welcome brother, and do not sell the gold dollars short. they are amazing shavers once a few mods are made.
Thanks everyone for your words or advise and encouragement.
I'll probably end up picking up a used straight or one of the GD from eBay to play around with stroping and see how it goes.
The seller said the Boker was shave ready and he's a trusted member so take his word on that, so I won't mess around with that one on the strop until I sort of know what I'm doing.
Sounds good. But you should only use the shave-ready Boeker once as received without stropping beforehand. This is just to know what the shave-ready edge is like, as you risk to roll the edge the first time stropping. After the shave, you should dry the blade off and strop for around half (or less) of the laps you normally strop before shaving. For example, I do 60 laps (these are short, 12") before shaving, so 30 laps after shaving. Everybody's method is a little bit different here. After the first shave, you should normally strop before each shave, so once you've shaved with the razor, you're then committed to stropping it! Good luck.
You bought that Boker because Bokers are excellent razors. (At least, that's what you should be telling yourself.) Gold Dollars? Not so much... From what I have read, the steel quality is questionable, and they don't hold or take edges well. You get what you pay for in the world of cutlery. If you pay $20 for a 40-piece set of kitchen knives, be prepared for a poor experience. (Although, some people have never experienced anything else, so they think they're fine. Whatever. You can keep those cheap chinese hunks of garbage that pretend to be knives.) Buy a $100 single high-quality chef's knife? You'd be amazed at how big the difference is. I've had people that were shocked at that price for a knife that we own. But they absolutely ROCK! (Think Wusthof, Henkels, or Shun. THOSE are awesome knives.)
Now, that's just cutting vegetables and meat. Cheap out on a straight razor? Well... do you really want to find out how good that Gold Dollar is using your face? Not me!! If I'm going to buy something that will last a lifetime, I don't plan to cheap out on it. Especially when I'm planning to put that blade to my own face.
It sounds like the folks at "that other forum" have got to you. If I was at home I would send you one to try and I think you would be quite surprised to find it outshaving many if not most of your new or vintage razors. "What you have read" is wrong. The steel is very good. The heat treating and tempering are good. Only the grinding is bad and that can be fixed with dremel and sandpaper and elbow grease, which many on this forum have done and continue to do. This is Gold Dollar country, pilgrim!
Yep, I saw some of the razors in the thread that legion posted earlier. They can definitely be made to shave, so my info was bad and I stand corrected. Amazing how bad or misinformation can be spread so easily, isn't it?
Anyway, enough about GD's! I'd like to see some bigger pics of that Boker!
Before you try to shave with the GD you bought, send it to someone experienced with GD's. Often they can have geometrical issues that need tending to.
I personally don't understand the use of a cheaper razor for stropping practice. It'll be sharp enough to cut your strop. And, no matter how proficient you get you're likely to nick the darn thing anyway. It's a tool. Use it. It's not a priceless painting. Make a newspaper strop if you want to practice. This way you're still doing some effective stropping. I think I mentioned that earlier. Looks like Slash just said it, too.
i won't be shaving with the GD (or GM in my case, Gold Monkey), but rather picked it up for fun. Not sure what I'll do with it, practice with it, PIF it, get it honed or what. It was a $10 purchase, so I'm not to concerned if it sits in my drawer for a few year or get's destroyed by myself trying to hone it when I get around to that.
there seems to be some debate as to whether I should use it as a practice stropping razor or just get it honed and use it, so why don't we all forget about the GD debate for now as the BOKER will be my shaving razor. The GD is clearly a well regarded razor if honed and modded properly and they are dirt cheap. not sure why i purchased it or what i'll do with it, but it's purchased and done, so let's forget about that one for now.
the Boker will be my razor to use, it's coming shave ready, i'll strop it AFTER i use it (not before initial use) and most likely strop the Boker on some newspaper the 1st few times to get used to the motions.
thanks again for the tips Rick & Slash