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Gold dollar

penn1313

penn1313

Has anyone used on of these from eBay? I want to give one a try and I've seen a few posts of folks that use them. My concern is it not keeping an edge. Do you think it will need constantly honed, or once a good edge is put on will consistent stropping keep the edge keen?

Penn
 
Marco

Marco

B&B's Man in Italy
As any other straight razor, soon or later, it will have to hit the stones. Anyway, once a good edge is put on, you can go on for many shaves just properly stropping. As you feel it starts to pull you can prolong its edge life using pastes or sprays (Diamond, CrOx and CBN).
 
Slash McCoy

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
There are a bunch of threads here on modifying a a GD so that it will hone more easily. A modded GD will generally take and hold an edge just fine, but you have to do a lot of preliminary work first. They are ground by unskilled workers in a Chinese factory who have never even seen a quality straight razor, much less used one. They simply don't know how to grind a razor, and they don't care. It is all about production. Volume. Get that quota! So basically, one should regard a Gold Dollar, especially the popular #66, as simply a half-finished blank. There may be warpage. There may be an assymmetrical bevel and/or spine. The blade will be quite heavy, though you may like that. The bevel angle is very obtuse, often approaching 19 degrees. The shoulder/stabilizer intrudes into the honing plane. The scales aren't pretty. But these issues can all be addressed if you are up to the task.

If you want to mess around with these things, don't get one. Get ten of them. And a Dremel. plenty of the Dremel sanding drums. Lots of sandpaper in various grits. 3u and 1u diamond paste, and finer grit too, if you want a nice mirror finish. A cheap set of diamond hones from Harbor Freight, and a full progression of lapping film or synthetic stones. But mostly, read all the threads on this forum with Gold Dollar somewhere in the title.

My current favorite razor is a Gold Dollar, by the way. Properly modded and honed, it will satisfy. Plus the process of turning a $3 "Piece Of Junk" into a brilliant shaver is very rewarding.
 
R

rimmini

I use a Gold dollar as ONE of my razors. My advice to a newbie or someone who is unskilled at honing and edge would be to forgo these razors in favor of a Dovo "Best Quality" razor. That being said, the above post about GD's coming to you as a half finished blank is accurate. I have the original scales on my GD and it holds an edge well but getting that edge will take a solid two hours of honing and a progression of stones ( your touch up honing stone won't cut it to put an edge on this0. By the time you get around to buying the necessary equipment to turn this "piece of sweat shop crap" into a good shaver ( and they are good once you get the edge), you will easily have spent more money on equipment than you would if you had just bought a quality "shave ready" blade in the first place. Plus you won't have to wait a month to get your blade. Pay your dime and take your chances but that is my opinion.
 
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Slash McCoy

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
Well, I would suggest against a Dovo "Best". IMHO they are scarcely better than a GD200 or 208. The better Dovos are nice, though. I have my eye on the plain version of the Bismarck that Jarrod sells on his site. A Prima Klang would also be really great. The "Best" razors often have the same issues as the GD but you pay 20x the price. Lose/lose.

You are correct in stating that a GD is not a very good newbie razor. I just don't thing a "Best" is, either. Even one claimed to be shave-ready. My pick for a newbie razor would actually be a vintage shave-ready blade from www.whippeddog.com.

And to the OP, I forgot to mention, ANY razor will get dull, and stropping on leather won't prevent that. But you can extend the time before honing is required by stropping after shaving, on pasted balsa. Buy a block of balsa, 3" wide, 12" long, and 3/4" to 1" thick. It shouldn't cost more than about $6. In fact I think that's what I paid for a 36" piece last year. Check your local hobby shop or get it online. Treat one side with 1u diamond paste (www.tedpella.com) and the other side with .25u diamond. Give it a half dozen laps on the coarse side followed by a dozen or two on the fine side after every shave and there is a good chance that IF YOUR STROPPING TECHNIQUE IS GOOD, you might never have to hone a given razor again unless you damage the edge somehow. I have a GD200 that has probably given me 100 shaves without re-honing and it shows no signs of getting dull at all. Some guys will wait until their razor is dull before doing this. I prefer to prevent it from getting dull in the first place. That way I am never using a dull razor.
 
WoodfordReserve-Neat

WoodfordReserve-Neat

I do intend to mod one into a Kami one day. Since I use both hands, I have trouble with the traditional Japanese asymmetrical Ura/Omote grind.
I have seen some sweet looking Kamisori mods made from them...show your western grind Kami mods, please.
 
