Thread: Modified Gold Dollar

I am going to interject my observations at this point. First of all I do not take pictures of every razor that has a problem. I have honed enough razors of various brands and quality to wear out around a dozen or so hones. I am seeing some of the newer Dovo entry level razors with lower quality characteristics. I have honed approximately 700 Gold Dollar razors. I have a rejection rate of about 1.7%. The primary reason for rejection is that the blade is too brittle and will continually micro-chip. I have experienced this mostly with the model 84 and occasionally with a 208. I have not experienced this problem with any of the model 200s. I chose to offer the Gold Dollar razors as my main entry level razor as it was the most economical and highest quality razor I could find. I occasionally have companies trying to promote new razors that send me unsolicited samples. (I interject at this point that I had a few Pakistani razors sent to me that will take and hold an edge. However; at this point I do not plan to introduce this line of products.) None of the samples have met the criteria of high quality and being economical as an entry level razor equal to or even close to the Gold Dollar line. I have bought a number various brands of entry level razors and likewise none in my opinion competes with the Gold Dollar line. To elaborate further about my feelings of the Gold Dollar line would violate the forum rules concerning vendors promoting themselves. I will add this, I appreciate these forums as it enables anyone the opportunity to express themselves.

Originally Posted by Undream

Can't argue with that! Lookin' good.

Can argue with that. Marker tests are not indicative, as once there, you have to take excess steel away from a bevel perspective. Meaning, that razor may have problems you cannot even see at that stage.

Originally Posted by Undream

My 2c... Hydaral, I won't say that your Dovos were never warped, because, there is always the chance that they were.

However, those razors, in their current condition, are impossible to evaluate because any resemblance to their original condition has been altered by improper honing. There is no way anyone in here could determine if the blades were warped they day you pulled them out of the box based on these pictures.

Cheers!

My opinion:

Razor #1 needs to be dropped from discussion, as that thing is roadkill at this point.


Razor #2 does indeed have alot of hone wear as well, but what that tells me, is that even with that much hone wear, the bevel has not been able to meet along the length of the razor.

And the fact that the hone wear is opposite on opposite sides of the razor, even with so much hone wear shows the underlying issue that still remains.

Here's three GDs I had sitting here at my desk, same test.

The flaw that can be seen here is the uneven outline at the heel of all razors. That is an outline flaw, not a warped blade flaw.

Originally Posted by BeBerlin

I beg to differ. The honewear is so massive that there is little use in speculating. Looking at razor #1, I daresay that the problem is the honing, not the razor. Usually that kind of wear is the result of compulsive honing by people with limited experience. They do not know when to stop until they have ground down the razor. And then blame it on a warped blade.

Mind you, I am not saying that an older Dovo could not have such problems. In fact, it is pretty much an established fact that Dovo did have QA problems until about 3 years ago. And yes, razors from that period are still being sold. Which is why we recommend buying pre honed razors from a reputable source who will see such errors and deal with the manufacturer before the potential seller has to do that, one way or another.

Isn't that exactly what has been recommended in regards to buying Gold Dollars as well?

Originally Posted by Kenrup

I am seeing some of the newer Dovo entry level razors with lower quality characteristics.

Fascinating. It must be a conspiracy. I have one of Germany's biggest Dovo retailers right around the corner. They have been honing and selling hundreds of Dovos, including, of course, the Best Quality ones. There were literally none of these problems.

Originally Posted by Kenrup

I am going to interject my observations at this point. First of all I do not take pictures of every razor that has a problem. I have honed enough razors of various brands and quality to wear out around a dozen or so hones. I am seeing some of the newer Dovo entry level razors with lower quality characteristics. I have honed approximately 700 Gold Dollar razors. I have a rejection rate of about 1.7%. The primary reason for rejection is that the blade is too brittle and will continually micro-chip. I have experienced this mostly with the model 84 and occasionally with a 208. I have not experienced this problem with any of the model 200s. I chose to offer the Gold Dollar razors as my main entry level razor as it was the most economical and highest quality razor I could find. I occasionally have companies trying to promote new razors that send me unsolicited samples. (I interject at this point that I had a few Pakistani razors sent to me that will take and hold an edge. However; at this point I do not plan to introduce this line of products.) None of the samples have met the criteria of high quality and being economical as an entry level razor equal to or even close to the Gold Dollar line. I have bought a number various brands of entry level razors and likewise none in my opinion competes with the Gold Dollar line. To elaborate further about my feelings of the Gold Dollar line would violate the forum rules concerning vendors promoting themselves. I will add this, I appreciate these forums as it enables anyone the opportunity to express themselves.

Interesting post. I can say that I am at the opposite perspective here and having honed over 10,000 Dovo Razors, I do not find any lower quality characteristics that you would have readers believe. Actually, I challenge everyone who visits me to pick out a Dovo razor of the hundreds here in sealed boxes and find one that does not lay flat on a hone. I have seen on both the Gold Dollars I have bought and in the many I have honed, significant problems with the grind and finish. Much more so than any Dovo I have ever encountered that has not been destroyed by someones honing.

I have nothing against Gold Dollar razors and would agree with an analogy I saw indicating that these razors are like Williams Soap compared to better products. I find that they can be honed and shave. There is value in that and I have given a few to beginners for that reason.

It is interesting that the TI razors I have seen still have fit and finish problems although not as many as years past, but the grinding on a few that I have seen leaves much to be desired, in my opinion and yet you guys seem to target Dovo's only. There are several other manufacturers out there producing razors again and I think all are nice and yet it is rare that we have any comparisons or pick out one that may not be perfect or that is hard to hone.

At the end of the day, I don't see the benefit from this kind of thing and particularly to the extent that this has been driven to here. I think all points have been made a long time ago and we as vendors should not be involved in this type of discussion at all.

For me to elaborate further would also be a violation of the forum rules concerning vendors promoting themselves.

Thanks,

Lynn

Wow.... sorry for digging this back up from last month... But man this was a longggg read and only took me 3hrs to finish. Looks like i'll be buying a couple Gold Dollars next. Very informative

To me, it seems that the bottom line is simple: It doesn't matter if you're buying a Gold Dollar, Dovo, or any other brand, if you buy from a reputable vendor, particularly one who is a member of SRP, you're going to get a good, serviceable razor. That's certainly been my experience.

Guys, I'm locking this thread as I think we've pretty much covered all there is to cover on these razors.

Thanks,

Stu