Thread: Crescent City Razors News for May 2020

New item added: Gold Monkey 777. Limited number available.

DHL finally has my 200pc GD factory order in their posession and delivery is scheduled for Friday, 22 May. I am looking forward to getting some of the GD208 razors ready to go. They hone up relatively easy. That is probably my favorite Gold Dollar model. I finally received, a bit late to do any good, a sample Gold Monkey 666 and in spite of the good reports I have heard on it, the one on my desk does not impress me. Hopefully it is not representative of the model cause I have 100 of them inbound with the 208's. Everyone told me that it was a better razor than the 777 but the five 777's I honed were not too bad, much nicer than the 666 I just got from an ebay seller in the UK. Honestly I don't even know how he honed it. The edge is not straight. Not smiling. Not frowning. Just goes ever which way. It's not really dull, it does treetop a little, but it's just weird. I will look at it tomorrow.

I have a piece of Shinki Hikaku shell cordovan on the way, and I hope to get 4 full size strops and 4 to 6 small travel strops out of it. More details when I have the piece in my hand. These won't be cheap! If I get 4 full size strops out of it, they will probably list at around $140 or so. Travel strops, who knows? I have always thought that because shell rolls without cracking, it would make a very nice travel strop. I know that the shell will be a joy to work with. I could almost see giving these away, with the joy of working in such fine leather my only reward. NOT!!! LOL! That is one expensive piece of leather, pricier than Horween. Sorry bout that! LOL!

Construction of the full size strops will be my usual style, each end having a cowhide bolster, a big heavy D ring, and three chicago screws, no secondary. Width will be 2-3/4" or maybe a full 3". I might sew the bolsters on, rather than use Chicago screws. The travel strops will have sewn triangular bolsters with a single sewn grommet in each end, with a leather thong and/or paracord for hanging from irregular hanging points. My goal is to have zero metal involved. Width on these will be 2" or maybe 2-1/4". I figured I would let SRP and TSD members have first crack at these. I wish I could do the same on B&B but I can't afford the vendor tag over there so I can't promote.

The seller is taking a few days to ship orders right now so I figure early next week I should have the piece, and I will share more details.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the price/quality spectrum, I got the sample "shave ready" GM666 I ordered from a UK ebay seller straightened out nicely. Shaved half and half with it, and a GM777 that is in my rotation. Predictably, both shaved the same, handled the same. The 777 was a bit easier to hone due to the straighter edge and generally more careful grinding. I am hoping that the incoming shipment of GM666 will be better than this one was. Wow that edge was ziggy. Took it to the 120 shapton which did the heavy lifting pretty quickly, with zero chipping, which was quite welcome. I will be using that stone more, in the future, I am sure. Before and after pics tonight or tomorrow on another thread.

Delivery of my case each of GM666 and GD208 still scheduled for Friday. Tracking shows the shipment moving around and getting "processed" a lot but it's not on a plane yet. Knock on wood. Fingers crossed.