Quote Originally Posted by 5G62 View Post
Admittedly, I am not familiar with Ningbo. The razor you have in the photo looks to be a pretty hefty blade - larger than a 5/8. At the risk of really showing my ignorance, how do these shave compared to some of the more famous razors - W&B, Boker, etc...? I get that some of it is subjective but you sound like you are familiar with the metallurgy. Thanks!
Well, the one in the pic a few posts up shaves great! At least as good as my Bismarcks. Also the many others I have modded over the years. That razor is far from stock. It is a full regrind. First the edge is straightened and then the spine is thinned, with the edge as the guide so they are absolutely parallel and the bevel angle is brought down to the 16deg to 17deg range. Then the tang is thinned so that the spine is the thickest part of the razor. Then the massive stabilizer is ground away leaving a nice thumb notch, and the rest of the shoulder is ground away so that the blade and tang are faired together in a nice fluid transition. The hollowgrind is pushed up higher into the spine and the body of the blade thinned. Progressive sanding and polishing for cosmetic appearance, and new scales. Method honing. I haven't done any to this degree in a couple of years and I seldom sell them as they represent about 100 hours of my labor and nobody is gonna pay $3k for a razor LOL. But my product line will eventually include a model similar, just not so finished. The twin grinder will help. When I get it built.

As for stock unmodified Gold Dollars, the bevel angle is in most cases around 18deg, a bit on the hefty side. They still shave pretty good, depending on who honed the razor. Generally they are not very aggressive compared to a blade with a more acute bevel angle, which actually can be a good thing for a beginner IF you pull out all the stops and go the extra mile to ensure the best possible edge. There is nothing wrong with the steel. It's just the factory grinding could be a little better, and they are making to a price. The factory workers don't shave with straight razors. The men. Those who shave at all. They don't know how to make a razor. They know how to copy a picture of a razor. As luck would have it, the razors can be made to shave decently enough and only cost a couple bucks wholesale. Spend a half hour honing it, pack it and ship it and you can pay for your film and balsa and pastes and rocks, and have a little bit left over for more beer ingredients. And some lucky noob gets a razor at a reasonable price that is perfect for learning to shave with and to hone. Without trying to pick out a good vintage online from all the crap.

Gold Dollars (or Gold Monkeys... same company) are not going to replace your Solingen or Swedish or Japanese razors. If you have a nice rotation, you don't need one. Unless you are just curious. For a beginner they are a great start. For practice honing, great. If you can get a stock Gold Dollar to treetop silently, you have definitely learned the basics. If you want to put together a 7-set, this is the cheap way to do it. If you want to do some experimenting, these are cheap and expendable. There is even a modding competition over on the B&B forum every year and we get to see some very artistically done razors from both first timers and old hands.

Bottom line is I would rather have a Bismarck or a Tanifuji than a Gold Dollar straight out of the box. But I can afford it. Not everyone can. I would rather have a classic vintage than a stock Gold Dollar. But not everyone knows how to pick a good one. So they have their place and answer a need in a couple of niche markets. And a full blown modified GD is a very nice razor indeed.

The one I sell the most of, and the one I most recommend, is the P81, also often called the model 1996 because the tang is etched with the year that the company was established. It is a shoulderless razor with a slightly slimmer bevel angle than the 66, 100, 206, etc models. It is the easiest to hone and IMHO the nicest shaver out of the box. The steel of all of those razors is the same. They have some SS models but priced a lot higher. I decided not to sell them because with my normal markup, I just don't think they are much of a bargain and I don't think they would sell very well. The P81s I have to continually adjust prices so I sell as many as I care to hone but don't get swamped with orders. The market is reacting quite favorably to that one. The 66 is iconic, the one everyone is familiar with. The 208 has better grinding but is still competitively priced. All are made from the same steel and it is pretty decent steel at that unless your benchmark is finest Swedish or the latest greatest unobtanium alloy.

Compared to your W&B or Boker? I honestly like a GD better than a W&B, hollowground or wedge. They simply don't live up to the hype, to me. Especially the older ones. A vintage Boker will outshave a stock Gold Dollar, if both honed by the same hand. But not by all that much if the honer has experience with Gold Dollars. Don't expect a $4 razor to outshave a $150 razor and you won't be disappointed. YMMV. I realize this is controversial and I can already hear the howls of outrage. I'm just telling it like I see it and I doubt anyone else on this board actually has or even desires to have my level of experience with these razors. But I say again, YMMV.