Gold Dollar W59 - Preparing the edge

[rbscebu]

The Gold Dollar W59 SR is not for everyone. Some are intimidated buy the pronounced Spanish point on this razor.

I received my first W59 a few months ago. After putting a Method edge on is, it shaved well. I particularly like the Spanish point as it allowed me to more easily get into those tricky areas to shave.

Over the following months, I futher refined the W59's edge by shaving and giving it more love on my diamond pasted balsa strops. This got the edge up to my shave-ready standard, perform ing a fool's pass in comfort.

Gold Dollar "Classic Quality" (aka W59)

A reasonable quality Gold Dollar

www.badgerandblade.com

A couple of weeks ago I ordered 3 more W59's with the idea that, if they honed up well, I might get some more and make up a poor-man's matching seven-day set. I could have gone cheaper, however I like the blade profile.

 

[rbscebu]

Yesterday my three new W59's arrived from China. As per my original W59, these blades came arm-hair-shave sharp and with a pronounced smiling edge.

I am not a great fan of "happy" blades as I don't enjoy the additional concentration in having to roll the blade as I hone.

My first job on these blades was to remove the smile. This was done by bread-knifing on the edge of a 400 grit synthetic whetstone (cheap) that I have. Next was to reset the bevel and finally give them Method edges.

Here are the new W59's. Top is as received with it's cheerful edge. Middle is one after bread-knifing and the bottom is with a bevel set.

​

 

[rbscebu]

My work on these SR's consists of:

• Bread-knife the smile out on the edge of 400 grit synthetic. This left me with a 180deg bevel angle.
• Removed most of the new edge metal on 400 grit with the spine taped.
• Removed tape and roughly set the bevel on 1k synthetic. Here it shaved arm hairs - just.
• Refined the bevel on a Turkish natural (about 4k) that I have. This got the blade to easily shave arm hairs.
• Tomorrow I'll start my lapping film progression at about 9um and work my way up to 1um. At 1um the edge will be tree-topping at about 5mm.
• From the 1um film, I'll go to diamond pasted balsa strops; 0.5um, 0.25um and 0.1um, finishing on 0.1um hanging balsa strop.

The above should give me a very comfortable SR edge, but not quite comfortable enough to do a fool's pass. That will take about five or six shaves and more diamond pasted balsa stropping to achieve.

Except for the 400 grit, all my honing and balsa stropping is hand held. You don't need the whetstones to achieve this result, you can instead just use the larger lapping films. I use the whetstones because I have a LOT of metal to remove from the W59's to reset the bevel without the smile.

 

[rbscebu]

@global_dev asked:

couple of questions as I received one a W59 in a lot, not sure about it yet.

• are you going to keep the logo on the blade face?
• which of those 3 is your favorite, and why?
• the top one was breadknifed flat?
• how is stropping or the honing flip?

 

[rbscebu]

Yes, I will keep the logo. I have no reason to delete it.

None of them are my favorites yes as I am still honing them to the Method edge. After that I will use them and further refine the edges to my shave-ready standard.

The top was as received, not yet bread-knifed.

My first W59 (not one of the three shown) has been finished with a Method edge and further refined to my shave-ready standard. I have no problems with the stropping/honing flip with any of my W59's. They are just like flipping all my other SR's.

 

[rbscebu]

@Chard52142 asked:

Hi @rbscebu, I am wondering if you can provide some advise about the films you buy from China? I bought from there too but unsure of the quality. I see the lowest grit available is to 0.3micron only. Is it enough for you?
Thanks in advance..

 

[rbscebu]

I buy a set of 7 sheets which go from 30um down to 0.3um. The 0.3um doesn't get used as I go from the 1um film to diamond pasted balsa strops starting at 0.5um. The 30um film is good enough for setting a bevel although I often use a 400/1k synthetic (cheap) for that.

 

[rbscebu]

@Chard52142 asked:

Wow...thanks for a detailed explanation. I understand a bit better now. I have some films left, some Chinese whetstones from 1000k to 10000k, balsa wood and diamond paste up to 0.25um only. Where did you get your 0.1um paste?. I will try again...
"Bread-knife" wow...indeed a lot of work on the W59 smiley.

 

[rbscebu]

I found my 0.5um, 0.25um and 0.1um diamond paste on Amazon. 3 x 5g tubes cost a little under USD 35 plus shipping. With my usage rate, they should last me about 20 to 30 years.

There is no need to bread-knife the W59 if you are happy with the smiling edge that it comes with.

 

[Chard52142]

Thanks for your info...I can only find 0.1um diamond paste from this Amazon seller
TechDiamondTools from the US. 0.5um, 0.25um, and 0.1um x5g cost USD50 plus shipping. Hahahaha. I will try to search in another site. Not easy to find 0.25 to 0.1um paste in Asia.

