Straight Razors

jpb1974

How does the Gold Dollar shave hmf? For the price I might take a punt, buy one and give it a try if it shaves well.

hitemfrank

jpb1974 wrote: »

How does the Gold Dollar shave hmf? For the price I might take a punt, buy one and give it a try if it shaves well.

They shave fine once they have been honed.

Out of the box, they wont shave. They all need to be honed properly.If you're lucky you will get one which just needs to be honed.

A lot of them will come with other defects like tang near the pivot will be warped, the grind may not be symetrical, the edge might be in a frown instead of straight and some other stuff. The isssues can be worked out but it takes time.

The main issue they seem to have is the stabillisers can be too wide and really interfere with honing. This was a fairly common issue but I have read about the quality improving and more people are getting them without this issue. The two I bought don't have this issue.

But they do only cost a few quid so if you are considering one, i would say buy a couple. You increase you chances of getting one with decent quality control applied to it (by cheap chinese standards anyway).

I have a second one to hone up, so I could send that your way to try out if you want. I should have time to hone it either tomorrow or saturday and have it ready next week.


Anyway, once you know what you're getting into with a Gold Dollar they are fine. I wouldn't advise someone can't hone to pick one up.

jpb1974

Being honest, it's all the prep and maintenance that puts me off straight razors. I'm not the greatest DIY kinda guy.

I'm down with some sort of flu like symptoms right now so when I get back on my feet I'll give this some further consideration.

Thanks for the response and the loan out offer, will be in touch.

hitemfrank

Once a straight razor has been honed there isn't all that much maintenance to do really. Strop it before a shave, make sure it dry after a shave and once in a while the edge will need a quick touch up to get it back sharp again.

The touch up is just some back and forth strokes on a finishing hone and lapping film makes it really cheap and easy to do.

Raoul

hitemfrank wrote: »

Once a straight razor has been honed there isn't all that much maintenance to do really. Strop it before a shave, make sure it dry after a shave and once in a while the edge will need a quick touch up to get it back sharp again.

The touch up is just some back and forth strokes on a finishing hone and lapping film makes it really cheap and easy to do.

How often does a razor need this touch up? Like how many shave roughly?

As for maintenance, all I do is strop it before the shave and strop it a few times after the shave on the canvas side. Thats it. Takes about 1 min now that I have gotten good at stropping.

hitemfrank

There are different factors that will degrade the edge to the point it needs a touch up. The steel used, your stropping and shaving techniques and some other stuff.

You will know when it needs attention when the razor starts to pull instead of cutting the hair nicely. When it starts to pull you can get it back easily enough with just stropping paste. When the stropping paste becomes ineffective, then the razor will need a hone.h


I just go straight to lapping film when the edge starts to pull as it's really quick to sort the edge out. I also like the edges that lapping film produces, so that's always a plus.

Dramatik

hitemfrank wrote: »

I just go straight to lapping film when the edge starts to pull as it's really quick to sort the edge out. I also like the edges that lapping film produces, so that's always a plus.

What kind of lapping film do you use? Is there anywhere in Ireland that you can get it? I'd be interested trying some of it out

hitemfrank

Cable Monkey have it.

http://www.cablemonkey.ie/fibre-consumables/496-fibre-optic-lapping-film.html

You would want from 12u to 1u to go from bevel setting to finishing. Put a layer of wet paper under the 1u to finish an it should be a comfortable edge.

You need a really flat and smooth surface to put the lapping film on. Some marble tile or a piece of float glass works fine.

Insect Overlord

I bit the bullet and ordered an unseen straight from Whipped Dog last night. Will post a photo when it arrives next week or the week after. Until then?
Beard on! :cool:

Dramatik

hitemfrank wrote: »

Cable Monkey have it.

http://www.cablemonkey.ie/fibre-consumables/496-fibre-optic-lapping-film.html

You would want from 12u to 1u to go from bevel setting to finishing. Put a layer of wet paper under the 1u to finish an it should be a comfortable edge.

You need a really flat and smooth surface to put the lapping film on. Some marble tile or a piece of float glass works fine.

