so it is worth consideration. I don't care for them simply because they are more expensive than a GD and not as high quality as my favorite current production "quality" razor, the Dovo Bismarck and related models. So to me it has neither the quality I would like, nor the dirt cheap price that can make me philosophical about less than stellar quality. You might find one to be a good stepping stone for you, though.

The Titan is made in Taiwan, and the company is Japanese owned. The bevel angle is not as obtuse as the Gold Dollars. The more expensive models have huge pocketknife scales and spacers, and to me, they are very awkward to shave with, and the harder steel of the premium models is very prone to chipping. The T.H. 60 model is the one you want, and no others. IYAM.