As per the title, my Gold Dollar classic, tweaked and honed by the masterful FergieBilly, arrived in the post about an hour ago. I left my lunch to go cold, whipped out the software and set to work butchering my face. The blade is definitely sharp, the three nicks I managed to give myself will back that up, and I have absolutely no complaints on the service I got from Billy.
My first attempt at stropping the razor was pretty woeful. I didn't get as much of a feedback sound as I would've liked and I managed to give the strop a small nick at the bottom when turning on the spine. I've got a block of olive oil soap that I used as a pre-treatment while I was stropping and I've got software and soap from the invisible edge. I have a feeling I didn't let the brush dry well enough before lathering up, because I was a bit on the sudsy side. I also had to reapply my soap a few times, but I was taking my time with the shave so that might be why.
In terms of the actual shave itself, I can see the technique is going to take some getting used to. I only shaved with the grain today, because I didn't want to push the boat out. Sideburns, cheeks and neck all seemed straightforward enough and I got a satisfactory shave in those areas given that I only went for one pass. The harder parts were having to use my right hand for the right side of my face and then the chin and moustaches. The upper lip will definitely take some practice, as I managed to nick myself twice there and it's also going to be a fair bit of practice before I'm comfortable with the right hand (one nick on the right cheek).
Slapping on my moisturiser after the shave felt like I might as well have thrown acid on my face, but I'm not surprised given my piss poor technique. Afterwards, gave the razor a good dry and then about 30 laps on the canvas side of the strop. I think I did a slightly better job this time as it felt more rhythmic and I was getting more consistent feedback from the strop.
All in all, really enjoyed my first straight razor shave and I'm really grateful to Billy for what seems to me like a good razor to get started on.