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Seraphim

Seraphim

penn1313 said:
Has anyone used on of these from eBay? I want to give one a try and I've seen a few posts of folks that use them. My concern is it not keeping an edge. Do you think it will need constantly honed, or once a good edge is put on will consistent stropping keep the edge keen?

Penn
Click to expand...

They are a razor the same as any other, and retain their edge just as well too.
 
chuckr9

chuckr9

I have a couple of GD's modified by Seraphim, and to me they are better than the lower end Dovo "Best" razors. Both can be great shavers, but the GD required a lot of work to get them shave ready - whch must be factored into the cost.
 
T

Tony1951

Well now, I'm glad I saw this thread. I was thinking of buying an entry level Dovo, but maybe that is not a good idea. I was also tempted by a £3.50 Gold Dollar, or one of these which look pretty much like they come out of the same factory, but have wooden scales http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Barber-ST...R-Hollow-Ground-Stainless-Steel-/271017712272 and cost a bit more.

So - maybe I need to just work on the £10 special I already have until I'v got it honed right and just save my money. I'd hate to buy a Dovo for £80 and find it was a dog. Dovos in the UK seem to be sold by Invisible Edge which might be a DOVO owned outlet, or might be a sole distributor, but the guy running it claims to be honing all of them himself to shave ready state. See here - > http://www.dovorazors.com/stockrazors.html

Hope it is ok to post links to sellers like this.

Does Seraphim produce shave ready Gold Dollars as a side business, or just for friends?
 
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Legion

Legion

OTF jewel hunter
Staff member
Tony1951 said:
Well now, I'm glad I saw this thread. I was thinking of buying an entry level Dovo, but maybe that is not a good idea. I was also tempted by a £3.50 Gold Dollar, or one of these which look pretty much like they come out of the same factory, but have wooden scales http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Barber-ST...R-Hollow-Ground-Stainless-Steel-/271017712272 and cost a bit more.

So - maybe I need to just work on the £10 special I already have until I'v got it honed right and just save my money. I'd hate to buy a Dovo for £80 and find it was a dog. Dovos in the UK seem to be sold by Invisible Edge which might be a DOVO owned outlet, or might be a sole distributor, but the guy running it claims to be honing all of them himself to shave ready state. See here - > http://www.dovorazors.com/stockrazors.html

Hope it is ok to post links to sellers like this.

Does Seraphim produce shave ready Gold Dollars as a side business, or just for friends?
Click to expand...

He has no friends. :001_tt2:

Seriously, keep your eye on the hobbyist classified section. He sometimes posts a few for sale in there.
 
T

Tony1951

Thanks guys. I am sorted now.

By the time I woke up to see your offers this morning (nice blades and magical work there) I had already done the deed on one of these.

$wpfdc0f950_05_06.jpg


$wp82317d60_05_06.jpg
 
T

Tony1951

DFSDAILY said:
The Dovo Natural is my main razor and a great performer at that. This is the only time I've seen any one else talking about them in the year that I've had mine. I think you'll be happy with your purchase.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information. One thing I will be glad of is that I will know what a shave ready blade is like. the £10 special I've been trying to sharpen with a roof slate does shave, but the tears in my eyes on the upstroke tell me it ain't yet sharp enough yet even though it wouldn't cut hair when it came. At least I can practice honing on that while the other one is running in. I won't put a stone near the Dovo until I am confident.
 
P

Puerco

That's a beautiful razor, I hate to pop your balloon though: a new Dovo is hardly shave ready. At least mine wasn't, it was duller then my pocketknive.
Funny thing with Dovo is that the warranty expires the second you let it touch a hone...
 
shakin_jake

shakin_jake

Puerco said:
That's a beautiful razor, I hate to pop your balloon though: a new Dovo is hardly shave ready. At least mine wasn't, it was duller then my pocketknive.
Click to expand...




~~~I bought my one and only Thiers Issard from the UK TI/Dovo dealer...Steve sent a shave ready razor to me. I have no doubt the OP's Dovo was sent shave ready as well




Puerco said:
Funny thing with Dovo is that the warranty expires the second you let it touch a hone...
Click to expand...




~~~they're not the only solingen SR concern that does this. Can't blame them really..../look how many they'd take back when the user decides SR shaving isn't their thing...the costs would be passed onto the consumers who actually bought and used their razors. Makes total business sense to me. You buy it, you own it


attachment.php



~~~lovely razor sir!...enjoy!!!


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.
 
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