Gold Dollar actually turned out… great.

[Nhenson0986]

Hey guys,

So I picked up a $9 Gold Dollar 66 7/8s awhile back to experiment with. It came with the predictable toe and heel issues that these Chinese razors typically ship with.

I ran through a progression of the following:

Cerax 1010
La Lune slurry to running water
Black Shadow slurry to running water
Green Shadow slurry to running water

It actually shaves unbelievably well. If it had a pair of nice scales on it the razor would in my lineup.

It shaved great, but I decided anyway to run it on my black ark. It is glassy smooth. Not toothy, not too sharp. I’m actually impressed.

I don’t know if anyone can make out the scratch pattern from these photos, but I don’t regret 9 bucks on this thing.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

Yup, once dialed in, they shave well.

I honed one for a guy recently, and put a 10k Suehiro edge on it, it shave well off that edge. I have had the Suehiro for a couple years and never shaved off it. It was smooth and comfortable, nice blade weight, but could use just a bit more keenness, for me.

Shaved a bit better with a Jnat edge after the 10k.

Put some horn scales on it and it would make a great, travel razor.

 

[Nhenson0986]

Yup, once dialed in, they shave well.

I honed one for a guy recently, and put a 10k Suehiro edge on it, it shave well off that edge. I have had the Suehiro for a couple years and never shaved off it. It was smooth and comfortable, nice blade weight, but could use just a bit more keenness, for me.

Shaved a bit better with a Jnat edge after the 10k.

Put some horn scales on it and it would make a great, travel razor.

Re-scaling would make a really nice razor functionally speaking. If I could polish the logo off and use my cnc laser engraver, one could probably make a really nice piece as a gift.

It shaved wonderfully after the Green Shadow but after the black ark it was about as nice a shave as I’ve had with any of my high end razors.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

Acetone or 600 & 1k wet and dry will remove the logo easily.

 

[buca3152]

Gds shave as well as they're honed. The steel is fine. Fit and finish are lacking. The scales are cheap but functional. I think everyone agrees with that deep down. Some however don't want to admit it for whatever reason. Modern production razors are lacking in many ways at 30 times the price based on what I see and hear.

 

[DrStrange]

Their steel is easier to hone smooth than most others.

 

[Nhenson0986]

Gds shave as well as they're honed. The steel is fine. Fit and finish are lacking. The scales are cheap but functional. I think everyone agrees with that deep down. Some however don't want to admit it for whatever reason. Modern production razors are lacking in many ways at 30 times the price based on what I see and hear.

I’m yet to see how the edge retention is, but it appears to be very suitable. I do notice a difference from my T-I 188, but that may be psychological.

 

[JPO]

You can pollish a turd. It will still be a turd.
This is typical of what I experience using gold dollar "razors"
I honed this gd 208 yesterday using jnats.
So, yes you can hone this steel, and most steel and get a refined edge quite similar to e.g. a German razor.

However, you also need to shave, and complete more then one pass before the edge starts to fail.
This is just after one pass with the grain.
You can actually feel this if you have a good reference edge.

In my opinion, it is all about the steel and the heat threat. You can't make bad steel better with any type of honing.
I typically get 4 to 5 ok shaves from a GD. But they are not close to a real razor made with better steel.
You can get the edge to hold longer, but then you need a duller edge. With a 20 deg bevel angle that will for allot of people not work that well.

 

[DrStrange]

I’m yet to see how the edge retention is, but it appears to be very suitable. I do notice a difference from my T-I 188, but that may be psychological.

It's not psychological.
Their steel is also a little softer than most.

 

[buca3152]

I've gotten 95 shaves out of one honing years ago with a gd.. no pasted strop. Just clean leather. I have not counted lately. But it's a lot. I use one of three. Gd, modern boker and a Japanese western. I hone all three at the same time about once a year. They don't really need it but I do since I have the stones out.

 

[SilverGeezer]

I just got 1996 that would shave straight out of the box. I have never seen that happen before. It needs some work but it was a surprise.

 

[buca3152]

I've seen first hand more than few of them. If you put them on a flat stone the edge doesn't line up. I personally think they are sharpened on a paper wheel which would explain why the edge is short on the stone. I did do a stock 66 this way and found the results to be the same.

