LOAN-OUT No. 1 Shave-ready Straight Razor (AU only)

rbscebu

rbscebu

Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2020
Location
Atherton Tablelands, Queensland, Australia
Offered for loan is a rare and much sort after shave-ready (to my standard) Gold Dollar 66 straight razor, finished on diamond pasted balsa strops. This loan-out would be good for someone wanting to dip their toe into the gentlemanly art without a lot of expense or an experienced SR shaver who wants to try a diamond pasted balsa edge (not recommended for those use to a more "mellow" edge).

The minimum that you will need to shave with this SR is a shave brush, shaving soap and a leather strop or sheet of newspaper. Detailed instruction on use and care will be emailed to you.

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This SR has the following properties:
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Manufacturer = Ningbo Gold Dollar Razor & Scissors Manufacture Co., Ltd., Zhejiang, China​
Year of manufacture = 2023​
Blade material = high carbon steel​
Grind = half hollow​
Blade width = 21mm (7/8)​
Point style = Dutch (round)​
Bevel angle = 19.1°​
Edge length = 68mm​
Stabilizers = none​
Scales material = ABS plastic​
Pins = 2 of nickel alloy​
Wedge = integral with scales​
Mass = 55g​
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Rules:

1. To participate in this loan-out, you must be resident in Australia and have been a P&C member for at least 90 day with at least 50 posts.
2. You may use this SR for up to 14 days then you will be responsible for postage back to me in Mareeba Qld (cost up to AU$10.60 in 2023) for refreshing the edge and passing it on to the next loanee. I will cover the postage to you.
3. If you break, lose or wish to keep this SR, you will pay me AU$50 to cover my costs in buying the SR, honing and postage.

To participate in this loan-out, just post "I'm in" and I will PM you shortly before posting the SR to you. If you do not reply to my PM within 48 hours, the SR will be offered to the next in line and you will have to re-enter this loan-out.
 
hey mate.. I'm in!! and quite worried of ending up looking like Freddy Krueger or descending into another rabbit hole

thanks for your generosity (y)
 
OK, I'm interested to see how your diamond-paste edge matches up to my remembrance of my own Jnat and Arkansas finishers. So I'm in. I promise to leave my stones tucked away in their packing crate where they've resided for the last umpteen years. :D
 
I've just realised my position in the queue will most likely coincide with a 7 week spell when I shall be away from home, so
@rbscebu's razor would end up sitting at our local post office for an unconscionably long time holding things up for everybody. So it seems the fairest thing to do is to withdraw my request to participate in this loan-out for the time being.

If @rbscebu's generous offer is still open when I return, I should still like to rejoin the queue if that's possible. And if it's not, that's also fine, and thank you again for the offer. Sorry about that :oops:
 
rbscebu said:
Offered for loan is a rare and much sort after shave-ready (to my standard) Gold Dollar 66 straight razor, finished on diamond pasted balsa strops. This loan-out would be good for someone wanting to dip their toe into the gentlemanly art without a lot of expense or an experienced SR shaver who wants to try a diamond pasted balsa edge (not recommended for those use to a more "mellow" edge).
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Why is a shave ready Gold Dollar considered rare? I have two 66's that are really good shavers, plus a W59 and a W53 that are also very good shavers. All are fairly straight and hold good edges. Mind you, I did cheat with the two 66's as I bought them from a guy in the UK (thanks Kym) who fixes them up and they were shave ready when they turned up. Saved me the hassle of going through a box of them to find a suitable candidate and them fixing them up. They were pretty much good to go and were basically used to improve my honing skills.

The GD66 can be made into a fairly good shaver and work quite well. I don't think they deserve the stick they get from people.

cheers

Andrew
 
Mouette said:
Why is a shave ready Gold Dollar considered rare? I have two 66's that are really good shavers, plus a W59 and a W53 that are also very good shavers. All are fairly straight and hold good edges. Mind you, I did cheat with the two 66's as I bought them from a guy in the UK (thanks Kym) who fixes them up and they were shave ready when they turned up. Saved me the hassle of going through a box of them to find a suitable candidate and them fixing them up. They were pretty much good to go and were basically used to improve my honing skills.

