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INFO! The 2021 Gold Dollar Modification Competition

How is everyone progressing? It’s a week into June already. is anyone having delivery issues? Progress pictures are always nice!

if anyone is using a Gold Dollar that isn’t a 66 just disclose this when you make your entry. That will help us to see what kind of modifications you made.
 
Two weeks to go! How is everyone doing? It's been awfully quiet in here.

Did everyone get their Gold Dollars in time to work on them? Any trouble finishing on time?

Looking forward to your entries!
 
Well here goes for my first picture

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I'm sorry, but I will not be able to enter with a modification - the razor I was working on cracked.

I wasn't paying enough attention and accidentally had the Dremel turned 180° as what it was supposed to, I had a large felt wheel on it, and the wheel grabbed the edge, and unfortunately the force was sufficiently strong to crack it :mad2:

I wont have time to make a new - it was going quite fine until then...

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I'm sorry, but I will not be able to enter with a modification - the razor I was working on cracked.

I wasn't paying enough attention and accidentally had the Dremel turned 180° as what it was supposed to, I had a large felt wheel on it, and the wheel grabbed the edge, and unfortunately the force was sufficiently strong to crack it :mad2:

I wont have time to make a new - it was going quite fine until then...

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I’m so sorry it didn’t work out. You look like you had the makings of a nice razor going there. Hopefully you’ll make an even better one next year.
 
Progress report : It's getting there. Shaved with it a couple of times - it's not going to win any beauty pageants, but it handles better than expected.

It won’t mean much until I post some pictures, but I liked the idea of a rustic look - partly because my first attempt was always likely to be a bit... um... agricultural. I’ve been thinking of something made (I’m tending towards the word “hewn”) from a solid lump of sawn pine, with all the associated inverted logic of thinking in terms of shaping the slot in the middle rather than a spacer/wedge.

I came up with a “Mk II” idea for some more conventional scales made from bits of an old fence panel, but even after application of a kind of French Dressing (distilled vinegar to kill any nasties, and rapeseed oil to bring some life back into the wood) they were just too brittle. They smelled a bit like a chip shop, too, but I’d been prepared to consider that a “feature” until I broke one.

I was also toying with a Mk III, made from hacking around a beechwood kitchen spatula, but I kept coming back to the Mk I idea, so that’s what’s on there now. Weight isn’t a problem with pine, and I’m not noticing the physical bulk of the scales during shaving - though honing and particularly stropping take a bit more attention.

Since I wanted to justify having bought a cheap Dremel-type tool and associated bits, and as I’d bought two new GD66s in case I broke the first one, I’m having another go running concurrently. There might be another one in the mix later in the week, with acrylic scales. It still has time to go wrong, but at the worst it’s practice for the next one...
 
Progress report : It's getting there. Shaved with it a couple of times - it's not going to win any beauty pageants, but it handles better than expected.

It won’t mean much until I post some pictures, but I liked the idea of a rustic look - partly because my first attempt was always likely to be a bit... um... agricultural. I’ve been thinking of something made (I’m tending towards the word “hewn”) from a solid lump of sawn pine, with all the associated inverted logic of thinking in terms of shaping the slot in the middle rather than a spacer/wedge.

I came up with a “Mk II” idea for some more conventional scales made from bits of an old fence panel, but even after application of a kind of French Dressing (distilled vinegar to kill any nasties, and rapeseed oil to bring some life back into the wood) they were just too brittle. They smelled a bit like a chip shop, too, but I’d been prepared to consider that a “feature” until I broke one.

I was also toying with a Mk III, made from hacking around a beechwood kitchen spatula, but I kept coming back to the Mk I idea, so that’s what’s on there now. Weight isn’t a problem with pine, and I’m not noticing the physical bulk of the scales during shaving - though honing and particularly stropping take a bit more attention.

Since I wanted to justify having bought a cheap Dremel-type tool and associated bits, and as I’d bought two new GD66s in case I broke the first one, I’m having another go running concurrently. There might be another one in the mix later in the week, with acrylic scales. It still has time to go wrong, but at the worst it’s practice for the next one...
Fantastic @Kaldane! Can’t wait to see it.
 
I hate my self for saying this but no progress pictures means no entry in the competition. shm gets my vote.
The actual competition starts on July 1 when everyone who enters shows off their finished work. We’ll hav a new thread for that.
 
Pictures posted in the other thread for the Novice class - thanks to saxonbowman for this year’s arrangements : it’s probably something I’d never have tried without a bit of a kick.

So here we go...

#1 : “Frank”

Hook nose, stabiliser removed, and a bit of spine work to (hopefully) look like the blade - as well as the one-piece pine scales - had been whittled to a basic shape (that’s the inspiration for the name - after the pioneer of the turbojet engine). Scales started life as a bit of 20x30mm : three jigsaw cuts for the two main curves and the slot, then whittled to round the edges, slot filed to accommodate the shape of the blade, then lightly sanded and covered in beeswax.

Satisfactory shave on 31 June.

I also tries some Mk III scales (I broke the Mk II - see above) in beechwood with whittled edges, stained black (“jet” black, geddit?). Haven't tried these yet as I’m having too much fun with the lump of pine and these would make it more like the other razors in the box. But they’re there for when I get fed fed up with the bulk of the Mk I and/or want a bit more pinning practice. Here they are :

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#2 : “Eccentric Tendency”

The name’s an homage to the stories of Iain M. Banks (though I’m sure the real fans will be along soon to point out that Minds classed as Eccentic could subscribe to a whole range of tendencies). Barber’s notch, stabiliser removed and pushed back into almost a thumb notch, three asymmetric notches on the spine, faces of the blade polished bright - but not enough to completely remove all the grind marks. Pins in a one-high-one-low configuration, one with both sets of washers on the outside, scales in transparent grey 3mm acrylic with lots of angles.

Satisfactory shave on 1 July.

Confession time : I wimped out of doing any further finishing work on either after reading shm’s post last week. That one was looking good, and I’m just as likely (if not more) to catch the edge as anyone.

Best of luck to everyone entering.
 
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