My father taught me how to shave with _Double Edged Safety Razor_ when I was about 15. One pass for the day. Two for the date. And, Three for the _Color Guard._ Obviously a military family.
If your razor is truly sharp, it's not difficult. Most shavers have never experienced an edge that sharp, and "professional" quality edges are not this sharp. When you only get $20 or $30 to hone a razor, you have to get them in and get them out, and not spend an hour on one razor. The razor in the video was also honed using state of the art methodology, with tools and techniques not yet fully accepted by more conservative segments of the community. Here is a link to a thread for you to read. It is a lot of reading because there are several very long threads linked within and you have to read them from beginning to end, too. Once you have read and retained everything, you will have been exposed to all the knowledge necessary to produce an edge like this one on a razor. www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/newbie-honing-compendium.545370/
Just starting to look at straight blades and found you by accident. Well, that was the best straight razor shave I've ever seen, started out as an 'Old Timer Sixty Niner' to a slick shaven shiny modern man, and without as much as a single nick! Thank you Sir, a real treat to watch 😁👍
A razor is only has good as the person honing it! I have recently purchased the Gold Dollar W59, when it arrived it couldn't shave for toffee, even though the vendor said it was shave ready! But after half an hour on the wet stones and strop, it now shaves just like any other straight razor I own! I must say, that was very impressive to see any straight razor remove that much beard growth without clipping it first, and to go against the grain on your first past made my eyes water!!! Well done young man, just goes to show what a person can do when they know what they are doing! I have just found your channel, and I have subscribed, Best wishes, Neil.
I personally don't care for any of the "W" series Gold Dollars. My favorite model for a long time was the P81 AKA the "1996" which is not the model number but is the year that the company was established, and is etched on the shank with no explanation given. Anyway the actual model designation is the P81, However lately I have been fooling around with the stainless steel models, the 100, which is also made in carbon steel and they are not marked SS or carbon, the 200, 300, and 800. The 900 is overpriced and they can't seem to decide what scales they want to use on it. I particularly like the 300 because it has no stabilizer, same as the P81. I was planning on selling these but I finally got sick and tired of being lied to and stalled on shipping, and after waiting several weeks for the remainder of a partial shipment, i filed with Alibaba for a refund and now i don't think CiCi likes me anymore because of that and because I called her a liar. The company is tremendously frustrating to deal with, and so when I return to selling these again, there are only just so many and then they will be gone forever. ATG (AGainst The Grain) shaving is easy, even on the first pass, even with lots of growth to plow through, if the razor is very sharp and the shave angle is very low and the skin is nice and tight. There is practically zero difference in shave comfort from beginning WTG vs beginning ATG if all the boxes are checked. The thing is, most sharp razors are not sharp. Guys make excuses why their sharp edges aren't as sharp or sharper than a DE (Double Edge) blade. Oh, not possible, of course not possible! LOL LOL LOL yes it is very possible. It is not difficult to take an edge up to DE sharpness and match even the sharpest DE blade, which is the Feather Stainless. I can match the Feather but so far I don't think I have surpassed it, and finally at this level, I have to concede that to make a razor still sharper may be impossible. But that is plenty sharp enough, as you can see. Most ordinary (non-Feather) DE blades can be beat with a straight razor. Not on your basic synth progression to 12k, though. My edges are post finished on a three stage balsa progression. I don't know of any method that is superior to that. The hardest Jnat and the finest Nagura won't get you that edge, though they can, in the hands of a master, exceed the sharpness of the standard 12k synthetic edge. The balsa edge is key to this level of sharpness but it can't be freestyled. To get a Method edge, you have to hone using The Method, with no changes, substitutes, additions or omissions. Unfortunately getting straight shavers to stick to a program is like herding cats. If they weren't independent thinkers and tinkerers they wouldn't be shaving with a straight razor in the first place, right?
@@growleym504 Thanks for the reply my friend! I am quite new to stright razor shaving, it started back in February this year, due to my son buying me a lovely damascus stright razor for my birthday! Since then I got bitten by the bug, and have purchased another 10 or so different stright razors, and many different types of shaving soap! Lol.😆 It has become quite the enjoyable little hobby, and since then I've invested a lot of time and effort into learning how to hone my own blades, and finding it to be quite a learning curve! But thankfully there are a number of fantastic UA-cam channels offering some great help and advice. I quickly realised, many problems with honing is down to like you say not having a stright razor to start with! But It didn't take me long to realise that you can check the geometry of the razor by doing the tap and wobble test on a nice flat surface, I personally use a granite slab. I find some of the cheaper razors need a bit taken off the spine in order to get them to sit flat on the honing stones! That's why I have been practicing on cheap razors to improve my sharpening ability! You mentioned using a three stage balsa method, and I'm assuming that is with dimond honing compound? This is something else I'm planning on doing in the near future, but I'm trying to save up for some Shapton glass stones at the moment, and boy are they bloody expensive? Thanks for the advice, Best wishes, Neil.
@@MrNed09 check out www.badgerandblade.com and become a member. Then look for a thread entitled "Newbie Honing Compendium". You can also find lots of material on my website, www.growleymonster.com.
Thanks! I didn't want to bore you guys with a long-ass video of me farting around all morning with my shave. Anyway, I usually get done a lot faster, when I haven't gone several weeks without shaving.
Nice video Slash! Your home-made buffalo strop looks nice as well, looks like it has a prime spot in your bathroom right next to the Kanayama. From Biltong & Boerewors.
Actually, the one in front is one of my own compressed cowhide strops, one of the first ones I ever made with that method of leather treatment. The buffalo is barely visible, behind it. I actually prefer the compressed cowhide and the D rings I used on the buffalo were very expensive so I might recycle them. I have a horse shell Cordoban side that I will be making some strops from.
