Today, I decided to clean up my straight razors a little bit and I'm not finished just yet. I also decided to do a heel and toe trimming post for those whom are wondering where to trim these Gold Dollar and Gold Monkey straight razors. Now with the ZY razors, you don't have to do this because the factory does it for you along with setting the bevel which makes it a lot easier for you. Now with the premium branded razors such as a TI, Ralf Aust, Boker and Dovo, you don't have to do this either and 9 times out of 10, the bevel is already set. So lets get started on part 1 of my straight razor clean up along with a heel and toe trim:
Using a black marker, you'll want to mark what and where you will be grinding. I tend to lean towards a rounded heel and toe namely because I don't want the points to dig into my skin and it's also more forgiving if do trim the heel and toe when you go to get the areas near your ears as well as other sensitive areas:
Here's a closer look of the heel on my 66. I pretty much did this with 2 of my other razors (the 208 and the Gold monkey). The 209 I have was already done by Anthony Esposito and is ready to go:
Here's a closer look at the toe of my 66. Now I did NOT have to do this with my Gold Dollar 66 because my friend Craig Minor took some extra time in grinding the stabilizer down at the heel of the razor on both sides until it sat flat on the stones and he also took the time to blend it into the razor and polish it to make it looks good which will be part 2 and take a while to do:
Here's a little action shot of me doing the heel and toe trim on the 66:
after I got done with all 3 razors, I put my brush tip on after deburing the razors to make sure that there's no burrs or chips and did a little brushing on the areas that I ground down to clean them up a little bit, but they're no where near finished :
Here's where I am at currently and the 66 will need a bit more work than the other 2 will, but like I said this is only part 1 and I am no where near close to being done:
I may do a little more grinding later on on the heel of the Gold Monkey and on the toe of the 66 to give it more of a rounded point before going further. But for now, it's time to let the metal rest which is extremely important because you can ruin your razor if you let it get too hot and not rest. The metal looses its temper and becomes brittle and you'll have a useless razor that won't hold and edge if you aren't careful and let it get too hot. That's why you see big huge containers of water near bench grinders. In fact I recommend cooling the razors under running water to be safe.
