What to do with my GD #66?

A few months back I got carried away by the glamour of straight shaving, and ordered a Gold Dollar from ebay without thinking much. It did turn up after about 40 days. Turns out it is a #66 with a leather pouch. It has come well oiled etc.

However, since then I have read quite some on this site to realize that it won't be shave ready, and there is no point in attempting a shave with that. So for about 4-5 months the razor has been lying in my drawer unused, and I frankly don't know what to do with it.

To make matters clearer, I am in India. There are no honing services available. Granted, I could order some lapping films online and try my hands at honing it, but is it really worth it? The razor itself is quite inexpensive, and I could spend quite some money on getting the films, strop etc. and in the end I could just spoil the razor while attempting to hone it.

On the other hand, sending this razor across to US or even UK judt for honing purpose will see me spending a lot of money just on shipping.

So I'm in a bit of a dilemma - I am still enamored by straight shaving and feel I should try it, but at the same time hesitant due to all the above.

Can you guys help me with opinions / suggestions?

I tried to use straights last year, by getting some nice Swedish steel straights and some GD for training the honing.

It did not go well. The step from DE/SE to straights is enormous, if you count the honing as an integral part of straight shaving. I got the full kit of films but never managed to do the Heljestrands. The GD is much easier to hone because of the metal in the blade.

I had one shave ready Heljestrand and by using it I found out that my skin won't tolerate the razor burn caused by the unskilled usage of straights.

I will hone it free if you pay shipping.

I'm in California though...

There are a bunch of people in Mumbai. I would think that some of them must know how to hone a razor.

Hunter's offer is outstanding, if the shipping costs are not pohibative. He knows how to make the GD 66 shave ready.

Hone it and use. There must be tens of millions of straight shavers in India and thus honers.

I know there are a lot of folks in Australia that are active on this site and I am sure that someone hones there. I also know that Plein is in Thailand and he hones. Then again for the cost of a GD 66, you might want to start over and get a shave ready one.

bosseb said:

I tried to use straights last year, by getting some nice Swedish steel straights and some GD for training the honing.

It did not go well. The step from DE/SE to straights is enormous, if you count the honing as an integral part of straight shaving. I got the full kit of films but never managed to do the Heljestrands. The GD is much easier to hone because of the metal in the blade.

I had one shave ready Heljestrand and by using it I found out that my skin won't tolerate the razor burn caused by the unskilled usage of straights.

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Sorry to hear that Bosse. Perhaps I may be forced to follow suit, but before that I want to give this a proper try.

HunterBlades said:

I will hone it free if you pay shipping.

I'm in California though...

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Gabe, that's generous beyond my imagination. However, I think the shipping costs will be a major factor. Anyway, let me find out how much. Maybe I'll take you up after all.

McVeyMac said:

There are a bunch of people in Mumbai. I would think that some of them must know how to hone a razor.

Hunter's offer is outstanding, if the shipping costs are not pohibative. He knows how to make the GD 66 shave ready.

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Thanks Mac, but I'm sure out of the bunch of people in Mumbai, no one shaves with a straight, except the barbers, but even they use shavettes, not straights. Heck, it's impossible to spot a straight razor here - vintage or new.

BSAGuy said:

Hone it and use. There must be tens of millions of straight shavers in India and thus honers.

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Thanks mate. AFAIK, there are practically no straight shavers in India. There may be some in obscure corners of the country, locating whom is a task next to impossible.

gvw755 said:

I know there are a lot of folks in Australia that are active on this site and I am sure that someone hones there. I also know that Plein is in Thailand and he hones. Then again for the cost of a GD 66, you might want to start over and get a shave ready one.

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Perhaps I may have to go for that last option you suggested mate.

Thanks guys for all the responses - there's some thinking to be done before I decide what to do.

I would have advised you to purchase a shave ready Gold Dollar razor from Bill (Bucca over in the Hobbyist section of the forum) as he sells them ready to shave with. Since you would be new to honing I would advise you to NOT try to attempt to make that Gold Dollar shave ready. The learning curve to hone is quite steep but Gold Dollars are a different animal altogether. They frequently (almost always) need some modification as well as honing to make them usable. If you attempt to do that yourself, you are more than likely setting yourself up for a very sour experience.

Buca sells to CONUS only, though. If Canada is out, India will be too.

Orville said:

Buca sells to CONUS only, though. If Canada is out, India will be too.

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Very true...I forgot about that! I had a very kind friend here on the forum help me out that was located in the US when I bought from Bill. Perhaps the OP could do that if he has someone he can ask.

Thanks Attila. I have a sister-in-law staying in US but she made a visit just a couple of months back, so no chance of using her services in the near future.

Anyway, there always is the option of sending my GD to Gabe for honing. I will try to find out about shipping this weekend.