Cheers thanks for that, I'd only be looking for the the finishing stuff, 1u??? , just to see if it's any better than what I'm currently finishing on. Would it be cool to use it on top of a a hone or would that contaminate the hone? I have a small mirror as well, I wonder if that'd be flat enough.

Gran Hermano

Insect Overlord wrote: »

I bit the bullet and ordered an unseen straight from Whipped Dog last night. Will post a photo when it arrives next week or the week after. Until then?
Beard on! :cool:

Keep us posted....

Styptics and superglue on standby?

Insect Overlord

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Keep us posted....

Styptics and superglue on standby?

Thanks for reminding me! I'll get a styptic pencil over the weekend. Am I to take it for granted that I'll get a few cuts? :P

The razor hasn't arrived yet so I'll be keeping my face fuzzy for another week anyway. Closing in on 70 days of growth now. That should be long enough!

hitemfrank

Dramatik wrote: »

Cheers thanks for that, I'd only be looking for the the finishing stuff, 1u??? , just to see if it's any better than what I'm currently finishing on. Would it be cool to use it on top of a a hone or would that contaminate the hone? I have a small mirror as well, I wonder if that'd be flat enough.

The 1u should be fine for finishing on. You can get 0.3u but that can leave a bit of a harsh finish. A good tip for getting the edge feel a little smoother and less harsh is to dampen 2 sheets of ordinary paper and put that under the film to finish on.

I have on a few occasions put the film on a 1k Chosera as I know the Chosera is flat and it's worked well. The back of the film is smooth plastic so there will be no contamination.

The really good thing about the film is that it's really cheap and really easy to use. Very friendly to the beginner.

hitemfrank

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Thanks for reminding me! I'll get a styptic pencil over the weekend. Am I to take it for granted that I'll get a few cuts? :P

The razor hasn't arrived yet so I'll be keeping my face fuzzy for another week anyway. Closing in on 70 days of growth now. That should be long enough!

It shouldn't be too bad. Just take your time and with that much growth make sure your prep is good.

But have a styptic near by, just in case...

Gran Hermano

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Thanks for reminding me! I'll get a styptic pencil over the weekend. Am I to take it for granted that I'll get a few cuts? :P

The razor hasn't arrived yet so I'll be keeping my face fuzzy for another week anyway. Closing in on 70 days of growth now. That should be long enough!

hitemfrank wrote: »

It shouldn't be too bad. Just take your time and with that much growth make sure your prep is good.

But have a styptic near by, just in case...

Just winding you up IO, you've enough practice with DEs and lathering to not lob off an ear lobe.

Reckon you'll be fine. Have you used a straight or shavette before?

Been far to long since I used mine.

Insect Overlord

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Just winding you up IO, you've enough practice with DEs and lathering to not lob off an ear lobe.

Reckon you'll be fine. Have you used a straight or shavette before?

I fell for it too! I will probably do a quick scissors job first to make the first shave a bit easier.

I've never used a straight before. Got 2 or 3 barber shaves, but that's not the same thing.

hitemfrank

Just keep the angle fairly close to your face and you should be pretty much good.

Insect Overlord

Cheers for the advice, lads. I'll watch a few Mantic59 videos and do some more reading between now and then too. Hoping to respect the change, rather than fear it, if that makes sense!

Insect Overlord

Anyone here deal with Whipped Dog before? I ordered a razor 14 days ago and it hasn't arrived yet. Was told to expect an e-mail confirming postage within 7 working days, but that didn't come either. Is this normal? Or should I be making contact with them directly now?

hitemfrank

Send him an email to make sure he sent the razor. When I bought my first razor from him it took a few weeks to get to me. I ordered it in late December, early January at the time.

waraf

Had my first shave with a Gold Dollar straight razor this evening courtesy of Hitemfrank (much appreciated).

I have to say I'm impressed. I thought it would be pretty rubbish given how cheap they are but after a two pass shave I've managed to shave just as close if not closer than I usually get with my usual DE razor.

It makes me wonder why straight razors are so expensive. Is it just the fancy sales we're paying for or is it a much better quality steel on the high end razors?

hitemfrank

Glad to hear it went well for you waraf. Get yourself a strop asap if you dont already have one.



