2016 "Gold Dollar" MOD Competition is ON!

[alpster]

i wish i had the time, money and experiance for this. looks like great fun

You can mod a GD with the best of them with a couple of files, some sandpaper and a coping saw. If you want to go nuts you can get Harbor Freight's version of a Dremel tool for <$20. If you are up to the challenge, PM me your address and I will send you a shiny new GD-66.

 

[paintflinger]

I've got my concept worked out

Swayback with chevron spine work and a French tip. I'm going to try to do 3D printed feather wing scales. Mirror finish. Working name is Chevalier.

Hopefully I can get this done.

 

[Guestabc]

I've got my concept worked out

Swayback with chevron spine work and a French tip. I'm going to try to do 3D printed feather wing scales. Mirror finish. Working name is Chevalier.

Hopefully I can get this done.

Based on that Description, I cannot wait to see this!

 

[CBLindsay]

You can mod a GD with the best of them with a couple of files, some sandpaper and a coping saw. If you want to go nuts you can get Harbor Freight's version of a Dremel tool for <$20. If you are up to the challenge, PM me your address and I will send you a shiny new GD-66.

I did my first razor mod completely with an $8 harbor freight dremel kit. Went nutts on the thing, sanding wheel all over the spine and tang. Then I found out the cutting wheel worked and made all sorts of cuts into the steel. It all turned out in the end but I admit is was lucky to have things that were supposed to stay flat (the spine edge) stay flat enough. Then I found Slash's "basics of gold dollar modification" write up somewhere out on the web. In there somewhere he mentioned the Dragster sander or something like it and it clicked, I have one I can use. I did end up doing a little more thinning on the tang after I had been using the razor a while but for the most part my first razor was all dremel. I even cut the scales out with the cutting wheel and sanded them with the dremel wheel. Talk about flying by the seat of my pants, you set a dremel loose on a piece of wood like that and anything can happen (my second set of scales is much more "abstract")

I don't mean to go fluffing up the competition here but Slash's periodic guidance (which as I mentioned before exist in a more complete write up somewhere in the google-verse should you be luck enough to know how to search the dark web or some such location ...honestly I have no idea how I found it but I currently have it locked on my iPhone in the smallest print you can imagine) served as enough of a guide for me to get started. Seraphim's incredible works of art (one of which I OWN and think is a shaving masterpiece unlike any other) serve as inspiration for what CAN be done and still be used as a daily shaver. jnatcat gave me a link to a copy of scales way back when I was asking a bunch of questions (he was known as panther something or other then) but others have made that PDF available as well. Search the threads and find the scale templates and you will have some classics to start with. Then search for "Bill Ellis" (a big thanks to global dev for that hot lead) and you will learn more than enough about using a spacer vs wedge when assembling the scales. You will still need to figure out how to put it all together but I am telling you man, the day you shave with that razor you made/modified yourself is like no other.

In case you are interested in seeing what an $8 dremel can do when driven by a guy who has NO idea what he is doing, here is a link to the razor I made with the dremel and polished by hand (didn't learn to use the dremel to polish until later!)
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...es-of-my-early-attempts?p=8181817#post8181817

 

[Guestabc]

I did my first razor mod completely with an $8 harbor freight dremel kit. Went nutts on the thing, sanding wheel all over the spine and tang. Then I found out the cutting wheel worked and made all sorts of cuts into the steel. It all turned out in the end but I admit is was lucky to have things that were supposed to stay flat (the spine edge) stay flat enough. Then I found Slash's "basics of gold dollar modification" write up somewhere out on the web. In there somewhere he mentioned the Dragster sander or something like it and it clicked, I have one I can use. I did end up doing a little more thinning on the tang after I had been using the razor a while but for the most part my first razor was all dremel. I even cut the scales out with the cutting wheel and sanded them with the dremel wheel. Talk about flying by the seat of my pants, you set a dremel loose on a piece of wood like that and anything can happen (my second set of scales is much more "abstract")

I don't mean to go fluffing up the competition here but Slash's periodic guidance (which as I mentioned before exist in a more complete write up somewhere in the google-verse should you be luck enough to know how to search the dark web or some such location ...honestly I have no idea how I found it but I currently have it locked on my iPhone in the smallest print you can imagine) served as enough of a guide for me to get started. Seraphim's incredible works of art (one of which I OWN and think is a shaving masterpiece unlike any other) serve as inspiration for what CAN be done and still be used as a daily shaver. jnatcat gave me a link to a copy of scales way back when I was asking a bunch of questions (he was known as panther something or other then) but others have made that PDF available as well. Search the threads and find the scale templates and you will have some classics to start with. Then search for "Bill Ellis" (a big thanks to global dev for that hot lead) and you will learn more than enough about using a spacer vs wedge when assembling the scales. You will still need to figure out how to put it all together but I am telling you man, the day you shave with that razor you made/modified yourself is like no other.

In case you are interested in seeing what an $8 dremel can do when driven by a guy who has NO idea what he is doing, here is a link to the razor I made with the dremel and polished by hand (didn't learn to use the dremel to polish until later!)
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...es-of-my-early-attempts?p=8181817#post8181817

Excellent Chris, but you are Professor Fate, afterall

 

[CBLindsay]

I've got my concept worked out

Swayback with chevron spine work and a French tip. I'm going to try to do 3D printed feather wing scales. Mirror finish. Working name is Chevalier.

Hopefully I can get this done.

I'm not sure what a chevron spine is but it sounds cool. I have a couple ideas in play and one is my version of a French/Irish tip. I have tried a sway back and failed, I would LOVE to try and not fail because that would be cool. I love the idea of a 3-d printed set of scales too.