Dang! You look like some young punk kid now (just kidding). Should'a kept the mustache, though. I've got several Gold Dollar Razors & hone all of my razors. Another secret is that a lot of folks just don't strop enough before a shave - 30-60 licks are needed to get it to the optimum smoothest edge.
He didn't have any nicks cause he's of a type born of a generation that weren't raised like candy asses so his face has thick tough skin. Seriously though exceptionally done with skill, precision, and confidence that can only come with experience.
Noticed the T.P. roll was empty, might want to do something about that😉 Hope this finds you well. Stay healthy and give a holler sometime. Best to you and yours.
Well, we don't use TP very much. We got automatic heinie-washer terlet seats. Spray, blow dry, nice and clean and fresh, no smeary paper, no poke-through hazard. Hands-free hygeine. Honestly we only put it out for guests who are intimidated by all the buttons and functions and adjustments, and would rather smear than wash because that is what they are familiar with.
@@growleym504 thanks for the reply, glad you’re doing good and hope to see you two some day. Not sure when the opportunity will come, but would love to come down to your neck of the woods and visit. Time and money, mostly the time!😎 Be well…….
@@growleym504 Larry sells great brushes . I have 3 boars and 3 badgers and they are some of the best brushes. Time to add his 30 mm. A video on your regular used equipment would be great, if you feel like it !
@@manishbhoola The brush is my daily driver. For the price, can't beat it. I actually have three of that model. I have never seen reason to spend $300 for a shaving brush that doesn't do the job any better than a $40 brush. The two strops you see are also my usuals. The wider one with the Chicago screw construction is one I made, from pressed and glass burnished cowhide, my own process. The other of course is a Kanayama, a very good horse shell cordoban strop, highly regarded, cult following but it really is that nice. I have many more, nice ones and cheap crappy ones. As for the razor, I have several of that model in my stable. My usual "good" razor is a Dovo Bismarck and I have I think 11 of that type, both pre-Dovo Bismarcks and Dovo Bismarcks, Carres, and a Bergischer-Lowe, and all of these are built on the same blank. I occasionally use one of my American vintage razors, of which I probably prefer the Union Spike and I have three of them. Probably half the time I shave with a Gold Dollar 66, P-81, 208, or 800, because why not? So really, that video pretty much does show my usual equipment. The only thing I didn't really show is the pasted balsa, which I use after every shave. It keeps my edges extremely sharp and I get a nice comfortable shave using my method.
@@growleym504 I've read a lot on your threads about your love for the bismarcks. I've got two of them. Building inventory. I use a gd 66 and 208 as my go to for learning to hone and the method keeps them pretty sharp!
Very few razors are sold shave-ready. Almost none. Gold Dollars straight from the factory are almost as far as they could possibly be from being shave ready. Of course I had to hone it. Shaving with a GD straight out of the box would not be possible in your wildest dreams. However, once well honed and stropped by knowing and experienced hands, the razor shaves as good as any other.
@@growleym504 I see. Now I know why it didn't work. When I first got mine, I tested it out on a small part of my leg and it worked. As I'm new to a straight blade razor, I thought I could shave my face but that didn't work at all. I thought it was my technique. I'm tired of paying $25 for five razor blades. I just found this video on honing and sharpening a blade and I didn't realize so much went into this lost art. Thank you for responding so quickly. I'll post the link to the video on honing and sharpening below this reply. If not appropriate please delete.
@@Tee_Jay_Seas With honemeisters, many (try to) talk the talk, but few walk the walk. Shaving your leg or arm are decent tests for your pocketknife but not for a razor. Take your razor and sweep it through the air 1/4" ABOVE the skin of your forearm. For me to call it sharp enough for shaving, it must sever the tips of at least a couple of hairs with every pass. That is called Treetopping and that is level TTT3. If it won't, then reduce sweep height to 1/8" and if it treetops there, that is TTT2, barely adequate. Near or at skin level but with no pressing is TTT1. It will sort of shave if your skills are up to it, but it won't be nothing nice. If you have to press against the skin that is TTT0. Big fat zero. Now OTOH if it treetops at 1/4" or higher and severs nearly every hair it encounters, that is TTT4, a very good edge indeed. If it does all that without even disturbing the hair, no sound and no sensation, that is TTT5, which is right at the physical limit of how finely honed a razor can be, and sharper than the Feather Hi Stainless DE blade, which is an upper level benchmark of raw cutting ability. Your planets have to really and truly be in alignment to get this near mythical level. I achieve that only rarely and anybody who claims to get TTT5 regularly is probably "mistaken". But there is a lot of "mistaking" in the razor honing world. So learn to use the TTT or TreeTopping Test. It is not the truest gauge of edge quality but it is the easiest for a beginner to do subjectively. There is also HHT, or Hanging Hair Test. Look that up. If you don't land on a Belgian Coticule site, keep searching, that's not the right one. If you just want your shaves to be cheaper, get a vintage Gillette Tech DE razor off ebay and order 100 Feather Hi Stainless blades. These as I said are extremely sharp. In quantity like that they are less than 25 cents per blade. Look on Fleabay and also Amazon. Most guys get a week of shaves out of one blade. You can also use the same blades, snapped in half, in what is called a shavette. This is a razor that is sort of shaped like a straight razor but uses disposable blades. You want the type that uses half DE (double edge) blades because they are cheaper than the special shavette blades. Here's a good one. It is a shameless knockoff of the Feather Artist Club razors which are very good indeed but expensive and use the more expensive Feather long blades. If cost is a driving factor, get this one. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08J9MVBWL . You will probably cut yourself a few times. No worry. Nobody except mafia figures ever died from a shaving cut, to my knowledge. You pay for your self guided lessons with blood. Eventually you will stop cutting yourself and enjoy your shaves, and when you can shave with a shavette, a nice sharp straight razor is a piece of cake. Join a forum. Learn about soaps and brushes and prep. This is even more important than your shaving tool of choice. If you don't prep good, if your lather is not nice and slippery, if you don't map your face, your shaves will suck even with an $1800 custom straight razor. You need a decent strop and to know how to use it, too. No Chinese or Pakistani garbage. You don't want a top shelf strop because you will slice and hack it to bits while learning. Stick with something in the $40 to $60 range for your first strop, and upgrade later if you like. Tony Miller sometimes has such entry level strops and he does great work. heirloomrazorstrop.com/ I am no longer active on Badger and Blade. They pissed me off one time too many. I am still occasionally seen as CrescentCityRazors on Sharp Razor Palace. Check it out and become a member, and ask questions. Don't let the disgruntled old curmudgeons put you off. You can learn a lot about shaving in the manly way there. So go, soak up some background knowledge.