The GD's are so cheap for a number of reasons. The quantity they make, the wages paid to workers, the quality control means there are probably very few that ever fail and need to be scrapped, the scales are awful, they probably have access to cheap steel(doesn't mean poor quality). There are probably tons of other reasons too.

I reckon the factory where they make GD's probably make huge amounts of cutlery and not just razors so the over heads are tiny compared to a company like Dovo. The other companies are making razors in small amounts and are made by skilled craftsmen

Gran Hermano

Hitemfrank, how does the factory 'shave ready' of GDs compare to shave ready of others?
Do they require much more work to get fit for purpose?

hitemfrank

Oh, Gold Dollars dont even claim to come factory shave ready. They will arrive with something of a bevel on them but I'm not sure what they use for it. Certainly not anything designed to get the thing shave ready. Also bear in mind that the scales on all of them will be ****. Absolute ****.

If you're lucky you will get one with minor issues that can be honed right away. It takes a while to get the proper bevel set before you can move on towards finishing. If you're unlucky you will get one with extra metal near the heel of the blade that needs to be removed before you can even start with the bevel setting.

The minor issues would be a slight warp at the tang so it wont affect honing but would bring the blade close to hitting the scales when closing the razor. The grind could also be a little asymmetric - again wont affect the honing really.

I have a 1k stone for setting the bevels on razors and I think it took me the best part of half an hour to get it set on the one I sent to waraf. If I was to hone another one from the start I would start at about 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper to get the bevel set and then the 1k Chosera to refine the bevel and then to lapping film after that.


All in all, for about €4 delivered they are great to practice on, even though the above sounds very negative They shave really nicely once honed.

Gran Hermano

Found this via reddit via mantic59, should be of interest to those who like vintage

http://www.taylors1000.com/manufacturers/manufacturers_all.htm

Dramatik

Also check out: http://strazors.com/index.php?id=326

Some interesting information to be found here, articles, catalogs ect. It has the Henry T. Lummus article which is good for identifying older razors although the scan quality ain't that great (black and white).

johnno1970

Hi,
First time posting on this thread. Just bought a used gold dollar on adverts as I wanted to try straights again. Needs a hone though as its very dull. Any recommendations who I could send it to? ? Gave the whole straights thing a go a few years ago, but was put off after a nasty little chin cut which left a scar for quite a while. Was using a small 3/8's razor I got from whipped dog at the time. That broke a few weeks ago after I dropped it and the blade snapped in two. So thats why I picked up the gold dollar, theres a bit more heft to it. Anyway, if anyone could recommend someone that would be willing to hone this up for me that would be great. Thanks.

skankles

Send a PM to boards member macrob77 he has done them for me in the past. He might oblige if not too busy.

hitemfrank

If macrob is too busy, I'll do it for you.

johnno1970

Thanks a lot Hitemfrank, just waiting to hear back from macrob77. Thats very kind of you to offer. I'll let you know.

johnno1970

@ hitemfrank, can I take you up on your offer to hone the gold dollar?

hitemfrank

johnno1970 wrote: »

@ hitemfrank, can I take you up on your offer to hone the gold dollar?

You certainly can. I'll PM you my address.

Make sure you send it in a padded envelope or it's not likely to get to me.

johnno1970

Big thank you to hitemfrank for honing the gold dollar for me. Good to know there are really nice people out there willing to give up their own time to do a complete stranger a favour. Anyway, received it today and took it for a test drive this evening. Very happy with the results. Its been a while since since my last straight razor shave but the technique has stayed with me thankfully. Looking forward to mastering this now. The bigger blade is definitely easier to use than the smaller 3/8's I previously used. Good job hitemfrank, I owe you one!

hitemfrank

Great to hear it worked well for you, johnno.

johnno1970

Ok hitemfrank, if you were to recommend one lapping film to keep this razor in best condition, what would it be?

hitemfrank

1 micron lapping film should do it. You can get lower than that if required (.3 or .1).

hitemfrank

I should also point out that I normally get my lapping film from cablemonkey.ie but after my last order with them I don't think I'll be going back to them for it.

I ordered 1 micron and 3 micron and I'm fairly certain they gave me 12 and 3. I'm not bothered returning the suspect one for the sake of €2.