...Names...I don't think I can win based on any names I might come up with, I certainly lack in THAT department.

 

[CBLindsay]

Excellent Chris, but you are Professor Fate, afterall

Yup. "Hannibal 8" is the name of my submission, no matter WHAT I submit that's the name!

 

[Guestabc]

Yup. "Hannibal 8" is the name of my submission, no matter WHAT I submit that's the name!

AWESOME - "Push the Button Max"

 

[paintflinger]

I'm not sure what a chevron spine is but it sounds cool. I have a couple ideas in play and one is my version of a French/Irish tip. I have tried a sway back and failed, I would LOVE to try and not fail because that would be cool. I love the idea of a 3-d printed set of scales too.

...Names...I don't think I can win based on any names I might come up with, I certainly lack in THAT department.

Pretty much this pattern down the spine.

 

[CBLindsay]

Pretty much this pattern down the spine.

Nice!
with the French tip and sway back, the chevron pattern will really bring "motion" to the flow. Your idea for the scales combined with the image I now have of your razor is amazing. Now as long as you don't send it to one of the guys from the SOTD thread who have the photography skills and programs to have the submission photos taken, the rest of us might stand a chance.

 

[pantoporos aporos]

Got to play with the dremel and the ZY430+ today, and got started on my "shorty" project.

Here's the ZY I started with:



I used the dremel and a couple of cutting discs (they inevitably explode at some point) to cut the blade to roughly 60mm in length. Why that length? Well, that's the width of my coticule, and the ability to hone without x-strokes is appealing to me.

Cutting the blade consisted of a second or two of cutting, followed by dunking the blade into a bowl of iced water. As I got closer to the edge, the cutting intervals shrunk to a half second before dunking, as I am worried about overheating the edge.


Note the exploded cutting wheel. This one shattered as I put the tool down, but the previous one blew up in use, sending fragments all over the place. Remember: Goggles save eyes!

After cutting the blade down, I used a wide sanding disk and a flap wheel to shape the toe and heel of the razor, and to mellow out the shoulders (and make honing easier):


I still need to shape the top of the toe a bit (i.e. the spine near the tip), but I'll leave that for another day. Next steps will include decorating the spine and crafting a set of scales from olive burl (I've made one set with success a few weeks ago, hoping for a repeat)!

 

[paintflinger]

Nice!
with the French tip and sway back, the chevron pattern will really bring "motion" to the flow. Your idea for the scales combined with the image I now have of your razor is amazing. Now as long as you don't send it to one of the guys from the SOTD thread who have the photography skills and programs to have the submission photos taken, the rest of us might stand a chance.

I can't say with any certainty that the razor will look good, but I think I can take some halfway decent photos of my work

 

[CBLindsay]

[MENTION=70368]paintflinger[/MENTION], yes, yes you CAN take decent photos of your work (muttering to myself "dang it")
[MENTION=101934]pantoporos aporos[/MENTION], I found that the fiber enhanced cutting discs last far longer and I have only had one crack. The ones like you have there in your photon have never really cut it (catch the pun) for me. If there is a draw back to the fiber backed disks it would be that they are slightly thicker, if you are doing work that requires thinner lines then you might favor the ones you have. I got my fiber ones in a harbor freight kit but noticed they can be purchased (at a high price in my opinion) at home depot.

That link I posted earlier has a photo of a "shorty" I made by accident. The tip broke off when I was polishing so I has to cut the blade, i'll have to check the length to get a comparison of size so I can get a better visual of the work you are doing. I like the way the toe looks so far ...I was wondering when you said shorty if you might cut more from the heel leaving more tang for a longer more aggressive monkey tail.

 

[majorrich]

Man! I am lovin' this thread! It's getting really interesting!

 

[Devonmoonshire]

You guys are making me want to join in on the fun on this one LOL I will do next years though as I should be nicely settled in to my retirement from Active Duty and will have a lot more time and hopefully a nice job at a home improvement store so I can have access to things I need with a slight discount LOL.


Y'all are making up what looks to be some fantastic projects at this point

 

[stoop]

They are making me wish I had room for tools

 

[Ericaw]

Off to Harbor Freight I go thanks fellas.

 

[Dools]

I'm not in, but, I LOVE to see these razors!!

I'm not in cause' I still haven't finished my shorty from last years comp.

But, I just finished a 66 in Ash, and finished a Cherry 66 in April. I have over 400 shaves on the Cherry GD. It is my daily-driver, and Fav by far. I probably would never have given GD a try if I hadn't landed at this particular shave forum, and, I am Very thankful that I did.



....and, my Cherry (again)



Huge Thanks to All that have inspired with their work.

 

[Devonmoonshire]

I'm not in, but, I LOVE to see these razors!!

I'm not in cause' I still haven't finished my shorty from last years comp.

But, I just finished a 66 in Ash, and finished a Cherry 66 in April. I have over 400 shaves on the Cherry GD. It is my daily-driver, and Fav by far. I probably would never have given GD a try if I hadn't landed at this particular shave forum, and, I am Very thankful that I did.

View attachment 658454

....and, my Cherry (again)

View attachment 658457

Huge Thanks to All that have inspired with their work.

Absolutely Stunning work and ya know, the most important thing about any razor is that it does it's intended duty, to shave you smoothly and comfortably with every shave, and it very much sounds like yours has done exactly that Sir. Very well done and stunning work once again

 

[Devonmoonshire]

Pretty much this pattern down the spine.

Petty Officer Second Class, wonderful chevrons to be sure