Go ahead and make fun of me lol.....

A GD will give you a BBS just like a straight costing hundreds. Believe it -- and enjoy!  

A GD will give you a BBS just like a straight costing hundreds. Believe it -- and enjoy!  

I would believe this to be true. I am in the learning process of honing. I have limited stones available at this moment. I bought a zy razor (which I would say is very much like a GD) and honed it myself. Started on 600 grit wet/dry paper, went to 4k...for a lot of strokes, then 8k (4k/8k norton) and finished it on the poor man's balsa. It shaves very nice. I do not have any expensive razors but i have 3 vintage and it shave at least as well as any of them!

The poor man strop is great too. Nothing special but perfect for beginner. I actually ordered it with an extra to be safe. I am still on the first one though I have sanded a few nicks on it. Once I am a lot more confident, I will be looking to get a tony miller or one of similar quality...though I really want the miller strop.

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Whipped Dog's poor mans strop has a great reputation.
Gold Dollars can be terrific razors, I've shaved with two. Both however had been seriously modified before it was possible to hone them, they can have serious geometry-issues which, with a bit of bad luck, can render them unusable. That is where the bad rep comes from. Once modified and properly honed however they can shave really well.

Still haven't used it yet lol. It is oiled and stored still waiting for me to get a strop. The truth is I think once I start my DEs may go bye-bye.

If you eventually start using straights, don't put your DEs up for sale. You may regret it in future.

I shave mostly with straights these days, but often times I simply don't want to worry about the edge of the blade.

7 months of nightly straight razor shaves, and I still have 3 DE safety razors and an SE on the shelf...just in case.

There have been a couple of times that I didn;t want to take the time for a full straight shave, so I used a DE, and there have been a couple times where I did third pass and touchups with a DE, just to get that "extra clean" feeling.

It doesn't happen often, but I hang on to my safety razors...just in case...

They shave well.you can get a good strop at http://shavingshoponline.com/t/straight-...ccessories cheers !

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So if I buy a strop from you how many samples do I get with that?

They shave well.you can get a good strop at http://shavingshoponline.com/t/straight-...ccessories cheers !

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So if I buy a strop from you how many samples do I get with that?

You wouldn't get any samples from myself. If you wish for samples you will need to hit charky up for those.

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Like others have said, don't strop the razor before the first shave. Assuming that the razor was honed correctly, your going to want to know what that feels like. You could probably go more than one shave without stropping. Keep in mind that stropping is not making the razor any sharper and it's not even polishing the edge to any significant degree. The primary purpose of stropping is to make sure the edge which is very, very thin is properly aligned. At first, your stropping may do more harm than good in that regard and your first strop will likely end up with a few battle scars. After a short while though, you will develop the proper technique and it will be easy.

The GDs do have really cheap scales, but there's nothing wrong with the steel. Once a proper bevel is set, they shave as well as any razor. I have one and it shaves like a champ.

If we are killing idols here, the GDs I had reminded me of Sheffield steel. A little softer than typical razors.