Zy Vs Gold Dollar

[Legion]

Who has experience with the Chinese Zy razors? How do they compare to the GD (and which model?)

I've seen these for sale, and the stock pics make them look a little better than a GD, but how is the grind, steel, heat treat, etc?

Are they worth the extra price, or should I just stick to bashing a Gold Dollar into shape if I want to give a friend something to get him started on the cheap?

 

[Cambouis]

I hadn't heard of these. I quite like the look of the 430 and have ordered one.

It was only $10.99 and they claim that it is shave ready!!

C.

 

[Cambouis]

Just to add, the ZY 430 is made from stainless steel and the nice feature is that it has had the heel ground away - unlike the pesky Gold Dollar! Also the seller adds the following enouraging note:

Made with only the most serious shavers in mind,Each razor is sharpened by our 67 years old MASTER(SHIFU).

I shall have to wait at least three weeks before it arrives, so no news from me very soon!

C.

 

[Polarbeard]

From another thread, where someone had made a spectrometer (?) analysis the ZY isn't stainless at all. I have a GD300 that I shave with about twice a year. I also had a ZY that was of such quality that I, after spending many hours on making it shave ready, shaved with it twice and then I tossed it.

 

[Cambouis]

From another thread, where someone had made a spectrometer (?) analysis the ZY isn't stainless at all. I have a GD300 that I shave with about twice a year. I also had a ZY that was of such quality that I, after spending many hours on making it shave ready, shaved with it twice and then I tossed it.

Oh well - it's not a great loss. Perhaps when they say "stainless" they mean surgical steel, which does have chromium alloyed into it but not as much as true stainless? Surgical steel will rust if provoked of course.

C.

 

[Doc226]

The ZYs are great, I would say similar steel much better grind

 

[Cambouis]

The ZYs are great, I would say similar steel much better grind

Ah! That's very cheering!

Thanks.

C.

 

[SpikedLemon]

The ZYs are great, I would say similar steel much better grind

My experience as well. The ZY just saves me a little more time over the GD but otherwise feel the same.

 

[H31N]

My experience as well. The ZY just saves me a little more time over the GD but otherwise feel the same.

Yes, it's shave ready, but far from perfect. I learned to shave with it, and three month later i learned to sharpen it. I didn't recognize it at first, the shave was perfect smooth, obviously my 12K Shapton and then 15K welch slate finishing was far better than Master "Shifu". Well, i don't have a time limit for each knife, i think that explains it.

The Gold Dollars i have were far from shave-ready. Sometimes with geometry issues to fix first. My two ZYs both have perfectly small and even bevels, at least the geometry is far better than with the Gold Dollars. And ZY takes care of the stabilizer and the issues with the tang, you can't put the Gold Dollars on the stone in a head-forward angle. So sharpening a ZY is much more easy.

However, i like Gold Dollars steel more. My two Gold Dollars were a bit better after i learned to take care of the geometry issues. But i'm still a beginner, only five month sharpening experience, so that could all be observations of my own lack of skills...

 

[migralda]

I have no experience with ZY but I bought my first Gold Dollar just a few days ago.. £8.99!
I read up on how to modify it, got out the dremel ground off the stabilizers, reshaped the toe and heel then set to work on the hones.
I have just shaved with it tonight and I have to say for the money absolutely amazing!!

Is it because the blade is much stiffer than an expensive extra hollow ground razor? I don't know but I got a BBS shave with no irritation, very little touch up needed.
No snobbery here, I shall include it in my rotation with Ralf Aust, Revisor, Boker and lots of other respected names!

 

[Adamandlupe]

Does anyone have the little 10000 grit stone/strop combo that they sell with the zy razor? I was thinking it would make a good stone to burnish other stones. Not so much for sharpening razors though! Haha. Looks like the size stones that used to come with cheezy survival knives when I was a kid.

 

[Smattayu]

I had a ZY430 that was not at all shave ready when I got it. It was pretty much identical to my GD208 but with the stabilizer ground off. Once honed properly it shaved well, but I still didn't like it enough to keep it as it was, so I made it my first mod project.

