so GD 66 is on the way what to do next?

[inspectoring]

Once I shave with it and clean it - what is the next step?
How often does the blade need to be sharpened?
How do I strop the blade?
Is there a service that sharpens the blade?

 

[Attila]

There is a lot of info on this site (as well as others) and many, many ways of answering your questions. Really, I highly recommend the stickies put here by the mods for new members to read. Also, using search within this site for finding answers to your questions would be a good start as well. You have a lot...actually A LOT of reading to do!

Who did you buy your GD 66 from? Depending on where you bought it, it may not be shave ready and will need to be professionally modified/honed.

 

[Seraphim]

Step one:
Make sure life insurance policy is up to date.

Step two:
Wait with anticipation, fear and trembling.

Step three:
Shave, and enjoy.

 

[Attila]

Seraphim is mostly kidding about the life insurance part. Mostly...

 

[Krodor]

If it is the 4 dollar jobbie from eBay, it isn't going to shave anything until you get it honed, so that might come first.

You'll need a strop, but you can get by on newspaper at the beginning if you need to. You do that before every shave.

How often to hone it? unfortunately, this hobby works backwards...the better you are at it, the less you need to do it. you can dork the edge quickly if you have too much angle and it might only last a couple shaves. Some of the more experty-folks around here have documented over 75 shaves (or way more) before noting degradation.

Here's a good place to look for basic info:
http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Interactive_Guide_to_Straight_Razor_Shaving

have a thumb-through there and keep askin'...we're kinda addicted to helping.

 

[Seraphim]

Step 4:

If'n yer a God fearing man...start praying!

 

[Krodor]

Step 4:

If'n yer a God fearing man...start praying!

And don't mind that guy...he's got good in there, just embarrassed to admit it.

 

[tomjr]

+1

 

[JHP]

Watch this. It'll give you the whole process.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/136249-Chimensch-s-30th-Anniversary-Shaving-Video

If you don't have a strop. Get this. It includes a leather strop for daily maintenance and a balsa wood strop with Chromium Oxide and Iron oxide to bring your edge back when the leather strop isn't enough.

http://www.whippeddog.com/products/view/poor-man-strop-kit

Good luck!