Well, no water shortage here, with the biggest river on the continent less than two miles away. If I lived in Arizona or Australia or some place I would be more conscientious, I am sure. For me, life is too short to spend 1% of it turning a tap on and off.
@@Atomic2998 We got plenty of water. The Mississippi River is only a couple miles away. That's our water supply. What we don't use, just flows into the Gulf, and it's a lot of water. We don't worry about "wasting" it.
@@Atomic2998 Who cares? If I don't waste it, it gets wasted when it is dumped in the ocean. We will literally never run out of water here in New Orleans. The river is over a half mile wide, with enough current to look like it is boiling. City Park probably uses 1000 gallons a day just watering the golf courses, maybe more. I use a gallon or two shaving. Go shame someone else. If you don't like "wasted" water or other non politically correct crap, don't look at my videos. Begone. Your approval not needed.
That is a very good question and a great idea. I wiill put that on my list of things to do. Meanwhile, read this thread and all the threads linked therein, from beginning to end. Practically all my honing follows "The Method" exactly in every detail. www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/newbie-honing-compendium.545370/
A nice sharp razor makes it look better than it is. I actually do quite a few things wrong but the Method edge on the razor and having shaved with a proper razor for about 35 years lets me get away with a lot of shortcuts.
@@Daniel-qr1zf Oh those W59 or whatever they are. I decided those things suck. The first couple samples I messed with were okay, but then they screwed them up somehow. Try to hone one and you will see what I mean. The factory slugs have this idea that the ideal bevel angle is like 30deg and they freehand hone them with the too-thin spine high above whatever grinding wheel they are using. Typical. What I am going to sell very soon is some unbranded P81 blanks with a bit of my own grinding, my logo, and either bone, horn, or ebony scales. I think they will sell well. Eventually I will be producing my own razors from O1 or 1095 steel in-house but I will probably always sell the stock P81 because it is an ideal budget newbie razor, and probably the upscale reworked P81's as sort of a halfway stop between the dirt cheap and the kinda expensive. Right now my GD offerings are the 66, the 208, and the P81, and also the Gold Monkey 666. The P81 is by far the best of those. and costs chimp change. A little less than the 208, a little more than the other two. It hones easily and I'm all about that since I hone all that I sell. That's where I earn my markup.
@@Martins-Shaves123 Sometimes I use synthetic stones. I do major steel removal with a Kuromaku 320 and a Chosera 600, or sometimes just a Norton 1k. Whatever it takes, Then actual bevel set with Chosera 1k or Naniwa Superstone 1k, then progression of SuperStones to 12k. More often I use 3M or NanoLapTech lapping film to 1u which is a little finer than the 12k Naniwa. My plate is a 1-1/2" thick piece of cast acrylic from TAP Plastics, 3" x 12" and I use the same size plate as a base for balsa. I don't waste my time with naturals because the final part totally "erases" any specific qualities of a natural edge and in fact there is no difference between Naniwa and lapping film edges after the final part of the process. The final part is a three stage balsa progression. The three balsas are glued to a plate and lapped, then treated with diamond paste, only a very small amount rubbed in thoroughly. Then the balsa is wiped down thoroughly with an old tshirt so that there is NO coating on the balsa. All the remaining diamond particles are embedded in the lapped balsa with just little corners sticking up. The balsa is used with near zero pressure, only brushing contact, with the balsa held vertically so that the weight of the razor is not pressing down. The process is highly refined and optimized and full of details that appear unimportant but if you want the same results, you can only get them by using exactly the same techniques and tools. See this thread, and the threads linked therein, and read from beginning to end: www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/newbie-honing-compendium.545370/
LOL I actually quit smoking cigarettes at a fairly young age, but I did roll my own for a while, usually from King Bee, which at the time was mostly Perique, a tobacco grown and processed only in St Charles Parish, Louisiana. Anyway, stay tuned. I want to try my hand at rolling cigars in the near future and I intend to youtube my first attempt. Probably within the month.
