Thread: Modified Gold Dollar

If there is a group buy, I would be interested also.

Richmondesi, that's how I read it as well. In any event, I'm in for Ken's group buy.

Stropper I see a possible problem on your GD picture the radius at the transition of the heal to the edge looks like it has a point at the edge. I get that when I remove a lot of metal. The first time it happened that point scratched the strop.

Thanks to the members that have been able to take action on the purchase of these razors. There are several new guys that would like a couple to "hone our skills". Please forgive me for being so moody, its just I have much excitement for this hobby and tend to get grouchy when someone rains on my "un-realistic as it may be" parade. Seraphim, no harm no foul, thanks for trying to prepare me as to not have un-realistic expectations. It's been a few days since I've taken my Paxil for anger issues, looks like I might need to take 1 or.... 5 I assure you guys I have only had good intentions for all of you. Please accept my apologies.

The shave, the short version, wow did I get a great deal on a razor. The longer version, after giving the 208 some laps on the thuringian stone I decided to give the razor the full Monty and did 35 laps on the Shapton 16k and followed that with the chrome oxide bench strop. Test shaves always use Tabac soap in the Moss large scuttle. Out of the shower I lathered up and gave the razor a dozen on the linen and 50 on the leather. I did my standard 3 pass shave. Very nice results smooth comfortable BBS shave. My next question is how many of these shaves will steel deliever. After the shave I splashed on the Capt. Smith's Bayrum. Hmmm tingly. Well this 208 passes the shave test for me. As I look at the razor,fit and finish seems good. The paint on the blade has a clear coat over it that was put on with a brush, but I expect paint and all to be going when the blade meets mr buffer. I like this razor and have a 200 coming. So there's my opinion on the Gold Dollar 208. If you have any question post them and I'll do my best to answer them. Next up is the Gold Monkey.

Are you saying you didn't go and set the bevel, etc, you just gave it some work on the finishing stones?

It is remarkable what a great edge these razors can take, isn't it? I would love to have some sort of double blind experiment, where you hone up one of these, and another "quality" razor, and have people shave with them, and see which one they think is better.

The overall craftsmanship is a little lacking on these, but the performance surely is not*.








*-my biased opinion

Well no I did set the bevel. Here's the progression,First I set the bevel on a Shapton 2k. When I was happy with that I did the standard pyramid starting with 20 laps on Shapton Pro 5k and 8k. Next I gave the razor 50 laps on an Apex Water hone(blue thuringian)and was going to shave with it,as the razor easily passed the HHT. I thought about it though and decided that testing deserved the best chance of sucess and gave it 35 laps on the Shapton 16k and then 20 laps on a chrome oxide bench strop. The razor took a wicked sharp edge and the shave was smooth with no iritation at all. It surpised me and I think I just may have a nice razor here. Now to see how many shaves like this the edge will give,but so far I'm impressed.

Originally Posted by Stropper

Well no I did set the bevel. Here's the progression,First I set the bevel on a Shapton 2k. When I was happy with that I did the standard pyramid starting with 20 laps on Shapton Pro 5k and 8k. Next I gave the razor 50 laps on an Apex Water hone(blue thuringian)and was going to shave with it,as the razor easily passed the HHT. I thought about it though and decided that testing deserved the best chance of sucess and gave it 35 laps on the Shapton 16k and then 20 laps on a chrome oxide bench strop. The razor took a wicked sharp edge and the shave was smooth with no iritation at all. It surpised me and I think I just may have a nice razor here. Now to see how many shaves like this the edge will give,but so far I'm impressed.

Aha, that makes more sense now....

This thread has convinced me that a Gold Dollar would be a great first razor. My order went in yesterday to RupRazor and I am looking forward to it. Being a newb I need one shave ready. I have some junktique store finds to practice and develop my honing skills on in the meantime.

Here's a short report on the Gold Monkey. The same progression was used to hone the razor. I set the bevel on a Shapton Pro 2k,then a pyramid starting with 20 laps on SP 5k and 8k and polished on SG 16k then chrome oxide bench strop. The 3 pass shave was again smooth with no irritation. Gold Dollar seems to use good steel and temper it right. Now the fit and finish does have some issues. First,as jreiter22 noted, there are some high spots where the heel of the blade transitions to the edge(on this razor,but maybe not all of them). These need to be ground down so that the back of the blade makes good contact with the hone if their to high. Mine ground down just with honing. You can see them in the pictures as the polished triangles at the back of the edge where the heel starts to curve up to the tang. I think these can be dealt with by a tough of the Dremel. I like the look of the Gold Monkey and for this price I don't expect a polished finish and if I want one sand paper and a demel with polish should do it. The biggest thing I found was where the hole was drilled in the tang. It's should be about a quarter inch farther toward the monkey tail. There are gimps on the top and bottom of the tang but it is hard to use the standard 3 finger grip as the scales are in the way(for my hands) a 4 finger grip is possible and seemed to work. A small thing but once the blade is tempered I don't think there is any (cheap) way to put another hole in there. I would think this razor was just drilled wrong but the 100 razor has the hole in the same place(see what you think from the pictures),which leads me to think it could be a fixture that is off. I'm undecided whether I should return these razors or at least notify Gold Dollar of the problem. The Gold Monkey gives as good a shave as the 208 but the hole in the tang would bug me and I should say again this issue is with the two razors I got ,could be just a friday thing YMMV. Well there is my $.02 worth.