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Can I make a Gold Dollar 66 shave ready with only a barber hone?

Can I make a Gold Dollar Shave ready (with a lax definition) with my SWATY barber's hone and some Chromium oxide paste?
 
What the others said ... a barbers hone is for maintaining the sharpness of a blade that has already been well-honed. It is not intended for razors that need the bevel to be set.
 
I got my Gold Dollar honed by mysteryrazor.com and it is much sharper than my other razors. I don't know why these GDs get such a bad rap. Very smooth, and I love the weight of the thing.
 
B

bluefoxicy

I got my Gold Dollar honed by mysteryrazor.com and it is much sharper than my other razors. I don't know why these GDs get such a bad rap. Very smooth, and I love the weight of the thing.

Near as I can tell, it's because the steel isn't the best steel in the world; and some people have very loud voices about this.

This behavior confuses me.
 
I think a part of it might be that people need to justify their expensive straights as necessities instead of nice luxuries. Also, I couldn't help but notice that a lot of the very vocal GD haters happen to sell some of the more expensive restored straights....just an observation.
 
Some people have yet to learn some fundamentals of the internet. When they deal with people who have that understanding, it is often in an insulting manner to the latter. The worst mistake you can make on the internet is to think that anything can be presumed to be obscure.

My experience with GD's has thus far been good. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase another should I need another razor in that grind.

But, as others have said, getting ANY factory fresh straight shave ready on a swaty is impractical.
 
Some people have yet to learn some fundamentals of the internet. When they deal with people who have that understanding, it is often in an insulting manner to the latter. The worst mistake you can make on the internet is to think that anything can be presumed to be obscure.

My experience with GD's has thus far been good. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase another should I need another razor in that grind.

But, as others have said, getting ANY factory fresh straight shave ready on a swaty is impractical.

Do you actually have a GD in real ivory?

If so, are there any pics posted?

:^)
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
That depends entirely on how it left the factory. My gut reaction would be "how many years do you have?"

+1

I tried to hone all my razors that didn't have any chips and I wasn't able to get the edge sharp enough to be a smooth and close shave.

Once sharpen, I did maintained the edge on a few razors!
 
First let me state that I personally have not sampled a large enough sample of razors to be statistically significant (Lord knows I've tried). With that understanding, let me proceed to provide somewhat of an answer.

Perhaps it depends on how well the bevel has been set, and that is more an advanced honing question.

Now, that said, I had only a Pike Swaty that was my Great Grandfather's when my first razor, a Kropp, arrived.

The lady I purchased it from had found it in the attic, and was perfectly horrified when I told her (after winning the auction on eBay) I intended to shave with it. (as an aside, I find better razors other places, but we all start somewhere when we don't know better and starting is better than not)

Long story short, the razor shaved like a dream. Even in retrospect as a much more experienced straight razor shaver I can say it was shave ready. But not without uncounted passes on the barber hone, and also a good bit of luck I think.


So, it can be done. I doubt consistent results over many razors, however. I really think I just purchased a well beveled razor. And, keep in mind we are talking about a Gold Dollar vs. a Kropp. China vs. Sheffield.

Can the my experience be replicated? Frankly I've never tried. I truly would think that the probability is much higher with a quality blade with a good bevel.

Just to be clear, I have never used or honed a Gold Dollar so my story is purely anecdotal and is not intended to reflect any opinion of the Gold Dollar.
(But I'll stick to German, Italian, Swedish, French, English, Spanish, and good 'ol USA blades anyway, thank you very much.)

DISCLAIMER Although I've stated with regard to Dovo/TI/Boker comparisons that the person doing the honing is more important that the manufacturer, and that the edge is more important than the maker, those are all quality blades of (what I consider) basically equal value in an expert's hands.

But you have had the razor honed to your satisfaction, so all this is beside the point and perhaps useful to someone in the future. Although you could loose the attitude.
 
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Do you actually have a GD in real ivory?

If so, are there any pics posted?

:^)

My SOTD from today.

Here's an old SOTD that shows the scales better. I thought Bone, but several people told me Ivory. They're nice scales either way.
 
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