 

[natto]

I honed this gd 208 yesterday using jnats.

In my opinion, it is all about the steel and the heat threat. You can't make bad steel better with any type of honing.
I typically get 4 to 5 ok shaves from a GD. But they are not close to a real razor made with better steel.

I am thinking about how to get the most out of such a knife. A little more convexing may improve edge stability.

 

[JPO]

I am thinking about how to get the most out of such a knife. A little more convexing may improve edge stability.

Yes. You can improve the edge retention by introducing some convexity. You can also find a way to add some serrations to compensate for the geometry.
Some natural stones can do this without getting harsh.
For me the best results was from a suita to a hard jnat with just a minimum work on the awasedo with light slurry.
You can make the "razor" work.
I also had to thin the spine to get a usable bevel angle.
Allot of work for something that ended up as a box cutter eventually.
A vintage razor is a much better option in my opinion.

 

[JPO]

I am thinking about how to get the most out of such a knife. A little more convexing may improve edge stability.

I just rehoned and shaved with the same razor.
I used a relative soft suita to create some serrations at the edge.

Then I just did some light work on a lv 4.5 wakasa jnat just to smooth out the edge a little.
Then I did 5 laps on a pasted linen strop to create more convexity.

This shaved almost as well as the previous edge that was taken a step further using a harder stone.
This edge did not start to degrade during my first shave.
You could probably keep this going a few more shaves, and a pasted strop might be able to get you through one or two refreshes.

I have not been able to do something similar with synthetic stones though.

 

[JPO]

#

 

[buca3152]

I have honed hundred and hundreds of gold dollars. I shaved exclusively with them for years and I never had the issues your describing. I honed them the same way I hone any other razor. One of the major causes of chipping in any razor is heavy bevel setting work on diamond plates. Or very long bevel setting sessions. And incomplete work to clean up the prior grit scratches. Not saying this is definitely the case here. Jmo. I see you have laid out your reasons and I have laid out mine. Not looking to go back and forth about it either.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Gold dollars in the right angle/range and with geometry that works and honed properly can shave. They aren't RSO's.

They are inferior to most all vintage steel I've tried... I've never encountered a vintage razor that couldn't hold a 15* or less angle... not counting ones that had been blown up (overheated) during restoration. In my testing GD's tended to fail in the 16-17.5* range. Didn't test enough to find a pattern between the models... I'd assume it's across the board and just a consistency issue... Most would hold a 17* angle, but not all.

Does that matter if you want one @ 18*? Up to you.

I've got one or two around here that I could shave with and not have any complaints... but if you want a thinner blade or a lower edge angle; vintages are going to be a better option.

And honestly; if you're picky and not in a rush, finding and restoring a vintage is/should be less effort and similar in price to making a GD decent (higher price to buy the blade but may not have to rescale... GD's scales are pretty bad, far better than they used to be, but still not good enough for daily use in my book, and cleaning up an old but not abused vintage is much less work than correcting geometry and grind on most of the GD's I've owned).

Finally, GD has expanded on their basic shapes and styles since we started using them... but not necessarily in a good way... some styles are thinner or look better... but I've not seen any that have moved towards being a clean, well-balanced. easy to use razor. The VAST majority of vintages fit that... and GD don't. (To be fair, a lot of the ultra-high dollar artisan 9/8 razors people spend hundreds on don't either).

Where GD's shine are as cheap razor pre-ground blanks for project/hobby builds, like the gold dollar mod competition/etc.

And for practicing/learning honing on something cheap and challenging.


I think the most telling thing was a member here had a little webshop called whipped dog; where he sold the cheapest starter razors he could manage as a service to new straight shavers... They weren't Gold Dollars. They were cheap, honed up vintages. Because (I presume) he found it easier and cheaper to get a good shaving razor by buying ugly vintage razors, fixing functional problems and honing them than by buying and fixing Gold Dollars (which were available for <$2 shipped in bulk).

 

[Stapelfeld]

Acetone or 600 & 1k wet and dry will remove the logo easily.

will just acetone remove it? like with some bounty and acetone?

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

Yea, its just paint, but with some 600 and 1k wet and dry you can polish them up a bit and remove the sanding marks on the blade.