Thread: Hallo from SA

Hallo I live in South Africa I bought a gold dollar 66 with honing stones and strop it came in a bundel from aliexpress for 28 bucks something ,I'm awaiting shipment should be deu middel of june

Welcome to SRP. Don't become frustrated with your new razor and stones when you get them as Gold Dollars aren't known for their quality and it sounds like too good of a deal to be true. Any way there is lots of information here with plenty of people willing to help. Feel free to ask questions.

thank you thought it too but will see when the package arives

this was the picture with it, the stones are 800;3000;6000;10000

Hi and welcome. There's plenty of information on the gold dollars just do a search. As for honing it has a learning curve so don't expect to get it straight away. Have a look at the library there is plenty of starters info and exactly what you will need to be successful. Check out the videos by Gssixgun on the YouTube to get a better idea of honing. Good luck and any questions feel free to ask

Welcome to SRP!!

There's a lot of great folks and info here, check out the library. And as said ask questions, you'll get all the help you need.

Enjoy and have fun!!!!!

thank's this is my second forum i've joined the previous one was a ecig forum that helped a lot but as I managed to quit im looking for something else to do

Gold Dollars are not the easiest razors to hone or to use, but with patience and a little work, they are capable of giving a decent shave.

You did not give any indication of the type and grit of the stones that were included in the kit. You need one stone of approximately 1000 grit to set the bevel on the razor. Then you need a higher grit stone (3000-6000 grit) to remove the scratches from the bevel that were caused by the 1000 grit stone. Finally, you need a finishing stone of 8000 grit or higher to produce an edge acceptable for shaving. There is an advanced technique called one stone honing that allows you to use a single stone to accomplish prefinishing and finishing steps, but not every stone is capable of doing both functions.

With the Gold Dollar 66 razors, it is necessary to modify the heal of the razor so the blade will lay flat on the hones. There are YouTube videos that show how to do this.

Before using your hones, you will need to make sure they are flat using a technique called lapping. Again, there are videos that show how to flatten stones. You can use silicon carbide sandpaper (around 400 grit) on a flat surface to do this until you get a special lapping plate.

Then there are videos on how to inspect a blade for issue that may need correcting during the honing process. A Gold Dollar is likely to have one or more such issues that need fixing .

Finally, you need to learn how to hone the razor and how to test the edge of the razor to see if it is suitable for shaving. Some type of magnifier such as a jewelers loupe or microscope is useful it inspecting your progress.

If all of this sounds complicated, well it is. That is why more experienced members of the forum recommend against purchasing a Gold Dollar as your first razor. Learning how to strop and shave with a straight razor has enough challenges of its own that you do not need the additional challenges of learning how to hone at the same time. If you have difficulty shaving with the blade, you will not know if the problem is with your shaving technique, or with the way the blade was honed.
Thus, the best idea is to purchase a quality razor from someone who can put a shave ready edge on the edge before you get it.

That being said, Gold Dollar razors are an excellent choice for those who want to learn how to hone. You do not want to start honing with an expensive razor as you may well ruin the razor if you make mistakes. If you ruin a GD, you can replace it inexpensively. Once you succeed, you do have a razor that will give a decent shave and the skills you learn will serve you well in honing better razors in the future.

Thank you for the advice,I took the to shave and hone but I bought a de safety razor at the same time and i'm lovin it but im looking for more. will a shavett be suitable for learning to shave first

Hello Reijnier and welcome to SRP.
Great to see someone joining from South Africa.
It will be great to hear about the straight razor shaving experience from your part of the world.
All the help you need, and all the questions that you have can be taken care of here.
Enjoy the learning experience and your time here on the forum.
Have fun!

Pete <:-}