The Gold Dollar, particularly the model 66, is the cheap razor that razor snobs love to hate and put down. I was booted off. banned FOR LIFE, 3 times from one online forum for suggesting that it was actually possible to hone and shave with this razor, because I had done it time and time again, and the shave was not a bit worse than what I would get from a Dovo or Boker or other mainstream straight razor. Yes, banned for life three times. Three different user names. I just had to go back and stir things up again, and put the razor snobs in their place. The steel of the Gold Dollar is actually pretty decent, a good unspecified alloy that is fairly well hardened and tempered. The problem with this razor is the grinding. Well, the main problem. These razors are made by semi literate Chinese factory workers who don't even shave with a straight razor, much less know how to make one. Quality control is horrible, or at least it was. Another issue is that the bevel angle is very obtuse. However it is still acute enough to shave nicely if the bevel is set properly and the edge is then progressively honed to a high standard by a knowledgeable person. Like nearly all straight razors, this one does NOT leave the factory in a shave-ready condition. Almost NO razors do. It must be honed before use, and poor grinding makes the process even more impossible for a beginner to do properly. You should not expect to be able to shave with this, or any other straight razor, as it leaves the factory, and you should not expect to be able to hone it to shave ready condition yourself without experience, even if you are a whiz at sharpening knives. So, what you have to do, is find a vendor who knows what he is doing, rather than just saying he knows what he is doing, and who ships shave ready razors, and not razors that he just says are shave ready. Unfortunately on the internet you can say you are whoever you like, or claim superpowers that you do not have. There are WOMEN who try to sell "shave ready" razors, and if you do not shave with a straight razor, you can not possibly know what a shave ready edge is even like. You can't trust anyone. Some lie and say their edges are shave worthy but are not. Some mistakenly believe that their edges are shave worthy but are not. So where does that leave you? You have to join an online forum where reputations are at stake. Find out who the members buy from or who they recommend. Verify a seller before you click that BUY NOW button. If you get your razor from a conscientious vendor who is truly skilled at honing razors, then this razor will be capable of shaving as good as you know how to use it. After a few months learning to use the razor, if you avail yourself of all the free mentoring available on the same forum and learn to hone your own razors, then again you are good to go with this razor or any other proper straight razor. As you can see from my video, this razor is capable of doing the job. The difference between the one you buy from a Chinese reseller for $4 and the one you see me using is that I hone it and hone it well. That's it. There are other cheap razors out there or I should say RSO's, Razor Shaped Objects, made from horribly inadequate steel, coming from China, Pakistan, and other places. Some cost 5x what a GD costs, but they are worthless. If you don't believe me, buy one and try it. A "good" razor will cost you around $150 or so. It simply can't be produced by skilled labor for less minus retail markup. I have a lot of straight razors, both new and vintage. I don't have time to count. Probably about 20 pounds of straights, not counting Gold Dollars that I used to sell and may start selling again some day. Many of my favorites are vintage Bismarcks and Dovo Bismarcks made since Dovo bought the brand, and also other models using the same blade profile by Dovo, Revisor, Thiers Issard, and other makers. The vintage ones cost me between $50 and $100 or so. The new ones, $145 to about $190. I like that style of razor very much. However, my Gold Dollars shave just as well, and they cost me a couple of bucks each, wholesale. If you get confused, watch the video again. I break a lot of rules. A single pass instead of three passes. ATG on the first pass in many areas of my face and neck instead of always WTG on the first pass. I don't dawdle around. I just gitter done. Because the razors that I use are so sharp and capable, I get away with it. You saw the whiskers disappear under the flashing razor. If the razor was "no good", is there ANY level of shaving skill that could make that happen? So yes, to answer your question "Are these razors any good?" But it does need to be honed and you can't do it yourself with no experience, and your AliExpress merchant can't, and wouldn't even if he could, though he might say that he does. It will cost you around $30 to get a skilled honemeister to make it shave ready. Or you can buy from a trusted vendor already shave ready. So forget about AliExpress. Join and participate in a forum such as Badger and Blade, and LEARN. You aren't gonna do this in a week or a month. Stick around, absorb background knowledge, then ask questions. You might be surprised to find that in a very short time you have several "shave daddies" willing to mentor you or even sell you a shave ready vintage blade to learn with. See www.growleymonster.com for more info. I don't want to write a book here. And also www.badgerandblade.com.
www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/newbie-honing-compendium.545370/ has everything you need. If you read everything and follow instructions exactly, even when you think it doesn't make any difference, you will succeed. This wasn't a fast shave. Just average. I cut myself more often honing, than shaving.
Apne mammy papa ke liye💘se ek like to banta hai thoko like 👍aur mere pic par click kar ke channel ko subskribe kar do 1000 subskriber ka target hai aur jo mere ko sport kare ga god unake sabhi dreams pure kar
It's okay to grind them off if it will make you feel better.But as far as any other razor from China goes, I agree, not worth messing with even if they are free. The GD obviously is "okay" if you know how to make it shave ready. Most guys don't.
Was it necessary to keep that tap running? You wasted lot of water Sir. I mean no offence to you, it’s just that I care a bit more about nature. nice video👍🏼 though.
Well, this is South Louisiana. Water is something we have plenty of. If you like, I can send you a gallon or two. You pay for packaging and shipping and I will throw in the water for free.
My father taught me how to shave with _Double Edged Safety Razor_ when I was about 15.
One pass for the day.
Two for the date. And,
Three for the _Color Guard._
Obviously a military family.
What a pro! Shocked at how fast the shave took you. You are a mans man!
If your razor is truly sharp, it's not difficult. Most shavers have never experienced an edge that sharp, and "professional" quality edges are not this sharp. When you only get $20 or $30 to hone a razor, you have to get them in and get them out, and not spend an hour on one razor. The razor in the video was also honed using state of the art methodology, with tools and techniques not yet fully accepted by more conservative segments of the community.
Here is a link to a thread for you to read. It is a lot of reading because there are several very long threads linked within and you have to read them from beginning to end, too. Once you have read and retained everything, you will have been exposed to all the knowledge necessary to produce an edge like this one on a razor.
www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/newbie-honing-compendium.545370/
Just starting to look at straight blades and found you by accident. Well, that was the best straight razor shave I've ever seen, started out as an 'Old Timer Sixty Niner' to a slick shaven shiny modern man, and without as much as a single nick! Thank you Sir, a real treat to watch 😁👍
A razor is only has good as the person honing it!
