Thread: Modified Gold Dollar

Originally Posted by jeffegg2

Just received this from eBay and did a test shave. Wow! this is my new standard for sharpness! Still has the cheap feel of the chinese blades, but for the price it was cheaper to buy than get one of mine sharpened.

Let me know when you feel the urge to buy another one. I'll gladly hone one of your other razors, or one you want to buy, for free if it will keep you from buying another one.

Do you know anything else about the silver dollar razor you mentioned? I have never heard of it

Well, there are varied reviews here on the Gold Dollar.

I have an unhoned Gold dollar, and two Dovo's. This first Gold Dollar I plan on using to practice honing.

I just received a 2nd Gold dollar 100 today, the difference was that the seller on ebay hones and strops them to "shave ready".

Wow! I give this razor a 10 on sharpness!! Definately shave ready!

I would rate it about an 8 on quality, only due to the steel quality, and not the scales which are about a 5, and the pins are in need. Perhaps if I re-scaled it, then it would be a good razor. But for a nice Travel ready razor I love it and plan to use it for travel.

Originally Posted by jeffegg2

Well, there are varied reviews here on the Gold Dollar.

I have an unhoned Gold dollar, and two Dovo's. This first Gold Dollar I plan on using to practice honing.

I just received a 2nd Gold dollar 100 today, the difference was that the seller on ebay hones and strops them to "shave ready".

Wow! I give this razor a 10 on sharpness!! Definately shave ready!

I would rate it about an 8 on quality, only due to the steel quality, and not the scales which are about a 5, and the pins are in need. Perhaps if I re-scaled it, then it would be a good razor. But for a nice Travel ready razor I love it and plan to use it for travel.

I really don't want to rain on you parade but as you gain more experience with quality razors you should be ready to adjust your rating scale. WHile I have not shaved with a Gold Dollar I have seen pictures of the metal used on these razors taken through a microscope. I have done some precision metal work for ~ 20 years and have some metallurgy background. The pictures show that the metal has microscopic bubbles throughout the steel. I have seen metal like this when we were trying to save cost with cheaper metal that was graded the same of the more expensive competition. Think tiny pits all through the metal. As the edge comes to a razor edge these pits create a void in the edge. As you are only experienced with a fery few razors I can see how you would rate these blades in comparison to the current cartridge blades. If you search hard enough you probably will be able to find the pics I am referring to on this site. Add to that the negative comments I have read by senior members of this site that have honed many a razors and shaved with some quality steel I can not see the value in these razors. Bottom line is that you are happy with them, for now.

I've just been through this thread:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...-dollar-2.html

I'm an inexperienced honer, working on a Gold Dollar. I understand the problem with the fat shoulder -- let's ignore that for now. I've been keeping the shoulder off the hones, using a heel-forward stroke that get all but 1/8" of the edge.

The bevel was a mess when I got it; it looked like it had been sharpened with a carbide knife sharpener.

I re-set the bevel on 220 / 1K stones till it was even. Off the 220 stone, it felt like a really sharp kitchen knife. It was a little sharper off the 1K. Perfect matte finish on the bevel under a 10x loupe. It wouldn't shave arm hair.

Then I went to 4K / 8K stones. I got a nice polished bevel after 8K, with a smooth edge. It still wouldn't shave arm hair.

I used a CrOxide pasted strop (10 strokes) and 50 strokes on leather. Razor wouldn't "pop" arm hair, and wouldn't shave arm hair. It does raise flakes of dried-out skin.

I repeated the 1K / 4K / 8K / CrOxide / leather sequence again. Same results -- dull razor.

I've used this sequence before, on Solingen and Sheffield and American vintage blades, and it has always worked for me. And (just for my sanity) I checked a blade I'd previously honed -- pop, pop, pop went my arm hair.

Why isn't my standard honing sequence working on the Gold Dollar?

Thanks --

Charles

PS -- I don't know if I want to attempt fixing the shoulder. I have a Dremel, but might not have enough skill with it. The Gold Dollar blade is quite thin -- _that_, they did nicely at the factory.

You are not spending enough time on the 1k I think.