The GD66 can be made into a fairly good shaver and work quite well. I don't think they deserve the stick they get from people.

cheers

Andrew
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"Rare" was used tongue in cheek.

My W59s (I only have two left) are some of my most favoured razors. Besides giving me a wonderful shave. I also enjoy the challenge of shaving with them as I keep their toes pointy and sharp. I haven't tried a W53.

The GD66s use to have a poor reputation for wonky grinds and protruding stabilisers. The manufacturer has redesigned the blade by removing almost all of the stabilisers. They have also upped their highly regarded (again tongue in cheek) quality control so that wonky grinds that prevent a decent honing are a thing of the past.

I am basing the above only on the nine GD66s that I have purchased and honed to shave-ready this year.

I have ordered a few more GD66s as I have a feeling that some of these loan-outs may be kept by the loanee.
 
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I haven't tried any of the later model 66's - I pretty much ground off the stabiliser and rounded the heel and toe on one of my 66's - as I had my razor modification L plates on when I did this, it is a bit on the rough side but it still shaves really well and holds an edge. The scales are really cheap and nasty on these razors and are probably good candidates for learning how to make new scales etc.
cheers
Andrew
 
Mouette said:
I haven't tried any of the later model 66's - I pretty much ground off the stabiliser and rounded the heel and toe on one of my 66's - as I had my razor modification L plates on when I did this, it is a bit on the rough side but it still shaves really well and holds an edge. The scales are really cheap and nasty on these razors and are probably good candidates for learning how to make new scales etc.
cheers
Andrew
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got any good vids you know to help with this?
 
StratMan said:
got any good vids you know to help with this?
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don't know of any vids for modifying Gold Dollars - there are probably out there but I haven't seen any. I am on a couple of Facebook honing groups and they are pretty helpful.

cheers
Andrew
 
Mouette said:
don't know of any vids for modifying Gold Dollars - there are probably out there but I haven't seen any. I am on a couple of Facebook honing groups and they are pretty helpful.

cheers
Andrew
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cheers but I don't have Facebook, I'll try YouTube
 
@StratMan, you will find the current GD66 design does not require any modifications to be a decent shaving SR. As is, it can be honed without any difficulties. It is only the older designs that had excessively prettuding stabilisers that presented problems.

There is still the problem, for me anyway, of the very light (low mass) scales. Most SRs balance at about the pivot pin when open 180°. The GD66 balances at about the shoulder of the blade. For some SR shavers this is not a problem. For me, I prefer the balance to be like all my other SRs. Maybe it's just a personal thing for me.

To "correct" the GD66's balance, you need to make and fit a new set of scales of denser material and possibly include a wedge of lead. When I re-scale the spare GD66 blade I found, I will be starting a thread explaining what I do.
 
rbscebu said:
@StratMan, you will find the current GD66 design does not require any modifications to be a decent shaving SR. As is, it can be honed without any difficulties. It is only the older designs that had excessively prettuding stabilisers that presented problems.

There is still the problem, for me anyway, of the very light (low mass) scales. Most SRs balance at about the pivot pin when open 180°. The GD66 balances at about the shoulder of the blade. For some SR shavers this is not a problem. For me, I prefer the balance to be like all my other SRs. Maybe it's just a personal thing for me.

To "correct" the GD66's balance, you need to make and fit a new set of scales of denser material and possibly include a wedge of lead. When I re-scale the spare GD66 blade I found, I will be starting a thread explaining what I do.
Click to expand...

sounds good mate, and that's the plan.. if I enjoy this shaving the GD66 it will be an excellent SR to start learning to shave and hone with
 
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