I have recently purchased the Gold Dollar W59, when it arrived it couldn't shave for toffee, even though the vendor said it was shave ready!
But after half an hour on the wet stones and strop, it now shaves just like any other straight razor I own!
I must say, that was very impressive to see any straight razor remove that much beard growth without clipping it first, and to go against the grain on your first past made my eyes water!!!
Well done young man, just goes to show what a person can do when they know what they are doing!
I have just found your channel, and I have subscribed,
Best wishes, Neil.
I personally don't care for any of the "W" series Gold Dollars. My favorite model for a long time was the P81 AKA the "1996" which is not the model number but is the year that the company was established, and is etched on the shank with no explanation given. Anyway the actual model designation is the P81, However lately I have been fooling around with the stainless steel models, the 100, which is also made in carbon steel and they are not marked SS or carbon, the 200, 300, and 800. The 900 is overpriced and they can't seem to decide what scales they want to use on it. I particularly like the 300 because it has no stabilizer, same as the P81. I was planning on selling these but I finally got sick and tired of being lied to and stalled on shipping, and after waiting several weeks for the remainder of a partial shipment, i filed with Alibaba for a refund and now i don't think CiCi likes me anymore because of that and because I called her a liar. The company is tremendously frustrating to deal with, and so when I return to selling these again, there are only just so many and then they will be gone forever.
ATG (AGainst The Grain) shaving is easy, even on the first pass, even with lots of growth to plow through, if the razor is very sharp and the shave angle is very low and the skin is nice and tight. There is practically zero difference in shave comfort from beginning WTG vs beginning ATG if all the boxes are checked. The thing is, most sharp razors are not sharp. Guys make excuses why their sharp edges aren't as sharp or sharper than a DE (Double Edge) blade. Oh, not possible, of course not possible! LOL LOL LOL yes it is very possible. It is not difficult to take an edge up to DE sharpness and match even the sharpest DE blade, which is the Feather Stainless. I can match the Feather but so far I don't think I have surpassed it, and finally at this level, I have to concede that to make a razor still sharper may be impossible. But that is plenty sharp enough, as you can see. Most ordinary (non-Feather) DE blades can be beat with a straight razor. Not on your basic synth progression to 12k, though. My edges are post finished on a three stage balsa progression. I don't know of any method that is superior to that. The hardest Jnat and the finest Nagura won't get you that edge, though they can, in the hands of a master, exceed the sharpness of the standard 12k synthetic edge. The balsa edge is key to this level of sharpness but it can't be freestyled. To get a Method edge, you have to hone using The Method, with no changes, substitutes, additions or omissions. Unfortunately getting straight shavers to stick to a program is like herding cats. If they weren't independent thinkers and tinkerers they wouldn't be shaving with a straight razor in the first place, right?
@@growleym504
Thanks for the reply my friend!
I am quite new to stright razor shaving, it started back in February this year, due to my son buying me a lovely damascus stright razor for my birthday! Since then I got bitten by the bug, and have purchased another 10 or so different stright razors, and many different types of shaving soap! Lol.😆
It has become quite the enjoyable little hobby, and since then I've invested a lot of time and effort into learning how to hone my own blades, and finding it to be quite a learning curve! But thankfully there are a number of fantastic UA-cam channels offering some great help and advice.
I quickly realised, many problems with honing is down to like you say not having a stright razor to start with! But It didn't take me long to realise that you can check the geometry of the razor by doing the tap and wobble test on a nice flat surface, I personally use a granite slab. I find some of the cheaper razors need a bit taken off the spine in order to get them to sit flat on the honing stones! That's why I have been practicing on cheap razors to improve my sharpening ability!
You mentioned using a three stage balsa method, and I'm assuming that is with dimond honing compound? This is something else I'm planning on doing in the near future, but I'm trying to save up for some Shapton glass stones at the moment, and boy are they bloody expensive?
Thanks for the advice,
Best wishes, Neil.
@@MrNed09 check out www.badgerandblade.com and become a member. Then look for a thread entitled "Newbie Honing Compendium". You can also find lots of material on my website, www.growleymonster.com.
@@growleym504 I just go to garage sales and look for old vintage razors I'm still using a Jones brother from 1919 that I got for 5$ lol
Epic!
I have three Gold Dollar 66s
really powerful and aggressive shaving. I love it.
Thanks! I didn't want to bore you guys with a long-ass video of me farting around all morning with my shave. Anyway, I usually get done a lot faster, when I haven't gone several weeks without shaving.
I look forward to that!!! Enjoy your day good sir !!!!
Perfect shaving!!!! Brazil.
Nice video Slash! Your home-made buffalo strop looks nice as well, looks like it has a prime spot in your bathroom right next to the Kanayama. From Biltong & Boerewors.
Actually, the one in front is one of my own compressed cowhide strops, one of the first ones I ever made with that method of leather treatment. The buffalo is barely visible, behind it. I actually prefer the compressed cowhide and the D rings I used on the buffalo were very expensive so I might recycle them. I have a horse shell Cordoban side that I will be making some strops from.
First stroke from the throat. Got it! BRB
Dang! You look like some young punk kid now (just kidding). Should'a kept the mustache, though. I've got several Gold Dollar Razors & hone all of my razors.
Another secret is that a lot of folks just don't strop enough before a shave - 30-60 licks are needed to get it to the optimum smoothest edge.
He didn't have any nicks cause he's of a type born of a generation that weren't raised like candy asses so his face has thick tough skin.
Seriously though exceptionally done with skill, precision, and confidence that can only come with experience.
Being part of the same generation, I like your first explanation.
Great razor, I don't care if it is made in China it works well, Fun video, liked and subscribed
Noticed the T.P. roll was empty, might want to do something about that😉
Hope this finds you well. Stay healthy and give a holler sometime. Best to you and yours.