Of course some people have very fine arm hair and cannot shave it no matter what, so who knows.

Originally Posted by cpcohen1945

I've just been through this thread:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...-dollar-2.html

I'm an inexperienced honer, working on a Gold Dollar. I understand the problem with the fat shoulder -- let's ignore that for now. I've been keeping the shoulder off the hones, using a heel-forward stroke that get all but 1/8" of the edge.

The bevel was a mess when I got it; it looked like it had been sharpened with a carbide knife sharpener.

I re-set the bevel on 220 / 1K stones till it was even. Off the 220 stone, it felt like a really sharp kitchen knife. It was a little sharper off the 1K. Perfect matte finish on the bevel under a 10x loupe. It wouldn't shave arm hair.

Then I went to 4K / 8K stones. I got a nice polished bevel after 8K, with a smooth edge. It still wouldn't shave arm hair.

I used a CrOxide pasted strop (10 strokes) and 50 strokes on leather. Razor wouldn't "pop" arm hair, and wouldn't shave arm hair. It does raise flakes of dried-out skin.

I repeated the 1K / 4K / 8K / CrOxide / leather sequence again. Same results -- dull razor.

I've used this sequence before, on Solingen and Sheffield and American vintage blades, and it has always worked for me. And (just for my sanity) I checked a blade I'd previously honed -- pop, pop, pop went my arm hair.

Why isn't my standard honing sequence working on the Gold Dollar?

Thanks --

Charles

PS -- I don't know if I want to attempt fixing the shoulder. I have a Dremel, but might not have enough skill with it. The Gold Dollar blade is quite thin -- _that_, they did nicely at the factory.

Slartibartfast is correct about you are not spending enough time on 1k .
i would add you even not spending enough time on 4 k ether.
why you able to hone rest of the blades a lot easier then Gold Dollar?
You don't know the blade. Never honed it before.
i tell you trick and good luck
Gold D. has a lot harder steel then rest of the blade honed.
now go head to 1k and hone until you find you set pretty good bevel.
move to 4k and stay on it until you will pop up the hair very easily.
then move to 8k
now stay on it until your blade will cut the hairs and they fall off to your blade not jump.
hope this help.
more problem just let us know.
gl

You realise that by ignoring the shoulder you will eventually carve a small notch into the heel of the blade ?

If you can hone your others but not this one it may be due to bad geometry which is challenging your skill level &/or hard or soft steel.

Some time back, someone posted some high-mag photos taken of a Gold Dollar razor he had honed. The pictures showed the evolution of the edge as he progressed through his sharpening regimen, from bevel-set to final polishing on bare linen/leather. One thing that stuck with me was that he later (in the same thread) posted pictures of one Gold Dollar with inferior steel: as he honed, the material would simply crumble away, with no possibility of leaving a sharp edge. That's the problem with cheap stuff: you may get a high-quality piece for next to nothing, but you may also get a paperweight.

As others have said, spend more time on the bevel-set (1k). When your bevel is properly set, you should be able to "pop" arm hair pretty easily (unless your hair is the super-fine stuff alluded to earlier). After 4k, the hair should be falling down on the blade, rather than "popping" and jumping halfway over the blade. But, if you're never able to put a decent bevel on it, I'd send it back to the distributor for a replacement. Cheap or not, you should never be satisfied with subpar quality.

Thanks to everyone . . .

Having reset the bevel and gone through the finer grits twice more, and honing off a bit of the edge right at the heel (to avoid a "hook"):

. . . The blade doesn't quite sound right on the stone, and the heel end isn't
. . . showing as nice a bevel as the toe.

. . . The razor is _almost_ "shave ready", on the 2/3 of the edge toward the toe.

I'm going to try it tomorrow. It's as "done" as it's going to be, from my hands.

I suspect a re-grind of the shoulder (that is, a thinning of the blade near the heel) is what it needs, and I'm not willing to attempt that. And I just can't get the edge _really sharp_.

Thanks again --

. Charles

PS -- I wonder:

. . . Is the "O1" tool steel in the Hart razors really tough to hone? Is there a trade-off between:

. . . long-lived edge and
. . . ease of honing ?

That's another thread, though.<g>