GD66 Bevel Set - How to

[TheBeast]

A little update.

After today's honing session, I Made both the Comoy (possibly a modified GD) and the swedish razor into shavers.

The Comoy is closest to a mirror finnish and shaves quite Well.

The swedish Has still some deeper stria after the 12k, but shaves čo fortably, mostly because it is so light and small. It allows me to use Zero Pressure without even trying.

Both edges have Room for improvement, so I will further improve on them in the following days.


The shave was terrible, for some reason I used the Arko Stick for the first time ever and I didn't like the soap. I am covered in cuts and my skin is really irritated, but I couldn't be happier.

 

[rbscebu]

I think you should spend more time into developing your SR shaving technique now rather than your honing. Try and SR shave daily, whether you like/want to or not. Learn something new with every SR shave.

 

[TheBeast]

I think you should spend more time into developing your SR shaving technique now rather than your honing. Try and SR shave daily, whether you like/want to or not. Learn something new with every SR shave.

I will. But seeing as the shave takes 15 minutes and Can be only done Once daily, I just like playing around with the stones and the razors. It's just great fun, even if it doesn't yield outstanding results quickly. As long as there is progress, it makes me happy and that's good enough for me!

 

[rbscebu]

.... As long as there is progress, it makes me happy and that's good enough for me!

That's the most important thing.

 

[TheBeast]

This is what I was able to get out of the GD after 12k. With correct lightning and angle, I Can make the scratches more or less visible. I switches to making photos to share with a high res micro camera on my smartphone under strong LED light. This is a better represebtation of what I see under my loupe, and probably what you would see with your loupe.

Most visible scratches angle:

Better angle:

"Best angle":

Making the bevels "bathe" in light, not looking straight at the light reflection, makes the scratches dissapear to 99%.

I will try to improve until I Can see the same thing under Every angle, if that is even possible.

This edge after 50 laps on clean leather shaved a test area (under sideburns All the way to the jawline) with no prep, just a splash of water and a dab of shaving cream applied with fingers. It shaved it quite close with a single WTG pass, with 0 feedback/Sting from alum. It shaves basically the sames as one of my favorite DEs, Fatip picolo loaded with a fairly sharp Astra SP.

 

[TheBeast]

And this is a comparison between my edge off the 12k (with more magnification as Well) and the edge off 1 micron balsa wood (about 14k) used in with one of DrMatts videos.

My edge:

His edge:

His honing skills have quite a few years of advantage but I'd say I'm slowly catching Up. What do you guys think?

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

The goal is not to hide the deep stria, but understand where that stria is coming from and how to remove it to straighten the edge.

Dropping back to an 8k should remove deep stria completely and re-polishing the bevels with the 12k should straighten the edge. Jointing the edge at 8 and 12k will make a straight shaving edge.

When you get to this level, jointing and stropping between stones can help maxing an edge.

You are making good progress.

 

[TheBeast]

The goal is not to hide the deep stria, but understand where that stria is coming from and how to remove it to straighten the edge.

Dropping back to an 8k should remove deep stria completely and re-polishing the bevels with the 12k should straighten the edge. Jointing the edge at 8 and 12k will make a straight shaving edge.

When you get to this level, jointing and stropping between stones can help maxing an edge.

You are making good progress.

Thank you.

I found that implementing the 5k to my progression worked a little bit better. Sure thing the 3 or the 5 could be skipped and going from 3 to 8 or from 1 to 5 to 8 is possible. But I think that requires a more skilled hand than mine.

I did a lot of work on the 8k, jointing the edge a few times just to watch how the edge/bevels react. I found that I'm close to maxing out the 8k but I have trouble getting to that stage of perceftion. This razor will likely see 1k again, just to practice removing the stria from previous stones. Hopefully I'll get to that level of removing all the previous stria. I'll try taping the spine as well, to see the double bevel in action and hopefully having a better polished bevel closer to the edge.

I also found that my 12k isn't flat and is putting some deeper than 12k scratches into the bevels. It has seen quite a lot of lapping. Even then, pencil grid doesn't go away at one end, around 1/4 of an inch from the top edge. The rest is perfectly flat, so I left the pencil grid in place and don't go near it with the razor. I'm trying my best not to bring contamination into the game. I thouroughly rinse the stones, rub them with my clean hands under water, rinse them some more. For my lapping plate I even rub it with a dish sponge while rinsing, then rinsing it clean.

I'll try jointing and stropping before 12k.

 

[rbscebu]

Congratulations on your progress, particularly with the shave-test results.

Reading your posts here has me thinking. What would your life be like now if I hadn't suggested you try traditional straight razors to help with your ingrown/irritation problems? I feel responsible for your addiction .

 

[TheBeast]

Congratulations on your progress, particularly with the shave-test results.

Reading your posts here has me thinking. What would your life be like now if I hadn't suggested you try traditional straight razors to help with your ingrown/irritation problems? I feel responsible for your addiction .