Given that the price point of the GD razor is probably 1/10 of the price of shipping it all over the world and back to get it honed, you might be well advised to learn to hone it yourself. If you mess it up in your unskilled learning process, it is not that much to get another from China. This might be the most cost effective way to get to shave ready.

McVeyMac said:

Given that the price point of the GD razor is probably 1/10 of the price of shipping it all over the world and back to get it honed, you might be well advised to learn to hone it yourself. If you mess it up in your unskilled learning process, it is not that much to get another from China. This might be the most cost effective way to get to shave ready.

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As I mentioned earlier, the Gold Dollars as they come from the factory preclude the idea of the OP simply honing it himself. There are some modifications that very likely will have to be made to make it usable to shave and also possible to hone and touch up properly going forward. Since he would be brand new to straight shaving AND honing, the odds of that all not ending well are 99.9% for and .1% against.

I strongly advise against trying to hone it yourself Guru.

Shipping it in a well taped padded envelope or even small box would not I believe cost ten times the cost of the razor. The amount of frustration it could potentially save him would be priceless.

Attila said:

As I mentioned earlier, the Gold Dollars as they come from the factory preclude the idea of the OP simply honing it himself. There are some modifications that very likely will have to be made to make it usable to shave and also possible to hone and touch up properly going forward. Since he would be brand new to straight shaving AND honing, the odds of that all not ending well are 99.9% for and .1% against.

I strongly advise against trying to hone it yourself Guru.

Shipping it in a well taped padded envelope or even small box would not I believe cost ten times the cost of the razor. The amount of frustration it could potentially save him would be priceless.

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I do see your point.

I recently got a $9.99, with shipping, GD 100 as a honing practice razor. It did have problems that I did have to deal with, and I do have enough hones/stones that cost many times the amount of this razor. But, I was able to deal with it to get it to a reasonable shave ready state. I honed my first razor less than 2 months ago. From what I can tell on the Bay, the GD 66 is costs less than the GD 100.

Perhaps the least cost solution to all of this would be to purchase a shave ready GD from buca and have it shipped to a friend in the U.S., then the friend send it to Mumbai. But I think that might have already been talked about. But this would provide the OP with a shave ready razor, then he could start to deal with his GD 66 from a honing standpoint when he has an example of what he is trying to achieve.

I guess that I sort of have a different viewpoint than a lot of people here have when it comes to honing a razor. My view is that honing a razor to a reasonable and comfortable shave ready state is not that difficult. On the other hand, I have been honing non razor knives and tools for more than 40 years. Honing one to provide exceptional performance is a completely different matter altogether. But for me, grinding on the stabilizer and bread knifing the GD 100 was what I determined that the razor needed, and coming out the other sides was an effective comfortable shave. But, the blade was straight and I got an even bevel on both sides. So there was something to work with. Notice that I did not say the edge was optimal or exceptional. From what I have read, not all GD razors are straight., and this would create another set of problems that I doubt that I would have been able to solve given the equipment that I have.

Obtaining satisfactory honing equipment in Mumbai will likely far exceed the cost of the razor as well. So your suggestion to ship it to a competent honemeister might be the least cost and most efficient approach.

Guru17 said:

A few months back I got carried away by the glamour of straight shaving, and ordered a Gold Dollar from ebay without thinking much. It did turn up after about 40 days. Turns out it is a #66 with a leather pouch. It has come well oiled etc.

However, since then I have read quite some on this site to realize that it won't be shave ready, and there is no point in attempting a shave with that. So for about 4-5 months the razor has been lying in my drawer unused, and I frankly don't know what to do with it.

To make matters clearer, I am in India. There are no honing services available. Granted, I could order some lapping films online and try my hands at honing it, but is it really worth it? The razor itself is quite inexpensive, and I could spend quite some money on getting the films, strop etc. and in the end I could just spoil the razor while attempting to hone it.

On the other hand, sending this razor across to US or even UK judt for honing purpose will see me spending a lot of money just on shipping.

So I'm in a bit of a dilemma - I am still enamored by straight shaving and feel I should try it, but at the same time hesitant due to all the above.

Can you guys help me with opinions / suggestions?

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look on youtube how to hone. alot of videos on there. plus the honing stones are cheap.. especially in india there should be tons of honing stones.. im sure if you look around though that there will be some barber shops that might hone them for you.. last time i visited my dads side family in delhi i went to a barber who was honing his blade,as i was talking to him he decided to give me a fresh shave with his freshly honed razor for free after my haircut. it was amazing. they have some real skill since they deal with it everyday.

Well the bs is spread by some elitists that somehow think its some black art or something. And the things that some of them say NOT to do is a smokescreen. Telling people sub 1k grit work you CANT do on razors is BALONEY!

400 wet/dry used wet on a flat piece of glass or granite does a fine job of bevel setting. Cheap too.