 

[H31N]

Does anyone have the little 10000 grit stone/strop combo that they sell with the zy razor? I was thinking it would make a good stone to burnish other stones. Not so much for sharpening razors though! Haha. Looks like the size stones that used to come with cheezy survival knives when I was a kid.

Was it anything like this ? :

 

[147_Grain]

Oh well - it's not a great loss. Perhaps when they say "stainless" they mean surgical steel, which does have chromium alloyed into it but not as much as true stainless? Surgical steel will rust if provoked of course.

C.

I was the guy who had a ZY 430+ looked at with an x-ray fluorescence gun. It's a 1095-ish alloy with 0% chromium. The "NO STAIN" etching on the show side is hogwash. That being said, it took a good edge and shaved fine.

The heels on the ones I bought mostly looked like well-done heel removals on GD66s, though one was very rough to the point that it scratched a hard coticule.

Side note: the GD66 that I had looked at with XRF was a different alloy with about 0.3% Cr and Si added. Not sure if that's batch-to-batch variation with their supplier, the factory switching suppliers, the factory accepting any of several alloys, or if GDs and ZYs are actually made in different places.

 

[totorlekiller]

Was it anything like this ? :

No, it is looks like a King combo hone, but smaller in size. About 2" x 5". The one I received had no mentions of which grit each side is.

As for your stone pictures above. Those are Jades. I have used those quite a bit, although for finish, I use Agate, which can have grits a tad higher.

 

[Legion]

Ok. In for a penny, in for a pound.

I just ordered a 430, which the seller was combining with a GD 208. The 208 I already have is (after a fair bit of work) a good shaver, so I consider this a minimal risk purchase. For under $20 shipped, whatevs.

 

[Adamandlupe]

Was it anything like this ? :

Yes
Looks like that. I think it had the dimentions of the first one. Super little.

 

[H31N]

No, it is looks like a King combo hone, but smaller in size. About 2" x 5". The one I received had no mentions of which grit each side is.

As for your stone pictures above. Those are Jades. I have used those quite a bit, although for finish, I use Agate, which can have grits a tad higher.

Yes
Looks like that. I think it had the dimentions of the first one. Super little.

Perhaps this one?



The vendor offers different kinds of chinese standard abrasives. Whatever you use it for, if it works, then it served a good purpose...

I found the jades to be very inconsistent in quality, pictures don't match the type that is delivered and of course each natural stone is different and mother nature does't supply any quality assurances. But i agree, the white agate type seem to be a bit more consistent. That's at least what i heard in other posts.

I recently ordered a green translucent type in BIG (like 8x2), but mostly for decorative reasons. There is always the hope, that sometimes the pictures at least resemble the delivered item.

 

[macdad]

I was the guy who had a ZY 430+ looked at with an x-ray fluorescence gun. It's a 1095-ish alloy with 0% chromium. The "NO STAIN" etching on the show side is hogwash. That being said, it took a good edge and shaved fine.

The heels on the ones I bought mostly looked like well-done heel removals on GD66s, though one was very rough to the point that it scratched a hard coticule.

Side note: the GD66 that I had looked at with XRF was a different alloy with about 0.3% Cr and Si added. Not sure if that's batch-to-batch variation with their supplier, the factory switching suppliers, the factory accepting any of several alloys, or if GDs and ZYs are actually made in different places.

I don't know about percentages, but I would be willing to bet it is batch to batch variation. We have several steel suppliers where I work. They all talk about the crap steel that comes out of China. It seems to be very inconsistent and unreliable.

That being said, I have 5 Gold dollar razors. I have created a new bevel on 2 of them. They are both quite sharp now and seem to hold an edge quite well. However, I don't know how long a razor should hold an edge before re-honing, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

I may buy a ZY to see if the geometry is better. The Gold Dollars are just plain ugly!

 

[Adamandlupe]

The zy razors do look much better than gd in the pictues that I have seen. I think whoever makes/markets the zy razors have a really good understanding of the Westeren market -- "Want a zy razor? How about a zy razor with an accesory? How about a little tiny hone/strop combo? No? Ok how about a strop with paste? No? How about just the paste? No? Ok, how about a zy razor and a gold dollar razor to compare it to? Etc, etc