I'm more than thankful!

I fell in love with using a brush, a Nice soap and a DE razor. After 2 years I'm still learning and improving in that aspect.

Seeing that I just finnished a shave with a Gold Dollar that I honed from scratch in a few days as my first honest honing attempt... With just a mild burn from the alum around the jaw line and lower neck... I still get that sometimes after 2 years with DEs mind you... Wow! And the SR shaving improved the ingrowns issue as well, in just a few a days. I'm sure it will be next to perfect in a few months. The edge will get better after maxing out the 12k and so will the shaving ability. And after that I'll take it to the next step with Diamond spray on felt/Diamond paste on balsa (possibly both as it will still be cheaper than a 30k stone, maybe even cheaper than my 12k). And the satisfaction I get from it! Learning a skill and gaining knowledge that will last a lifetime and bring a smile after Every shave. Sharing it here, getting to know nice people. Just wonderful.

I say there are worse addictions to have and I'll call this a beautiful hobby, not really an addiction.

I would most likely be hating each shave with some electric shaver or keeping a 2mm stubble if I haven't tried All this out. I'll be Also pouring my money elsewhere, most likely into something less valuable than taking good care of my face and learning a Nice skill. No need to feel responsible for anything from your side! Maybe responsible for making my life a little better and more colorful.

Oh, and having something unusall as a hobby works wonders on the ladies...

 

[JPO]

I'm more than thankful!

I fell in love with using a brush, a Nice soap and a DE razor. After 2 years I'm still learning and improving in that aspect.

Seeing that I just finnished a shave with a Gold Dollar that I honed from scratch in a few days as my first honest honing attempt... With just a mild burn from the alum around the jaw line and lower neck... I still get that sometimes after 2 years with DEs mind you... Wow! And the SR shaving improved the ingrowns issue as well, in just a few a days. I'm sure it will be next to perfect in a few months. The edge will get better after maxing out the 12k and so will the shaving ability. And after that I'll take it to the next step with Diamond spray on felt/Diamond paste on balsa (possibly both as it will still be cheaper than a 30k stone, maybe even cheaper than my 12k). And the satisfaction I get from it! Learning a skill and gaining knowledge that will last a lifetime and bring a smile after Every shave. Sharing it here, getting to know nice people. Just wonderful.

I say there are worse addictions to have and I'll call this a beautiful hobby, not really an addiction.

I would most likely be hating each shave with some electric shaver or keeping a 2mm stubble if I haven't tried All this out. I'll be Also pouring my money elsewhere, most likely into something less valuable than taking good care of my face and learning a Nice skill. No need to feel responsible for anything from your side! Maybe responsible for making my life a little better and more colorful.

Oh, and having something unusall as a hobby works wonders on the ladies...

This have been a really good thread thanks to your positive attitude. This is all about learning a new skill and having fun doing it.
Glad you got this far in such a short time.
Enjoy your shaves.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Good work. You now can say that you have taken your shave destiny into your own hands. Now, you can walk a little prouder and hold your head a little higher, and look down on those who do not know how to shave in the manly way. And yeah, it can get even better, with time and refinement.

Newbie Honing Compendium | Badger & Blade

More Gold Dollar Stunt Shaving! Shaving several weeks growth with a Gold Dollar #66 Straight Razor! - YouTube

 

[rbscebu]

.... And yeah, it can get even better, with time and refinement.

Retirement also helps .

 

[Slash McCoy]

Retirement also helps .

Not really. I never get days off anymore.

 

[Staggers and Jags]

I'm more than thankful!

I fell in love with using a brush, a Nice soap and a DE razor. After 2 years I'm still learning and improving in that aspect.

Seeing that I just finnished a shave with a Gold Dollar that I honed from scratch in a few days as my first honest honing attempt... With just a mild burn from the alum around the jaw line and lower neck... I still get that sometimes after 2 years with DEs mind you... Wow! And the SR shaving improved the ingrowns issue as well, in just a few a days. I'm sure it will be next to perfect in a few months. The edge will get better after maxing out the 12k and so will the shaving ability. And after that I'll take it to the next step with Diamond spray on felt/Diamond paste on balsa (possibly both as it will still be cheaper than a 30k stone, maybe even cheaper than my 12k). And the satisfaction I get from it! Learning a skill and gaining knowledge that will last a lifetime and bring a smile after Every shave. Sharing it here, getting to know nice people. Just wonderful.

I say there are worse addictions to have and I'll call this a beautiful hobby, not really an addiction.

I would most likely be hating each shave with some electric shaver or keeping a 2mm stubble if I haven't tried All this out. I'll be Also pouring my money elsewhere, most likely into something less valuable than taking good care of my face and learning a Nice skill. No need to feel responsible for anything from your side! Maybe responsible for making my life a little better and more colorful.

Oh, and having something unusall as a hobby works wonders on the ladies...

its an amazing feeling after honing your first razor to a sharp shave ready edge