Well, we don't use TP very much. We got automatic heinie-washer terlet seats. Spray, blow dry, nice and clean and fresh, no smeary paper, no poke-through hazard. Hands-free hygeine. Honestly we only put it out for guests who are intimidated by all the buttons and functions and adjustments, and would rather smear than wash because that is what they are familiar with.
@@growleym504 thanks for the reply, glad you’re doing good and hope to see you two some day. Not sure when the opportunity will come, but would love to come down to your neck of the woods and visit. Time and money, mostly the time!😎 Be well…….
15 years shaved clean off😀
great shave in a minimalist way ! Is that the whipped dog tall handle brush ?
Yup, and the big 30mm silvertip knot, too. A beast of a brush for not a bad price. I highly recommend.
@@growleym504 Larry sells great brushes . I have 3 boars and 3 badgers and they are some of the best brushes. Time to add his 30 mm.
A video on your regular used equipment would be great, if you feel like it !
@@manishbhoola The brush is my daily driver. For the price, can't beat it. I actually have three of that model. I have never seen reason to spend $300 for a shaving brush that doesn't do the job any better than a $40 brush. The two strops you see are also my usuals. The wider one with the Chicago screw construction is one I made, from pressed and glass burnished cowhide, my own process. The other of course is a Kanayama, a very good horse shell cordoban strop, highly regarded, cult following but it really is that nice. I have many more, nice ones and cheap crappy ones. As for the razor, I have several of that model in my stable. My usual "good" razor is a Dovo Bismarck and I have I think 11 of that type, both pre-Dovo Bismarcks and Dovo Bismarcks, Carres, and a Bergischer-Lowe, and all of these are built on the same blank. I occasionally use one of my American vintage razors, of which I probably prefer the Union Spike and I have three of them. Probably half the time I shave with a Gold Dollar 66, P-81, 208, or 800, because why not? So really, that video pretty much does show my usual equipment. The only thing I didn't really show is the pasted balsa, which I use after every shave. It keeps my edges extremely sharp and I get a nice comfortable shave using my method.
@@growleym504 I've read a lot on your threads about your love for the bismarcks. I've got two of them. Building inventory. I use a gd 66 and 208 as my go to for learning to hone and the method keeps them pretty sharp!
That sir, is a fine shave. Were you able to shave with it right out of the box or did you have to sharpen it?
Very few razors are sold shave-ready. Almost none. Gold Dollars straight from the factory are almost as far as they could possibly be from being shave ready. Of course I had to hone it. Shaving with a GD straight out of the box would not be possible in your wildest dreams. However, once well honed and stropped by knowing and experienced hands, the razor shaves as good as any other.
@@growleym504 I see. Now I know why it didn't work. When I first got mine, I tested it out on a small part of my leg and it worked. As I'm new to a straight blade razor, I thought I could shave my face but that didn't work at all. I thought it was my technique. I'm tired of paying $25 for five razor blades. I just found this video on honing and sharpening a blade and I didn't realize so much went into this lost art. Thank you for responding so quickly. I'll post the link to the video on honing and sharpening below this reply. If not appropriate please delete.
ua-cam.com/video/1z1voZKvGW8/v-deo.htmlsi=AvI6MUcKPVk44BHY
@@Tee_Jay_Seas With honemeisters, many (try to) talk the talk, but few walk the walk. Shaving your leg or arm are decent tests for your pocketknife but not for a razor. Take your razor and sweep it through the air 1/4" ABOVE the skin of your forearm. For me to call it sharp enough for shaving, it must sever the tips of at least a couple of hairs with every pass. That is called Treetopping and that is level TTT3. If it won't, then reduce sweep height to 1/8" and if it treetops there, that is TTT2, barely adequate. Near or at skin level but with no pressing is TTT1. It will sort of shave if your skills are up to it, but it won't be nothing nice. If you have to press against the skin that is TTT0. Big fat zero. Now OTOH if it treetops at 1/4" or higher and severs nearly every hair it encounters, that is TTT4, a very good edge indeed. If it does all that without even disturbing the hair, no sound and no sensation, that is TTT5, which is right at the physical limit of how finely honed a razor can be, and sharper than the Feather Hi Stainless DE blade, which is an upper level benchmark of raw cutting ability. Your planets have to really and truly be in alignment to get this near mythical level. I achieve that only rarely and anybody who claims to get TTT5 regularly is probably "mistaken". But there is a lot of "mistaking" in the razor honing world. So learn to use the TTT or TreeTopping Test. It is not the truest gauge of edge quality but it is the easiest for a beginner to do subjectively. There is also HHT, or Hanging Hair Test. Look that up. If you don't land on a Belgian Coticule site, keep searching, that's not the right one.
If you just want your shaves to be cheaper, get a vintage Gillette Tech DE razor off ebay and order 100 Feather Hi Stainless blades. These as I said are extremely sharp. In quantity like that they are less than 25 cents per blade. Look on Fleabay and also Amazon. Most guys get a week of shaves out of one blade. You can also use the same blades, snapped in half, in what is called a shavette. This is a razor that is sort of shaped like a straight razor but uses disposable blades. You want the type that uses half DE (double edge) blades because they are cheaper than the special shavette blades. Here's a good one. It is a shameless knockoff of the Feather Artist Club razors which are very good indeed but expensive and use the more expensive Feather long blades. If cost is a driving factor, get this one. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08J9MVBWL
. You will probably cut yourself a few times. No worry. Nobody except mafia figures ever died from a shaving cut, to my knowledge. You pay for your self guided lessons with blood. Eventually you will stop cutting yourself and enjoy your shaves, and when you can shave with a shavette, a nice sharp straight razor is a piece of cake. Join a forum. Learn about soaps and brushes and prep. This is even more important than your shaving tool of choice. If you don't prep good, if your lather is not nice and slippery, if you don't map your face, your shaves will suck even with an $1800 custom straight razor. You need a decent strop and to know how to use it, too. No Chinese or Pakistani garbage. You don't want a top shelf strop because you will slice and hack it to bits while learning. Stick with something in the $40 to $60 range for your first strop, and upgrade later if you like. Tony Miller sometimes has such entry level strops and he does great work. heirloomrazorstrop.com/
I am no longer active on Badger and Blade. They pissed me off one time too many. I am still occasionally seen as CrescentCityRazors on Sharp Razor Palace. Check it out and become a member, and ask questions. Don't let the disgruntled old curmudgeons put you off. You can learn a lot about shaving in the manly way there. So go, soak up some background knowledge.
