Gold Dollar Honing Passaround

[Kentos]

So this is the thread in which we will finally have some opinions on the hone-ability shaveability of Gold Dollar Razors. Granted the shoulder needed some grinding, and the scales are not the best, so I rectified both problems and am sending it out next year to Jeff AKA Trick420.

Here is our list of unlucky participants:

Jeff
Brent
Krodor
Life2Short
David
Jorge
Tom
CyiDev

Jeff please post your opinions good or bad

 

[trick420]

At the moment, my opinion is that I'm stoked to get it!!! Can't wait to shave with it and hone it (and probably rescale it).

Stay tuned here for updates...

Jeff

 

[Obiwan]

Very excited here.

 

[tomjr]

i hope the Tom is me!

 

[Kentos]

Of course it's you Tom! . Happy New Year's all!!

 

[xMackx]

They actually take a pretty nice edge, if you have ever noticed there is a strip of metal where the edge is about 1/4-3/8th of an inch of steel that has a crystalline like pattern on the actual steel edge. I have 2 theories of how/why it's like that. One is they fuse a strip of decent steel where the edge is, or two I see a bunch of people on an assembly line where one guy is heating only the edge with a blow torch then quenching it. Even tho I do prefer vintage quality brands, I find it miraculous that you can buy one of these near full hollow GD's for less than 5 bucks and shaves nice. With other cheap razors they focus on making them pretty and don't function. With these they focus on making them functional but can be beastly looking out of the box.

 

[oscar11]

They actually take a pretty nice edge

I think Mack's post pretty much hit the nail on the head.

 

[global_dev]

At the moment, my opinion is that I'm stoked to get it!!! Can't wait to shave with it and hone it (and probably rescale it).

Stay tuned here for updates...

Jeff

looks like it was already rescaled... but i am interested to see what you do with it.

 

[Kentos]

There is an edge off a jnat sprayed with .05 poly on it ...

Many know it takes good edges, this pass around just gives everyone a chance to prove it to themselves for the cost of shipping it on to the next curious guy.

I am pretty sure each one goes through a conventional razor HT process, as all parts of the razor are equally hard...

 

[Doc226]

I have a GD on the way

 

[honed]

Blasphemy!
You know it can't take an edge, the expert has all ready concluded that!
Why do you give these poor people hope when there are none.

I read it on the Interwebs, they can't be honed!

 

[xMackx]

Blasphemy!
You know it can't take an edge, the expert has all ready concluded that!
Why do you give these poor people hope when there are none.

I read it on the Interwebs, they can't be honed!

Well that's what this pif is for, to give people a chance to make there own opinion from experience. Even the experts say they give a mediocre shave compared to high end brands and vintages. You can't even talk about these razors on other sites because people were fighting too much about their qualities lol.

I think this is neat idea for a pif. Good chance to learn about the most controversial razor ever made! lol

 

[Kentos]

Well test went OK, got a BBS but it wasn't to my liking and lacked the smoothness I am used to. I guess I shouldn't have experimented on it with my unconventional Jnat routine. I would rate the edge an "E" for effort lol. All you guys are gonna reset the bevels anyways so I won't waste my slurry stone on it anymore...Jeff it will go out tomorrow maybe skip the test shave to spare my dignity

 

[Kentos]

Ok, so my wife just informed me tomorrow is a postal holiday...

 

[Legion]

Bwaa! Damn lazy posties! I need to witness this bloodshed now!

 

[Kentos]

Oh yes, there will be blood shed in the name of Pogonomy.

 

[Seraphim]

Oh, the humanity!

 

[trick420]

Well test went OK, got a BBS but it wasn't to my liking and lacked the smoothness I am used to. I guess I shouldn't have experimented on it with my unconventional Jnat routine. I would rate the edge an "E" for effort lol. All you guys are gonna reset the bevels anyways so I won't waste my slurry stone on it anymore...Jeff it will go out tomorrow maybe skip the test shave to spare my dignity

Well, I'm going to test shave with it. I will keep any results from it to myself though so as to not soil your good reputation. After many PM's with Paco664 I'm starting to doubt my own honing abilities... Well, not my ability, but my (lack of) equipment. I've been straight shaving for 15 years, and have been honing with only a 800, 1200, and a 8000 waterstone, for the last 10 - Just recently added a pasted paddle strop to the mix. My guess is that what I consider shaving quality is MUCH lower than most other folks out there.

We shall see though... Bring on the GD!!!

 

[Seraphim]

Sometimes smoothness is obtained by backing off a bit from the super-duper grit levels.

Just something to consider.

 

[Blix]

Sometimes smoothness is obtained by backing off a bit from the super-duper grit levels.

Just something to consider.

Word. Believe it or not, today I had the most awesome shave with a razor honed solely on a 4/8k Norton, just stropping after honing.
No high grit finishers, no pastes, sprays or fancy films.