Thread: Gold Dollar 66 shaving video

Some guys have light beards, tough skins, muscle their way through the stubble on their cheeks with unkeen edges, put up with mediocre results and are proud of it.

Looks like we are going off topic here.

I currently have 12 razors in rotation and they were all honed almost 2 years ago, there are a few that tug just alittle but not bad, my current method is two passes and done.

I’m sure if I honed them all again I would notice a difference but for now it’s ok but they are all going to the stones Jan 1st

100 shaves is doable on one hone. Slicing stroke, and good stropping and drying afterwards is vital imo. I did more than a few counts. Clean flax linen after 50 shaves and then after every 10 worked for me. I'm done experimenting. And I hone about 4x a year.

So, first, guys will shave with anything that will scrape off hair. I see some horrendous edges come in for honing. I always ask, and most say, “I shaved with it the day I sent it to you, it was tugging a bit and cut me a little”.

Back when I was working, I started most days in a gym, and I constantly saw guys shaving with nasty, rusty disposable shavers. So, some folk’s level of sharp is not what most of us would ever consider shaving with.

It’s all about the stropping, years ago a few of us did a test and stropped the same razor on a Chromium Oxide strop daily and shaved with just that one razor for a year or more. The test was to see what happened to the razor, the myth was the Chrome Ox would destroy the edge, (convex/round the edge) or excessively wear the razor.

None of that happened, after about 2 weeks, all the visible stria, (at 400X) was removed and the razor shaved smoking sharp for the rest of the year. No measurable amount of wear occurred. There is a post about the tests somewhere.

I first started shaving with one razor, a strop and a 6inch Ark Translucent, and pretty much kept it shaving with the same razor, a strop and the Translucent for 10 years. Now granted, those edges are not the edges I shave with now, but they were comfortable, bloodless shaves.

I do believe if a razor is properly honed and stropped on linen and leather one can maintain a good shaving edge indefinitely. With paste easily. With paste and a fine hone, like an ark, very easily.

We are honing obsessed and reset a bevel and run through the grits at the drop of a hat, but in most cases for maintenance it is not necessary. Guys were shaving with one razor out of a saddle bag for hundreds of years.

I get it, I probably have more stone than most 10 of you, I hone almost daily, I have more razors than most 100 of you, I find razors, in my shop! Where did that come from?

But yea, you can maintain a razor with just a strop, until you chip it. And yea, you can get a Gold Dollar to shave and shave very well. They are kit razors, but they have gotten much better than they were years ago, they still have issues, but the steel is not bad.

It is all about the stropping. Stropping is under rated, vintage linen is way under rated. I buy old beat up vintage leather strops for the hardware and the linen, most clean up like new and will keep an edge on a razor easily.

Originally Posted by rolodave

A guy I know has two Dovos he bought from AOS three years ago. All he does is strop.

Agree with that recommendation