Appreciate your assistance and would love to see your progress.

 

[rbscebu]

Thanks for your info...I can only find 0.1um diamond paste from this Amazon seller
TechDiamondTools from the US. 0.5um, 0.25um, and 0.1um x5g cost USD50 plus shipping. Hahahaha. I will try to search in another site. Not easy to find 0.25 to 0.1um paste in Asia.

Appreciate your assistance and would love to see your progress.

I bought my diamond pastes from TechDiamondTools in January 2020 for about USD 10 to 13 each.

​

TechDiamondTools on Amazon now shows that they are currently unavailable.

I think I paid about USD 47 total, including shipping to the Philippines. Then I thought that it was expensive. Later I realised they will last me probably for the rest of my life, so I consider it cheap.

 

[Straight up]

I bought the same razor from Amazon without the logo on the face
Link and just realised it's stainless steel. Never had a stainless steel blade so that could be interesting.

 

[rbscebu]

I bought the same razor from Amazon without the logo on the face
Link and just realised it's stainless steel. Never had a stainless steel blade so that could be interesting.

Yes, it's stainless steel, much like VG10. They are harder than normal high carbon steel blades, coming in at about 61 to 63 RHC. This is noticable during honing, taking a bit more effort and time.

Like most VG10 steels, they will stain if left in contact with water so they need to be well dried after use.

After setting and refining the bevels on these razor today, I decided to take a break. The lapping film progression can wait until tomorrow. Right now I am suffering a 36-hour shadow that I am growing to test my barber's shaving skill tomorrow morning.

 

[global_dev]

So some of the the w59 are carbon and some are stainless?

 

[rbscebu]

So some of the the w59 are carbon and some are stainless?

To the best of my knowledge, all W59's are a lower grade stainless steel. By the term "lower grade" I mean that they are more susceptible to corrosion than higher grade stainless steels.

Stainless steel is also a carbon steel, just with some additional alloying elements.

 

[global_dev]

Interesting as some adverts say carbon and some stainless.

 

[rbscebu]

Interesting as some adverts say carbon and some stainless.

Almost all steels are an alloy of iron and added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance. Stainless steel is carbon steel with additional chromium and other alloying elements added to, inter alia, to increase its corrosion resistance.

There is no globally accepted definition as to what constitutes stainless steel. Some believe it can contain 10% chromium or less while other believe it must be 13% or more.

I hope that explains why W59's could said to be carbon steel (true) or stainless steel (true depending on your definition of stainless steel).

 

[camoloc]

The Gold Dollar W59 SR is not for everyone. Some are intimidated buy the pronounced Spanish point on this razor.

I received my first W59 a few months ago. After putting a Method edge on is, it shaved well. I particularly like the Spanish point as it allowed me to more easily get into those tricky areas to shave.

Over the following months, I futher refined the W59's edge by shaving and giving it more love on my diamond pasted balsa strops. This got the edge up to my shave-ready standard, perform ing a fool's pass in comfort.

Gold Dollar "Classic Quality" (aka W59)

A reasonable quality Gold Dollar

www.badgerandblade.com

A couple of weeks ago I ordered 3 more W59's with the idea that, if they honed up well, I might get some more and make up a poor-man's matching seven-day set. I could have gone cheaper, however I like the blade profile.

I like the looks of this particular model.

are they fairly consistent between each or are they for the most part (within reason) similar enough?

camo

 

[rbscebu]

I like the looks of this particular model.

are they fairly consistent between each or are they for the most part (within reason) similar enough?

camo

The finish quality is similar with each at about average for a Gold Dollar. Steel quality and profile is very consistent. Edge smile varies with blade from about 1.5mm to almost 3mm (I like mine to be from 0 to less than about 1mm).

 

[mmrmm]

Yesterday my three new W59's arrived from China. As per my original W59, these blades came arm-hair-shave sharp and with a pronounced smiling edge.

I am not a great fan of "happy" blades as I don't enjoy the additional concentration in having to roll the blade as I hone.

My first job on these blades was to remove the smile. This was done by bread-knifing on the edge of a 400 grit synthetic whetstone (cheap) that I have. Next was to reset the bevel and finally give them Method edges.

Here are the new W59's. Top is as received with it's cheerful edge. Middle is one after bread-knifing and the bottom is with a bevel set.

View attachment 1124560​

New to honing, will start it off with a lapping film kit and a just ordered GD N71. I guess the blade will come similar to what you found on yours. What would you suggest?

A. Progression 3u to 1u w/ wet paper bellow, finish with strap - would it become shave ready?
B. Progression from 30u to A. above - would it get rid of the smile effect you mention?
C. Start with a 100u (part of the kit) and then B. above?

I recognize that the main first struggle to me will be to identify what exactly that new blade needs....