@@growleym504 thanks for passing on your wisdom. I'll definitely go have a read. 👍🏻
Great shave! Liked and subbed. Though surely no need to keep the tap running non stop. Each to their own.
Well, no water shortage here, with the biggest river on the continent less than two miles away. If I lived in Arizona or Australia or some place I would be more conscientious, I am sure. For me, life is too short to spend 1% of it turning a tap on and off.
@@growleym504You could have just used some toilet paper and wiped the razor
@@Atomic2998 We got plenty of water. The Mississippi River is only a couple miles away. That's our water supply. What we don't use, just flows into the Gulf, and it's a lot of water. We don't worry about "wasting" it.
@@growleym504 It's still wasteful
@@Atomic2998 Who cares? If I don't waste it, it gets wasted when it is dumped in the ocean. We will literally never run out of water here in New Orleans. The river is over a half mile wide, with enough current to look like it is boiling. City Park probably uses 1000 gallons a day just watering the golf courses, maybe more. I use a gallon or two shaving. Go shame someone else. If you don't like "wasted" water or other non politically correct crap, don't look at my videos. Begone. Your approval not needed.
Saatler olsun üstadım muhtesem mükemmel oldunuz
Hi ! Can you doma video explaining how you hone the GD and what materials you use ? Tks
That is a very good question and a great idea. I wiill put that on my list of things to do. Meanwhile, read this thread and all the threads linked therein, from beginning to end. Practically all my honing follows "The Method" exactly in every detail. www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/newbie-honing-compendium.545370/
@@growleym504 Tks
Niceeeeeeee technique
A nice sharp razor makes it look better than it is. I actually do quite a few things wrong but the Method edge on the razor and having shaved with a proper razor for about 35 years lets me get away with a lot of shortcuts.
When are you going to sell those GD's with the French point? 🙃
HAHA Which ones?
@@growleym504 The ones you reviewed on B&B.
@@Daniel-qr1zf Oh those W59 or whatever they are. I decided those things suck. The first couple samples I messed with were okay, but then they screwed them up somehow. Try to hone one and you will see what I mean. The factory slugs have this idea that the ideal bevel angle is like 30deg and they freehand hone them with the too-thin spine high above whatever grinding wheel they are using. Typical.
What I am going to sell very soon is some unbranded P81 blanks with a bit of my own grinding, my logo, and either bone, horn, or ebony scales. I think they will sell well. Eventually I will be producing my own razors from O1 or 1095 steel in-house but I will probably always sell the stock P81 because it is an ideal budget newbie razor, and probably the upscale reworked P81's as sort of a halfway stop between the dirt cheap and the kinda expensive.
Right now my GD offerings are the 66, the 208, and the P81, and also the Gold Monkey 666. The P81 is by far the best of those. and costs chimp change. A little less than the 208, a little more than the other two. It hones easily and I'm all about that since I hone all that I sell. That's where I earn my markup.
Amazing shave , what stone progression did you use ? What was your finishing stone , great result from a horrible gold dollar !
@@Martins-Shaves123 Sometimes I use synthetic stones. I do major steel removal with a Kuromaku 320 and a Chosera 600, or sometimes just a Norton 1k. Whatever it takes, Then actual bevel set with Chosera 1k or Naniwa Superstone 1k, then progression of SuperStones to 12k. More often I use 3M or NanoLapTech lapping film to 1u which is a little finer than the 12k Naniwa. My plate is a 1-1/2" thick piece of cast acrylic from TAP Plastics, 3" x 12" and I use the same size plate as a base for balsa. I don't waste my time with naturals because the final part totally "erases" any specific qualities of a natural edge and in fact there is no difference between Naniwa and lapping film edges after the final part of the process. The final part is a three stage balsa progression. The three balsas are glued to a plate and lapped, then treated with diamond paste, only a very small amount rubbed in thoroughly. Then the balsa is wiped down thoroughly with an old tshirt so that there is NO coating on the balsa. All the remaining diamond particles are embedded in the lapped balsa with just little corners sticking up. The balsa is used with near zero pressure, only brushing contact, with the balsa held vertically so that the weight of the razor is not pressing down. The process is highly refined and optimized and full of details that appear unimportant but if you want the same results, you can only get them by using exactly the same techniques and tools. See this thread, and the threads linked therein, and read from beginning to end:
www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/newbie-honing-compendium.545370/
This guy has been shaving and rolling his own smokes since he was 6 years old !!!
LOL I actually quit smoking cigarettes at a fairly young age, but I did roll my own for a while, usually from King Bee, which at the time was mostly Perique, a tobacco grown and processed only in St Charles Parish, Louisiana. Anyway, stay tuned. I want to try my hand at rolling cigars in the near future and I intend to youtube my first attempt. Probably within the month.
Is this gold dollar 66 razor any good ? How to buy an original one on Aliexpress ? thanks.
