Thread: Modified Gold Dollar

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.

I use a diamond file or the edge of my diamond lapping plate to complete the radius I do not want to score my stones. The scratch in my strop is hardly noticeable now. I should add file lightly in the same direction as the edge not perpendicular to the edge.

Originally Posted by shooter1

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.

From one newb to another, please lay your strop on a flat surface to strop rather than use it hanging. This will keep you from rolling your edge so easily and will help you form good technique while learning to strop. A wise friend turned me onto this and it made a big difference for me anyway. Good luck, congratulations and best wishes.

Looks like the depot has 5/64" which is about the right clearance for a 1/16" pin. Most razors have an oversize hole anyway.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...20&marketID=48

The link wont fully copy so do a search or go to home depot.

Just maybe a carbide drill, It may be possible to anneal the tang and drill it. I guess it's worth a try.

Ok I just annealed the tang, keeping the blade cool with water. I then center drilled and drilled the tang using high speed steel drill bit. Problem solved.

Originally Posted by qdaddy

From one newb to another, please lay your strop on a flat surface to strop rather than use it hanging. This will keep you from rolling your edge so easily and will help you form good technique while learning to strop. A wise friend turned me onto this and it made a big difference for me anyway. Good luck, congratulations and best wishes.

But when you hang it, you'll have to learn all over again.... also, much easier to wreck an edge on a hard surface than on a hanging strop...

In CHesterton's Orthodoxy he mentions how he set out to find the very best ways of believing, how to rationalise his beliefs, and escape from all the dead white men of the past... and that after much pain and toil he found that the dead white men of the past were right after all.

What do we lean from this? That if you're new to the art, don't go around contradicting the good advice of much older, more learned craftsmen. They probably recommend certain things for darn good reasons.