Honing & flattening smiling edge on a gold dollar straight razor with lapping film +test vs the Dovo

[StupidBatsy]

Yes, that's the way I did it. Doing it that way, rather than normal honing, does increase the bevel angle but keeps the spine wear down. The W59 comes with a bevel angle of about 15.5° so there is room to decrease the bevel angle by a degree or two.

After bread-knifing, I taped the spine while removing most of the metal from the edge before bevel-set. Once close to bevel-set, I removed the tape and continued as normal using the burr method.

With the bevel set on 1k, I moved on to 3k and 10k (all synthetic) before 5μm, 3μm and 1μm lapping films. Final finishing was done on a full diamond pasted balsa strop progression.

The blade was put through a full balsa strop progression after each shave until there was no noticeable improvement in the blade's edge. From then on it has been maintained on a 0.1μm hanging balsa strop after each shave, like all my SR's.

thats alot of work after every shave. for a normal razor (not a GD) some stroping is enough.

 

[rbscebu]

thats alot of work after every shave. for a normal razor (not a GD) some stroping is enough.

I don't mind work.

The method adopted to remove a smile depends on what you want to achieve. I very much doubt that a smile could be removed from any blade just with stropping, although I'm sure with your beliefs you could.

 

[StupidBatsy]

I don't mind work.

The method adopted to remove a smile depends on what you want to achieve. I very much doubt that a smile could be removed from any blade just with stropping, although I'm sure with your beliefs you could.

sorry i lost you there.

 

[Slash McCoy]

btw, you dont have issues honing such razors? (smile edge and straight spine) i would hope that a curved spine will help to avoid (as much possible) raising the razor spine while honing it...

Just because the edge is not straight, does not mean that the spine can not be straight. Doesn't matter. The spine thickness will vary to make up for it. Just hone. GDs are cheap so if you want to make it straight, then hone it straight, no biggie, but you don't have to.

BTW I wouldn't say GD steel is "soft". A lot of Sheffield razors I have honed have been softer than a GD. Just sayin. And yeah they are cheap. Cheaply made, cheaply sold. Good bang for the buck. QC sucks, but buying two instead of one "just in case", is sensible when they only cost a few bucks each. I love my Bismarcks, but my GDs shave just as good, at a tiny fraction of the price. They aren't pretty, but pretty don't shave.

I have actually watched the brand come up a bit in quality. Years back, they were a lot more challenging to hone than they are now, worse than a Dovo Best Quality. Or maybe not. But anyway yeah if you think they are bad now, you should have seen them 10 years ago. Compared to back then, today they are a joy to hone. They still can benefit from a heel reprofile, but same could be said for a lot of razors.

Behold.

More Gold Dollar Stunt Shaving! Shaving several weeks growth with a Gold Dollar #66 Straight Razor! - YouTube

 

[rbscebu]

.....

Behold.

More Gold Dollar Stunt Shaving! Shaving several weeks growth with a Gold Dollar #66 Straight Razor! - YouTube

Interesting that you SR shave with just one hand and now call a deck a floor .