The Gold Dollar, particularly the model 66, is the cheap razor that razor snobs love to hate and put down. I was booted off. banned FOR LIFE, 3 times from one online forum for suggesting that it was actually possible to hone and shave with this razor, because I had done it time and time again, and the shave was not a bit worse than what I would get from a Dovo or Boker or other mainstream straight razor. Yes, banned for life three times. Three different user names. I just had to go back and stir things up again, and put the razor snobs in their place.
The steel of the Gold Dollar is actually pretty decent, a good unspecified alloy that is fairly well hardened and tempered. The problem with this razor is the grinding. Well, the main problem. These razors are made by semi literate Chinese factory workers who don't even shave with a straight razor, much less know how to make one. Quality control is horrible, or at least it was. Another issue is that the bevel angle is very obtuse. However it is still acute enough to shave nicely if the bevel is set properly and the edge is then progressively honed to a high standard by a knowledgeable person.
Like nearly all straight razors, this one does NOT leave the factory in a shave-ready condition. Almost NO razors do. It must be honed before use, and poor grinding makes the process even more impossible for a beginner to do properly. You should not expect to be able to shave with this, or any other straight razor, as it leaves the factory, and you should not expect to be able to hone it to shave ready condition yourself without experience, even if you are a whiz at sharpening knives.
So, what you have to do, is find a vendor who knows what he is doing, rather than just saying he knows what he is doing, and who ships shave ready razors, and not razors that he just says are shave ready. Unfortunately on the internet you can say you are whoever you like, or claim superpowers that you do not have. There are WOMEN who try to sell "shave ready" razors, and if you do not shave with a straight razor, you can not possibly know what a shave ready edge is even like. You can't trust anyone. Some lie and say their edges are shave worthy but are not. Some mistakenly believe that their edges are shave worthy but are not.
So where does that leave you? You have to join an online forum where reputations are at stake. Find out who the members buy from or who they recommend. Verify a seller before you click that BUY NOW button.
If you get your razor from a conscientious vendor who is truly skilled at honing razors, then this razor will be capable of shaving as good as you know how to use it. After a few months learning to use the razor, if you avail yourself of all the free mentoring available on the same forum and learn to hone your own razors, then again you are good to go with this razor or any other proper straight razor. As you can see from my video, this razor is capable of doing the job. The difference between the one you buy from a Chinese reseller for $4 and the one you see me using is that I hone it and hone it well. That's it.
There are other cheap razors out there or I should say RSO's, Razor Shaped Objects, made from horribly inadequate steel, coming from China, Pakistan, and other places. Some cost 5x what a GD costs, but they are worthless. If you don't believe me, buy one and try it.
A "good" razor will cost you around $150 or so. It simply can't be produced by skilled labor for less minus retail markup. I have a lot of straight razors, both new and vintage. I don't have time to count. Probably about 20 pounds of straights, not counting Gold Dollars that I used to sell and may start selling again some day. Many of my favorites are vintage Bismarcks and Dovo Bismarcks made since Dovo bought the brand, and also other models using the same blade profile by Dovo, Revisor, Thiers Issard, and other makers. The vintage ones cost me between $50 and $100 or so. The new ones, $145 to about $190. I like that style of razor very much. However, my Gold Dollars shave just as well, and they cost me a couple of bucks each, wholesale. If you get confused, watch the video again. I break a lot of rules. A single pass instead of three passes. ATG on the first pass in many areas of my face and neck instead of always WTG on the first pass. I don't dawdle around. I just gitter done. Because the razors that I use are so sharp and capable, I get away with it. You saw the whiskers disappear under the flashing razor. If the razor was "no good", is there ANY level of shaving skill that could make that happen?
So yes, to answer your question "Are these razors any good?" But it does need to be honed and you can't do it yourself with no experience, and your AliExpress merchant can't, and wouldn't even if he could, though he might say that he does. It will cost you around $30 to get a skilled honemeister to make it shave ready. Or you can buy from a trusted vendor already shave ready. So forget about AliExpress. Join and participate in a forum such as Badger and Blade, and LEARN. You aren't gonna do this in a week or a month. Stick around, absorb background knowledge, then ask questions. You might be surprised to find that in a very short time you have several "shave daddies" willing to mentor you or even sell you a shave ready vintage blade to learn with.
See www.growleymonster.com for more info. I don't want to write a book here. And also www.badgerandblade.com.
Santa
I know you’re a pro, but for the sake of your grandkids slow it down. Not a Knick or red speck at all. I think I need to work on my razor.
www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/newbie-honing-compendium.545370/ has everything you need. If you read everything and follow instructions exactly, even when you think it doesn't make any difference, you will succeed.
This wasn't a fast shave. Just average. I cut myself more often honing, than shaving.
Holy hell batman
Slash!
Yup, Smee!!!
Apne mammy papa ke liye💘se ek like to banta hai thoko like 👍aur mere pic par click kar ke channel ko subskribe kar do 1000 subskriber ka target hai aur jo mere ko sport kare ga god unake sabhi dreams pure kar
Not sure what you said there, but I'm sure I liked it!
i just can't stand to see 5 letters on a razor
CHINA
It's okay to grind them off if it will make you feel better.But as far as any other razor from China goes, I agree, not worth messing with even if they are free. The GD obviously is "okay" if you know how to make it shave ready. Most guys don't.
Gold Dollar Cheap & Nasty
Was it necessary to keep that tap running? You wasted lot of water Sir. I mean no offence to you, it’s just that I care a bit more about nature. nice video👍🏼 though.
Well, this is South Louisiana. Water is something we have plenty of. If you like, I can send you a gallon or two. You pay for packaging and shipping and I will throw in the water for free.