Where do I start?

[JMan424]

Hey folks

Been DE shaving a week or two and loving it. Last night I was looking at some info on straights and thought it would be worth my while to try that too.

I have a handful of old straight razors my grandpa gave me 10-15 years ago. I've attached a pic of my "favorite" and, believe it or not, the one in the best condition. In its favor the scales are intact and the blade sets well in them. To my uneducated eye the blade just needs a polishing and presumably a honing.

Obviously it needs some work, but before I put a polishing wheel on my Dremel and start going after that rust I thought I better educate myself. I don't see any sticky's on restoration so I thought I'd just come out and ask.

Thanks in advance for anyone with advice!

[Ray-man]

First off, I would start with a razor that doesn't mean a darn thing to you. There is a learning curve here and you don't want to damage this razor while in the process.

The first thing you want to do is simply try to clean the razor with something like MAAS or Flitz or Mothers aluminum polish. Do this with a rag and your finger. When you are done with that, come back here for the next step and we will expect pictures.

Ray

[leighton]

Please don't take a dremel to that. Like Glen says, more razors have been killed by dremels than have been saved by them. While that may not be entirely accurate, the truth of the matter is that the dremel is a power tool and if you don't know what your doing, you shouldn't be messing around with the dremel.

Ray's advice is spot on.

[JMan424]

The Dremel approach was mostly jest (wanted to underscore that I needed advice as someone who knows nothing) but excellent advice, and obvious in hindsight.

I have a tin of Nevr-Dull "cloth" that I've used to clean up nickel finish on an old pellet gun as well as slot car contacts. Unless I get a round of "No, not that!" I will go after one of the junkier razors with that and put up some before/after pics.

Thanks for the guidance!

[Ray-man]

I would absolutly recommend that you try this out first with a razor that you don't mind screwing up. I don't mean that in a mean way, I just want you to know that there is a learning curve here and we all have been through it.

As for the cloth you are talking about. The reason you might see a post for using a particular product, is not that it is the only product you should use, but rather those that have been proven to work without underlying issues. I don't know of any issues with that product, but again, you might want to try it on something a little less valuable.

Since this is your first go at restoration, I would be willing to personally help you get through it if you are interested. It kind of cuts down on the noise. If you are interested, pm me and we can discuss it.

Ray

[JMan424]

Excellent advice on getting my feet wet with a razor I'm less favored toward.

I took another old straight and spent an hour or two polishing it (by hand). It doesn't look perfect but it's much improved. I'm not sure I can get it looking a whole lot better by hand, BUT I'm aware of my own ignorance here. If you look at this pic and say I need to keep going I will do that, but I don't want to waste an hour if you're going to look at this and tell me the remaining marks on the blade are not going anywhere without an expert wielding a rotary polishing wheel.

In other words I guess I'm checking in with a progress report and seeing how I should proceed :)

In related news: Was at an antique store with the missus today and found a beautiful collection of safeties, straights, brushes, etc, a very nice collection actually, and grabbed a proper honing stone made for working a straight razor. I've watched a couple youtube demonstrations on this but have not attempted it myself. I also don't have my heart set on being able to do it as I understand honing a straight is quite an art but so long as I'm working on an expendable razor I figure I'll want to take a whack at it at some point.

[leighton]

It gets a lot better, but doing it by hand is going to take you hours. And yes, a pro with a buffing wheel can do it in less than an hour from that point forward.

[Aaron W.]

never dull will scratch more than polish in my opinion I would use green jewelers rouge or try mothers for a first pass polish then follow up with blue magic polish. If its pitted the pits will have to be removed before the finish will be smooth. I would think sanding would get most out but the you'll have to re polish.

[JMan424]

As you can see from the pic the nevr dull cleaned it up quite a bit but did not put a finished polish on it.

Now that it's cleaned up I'm going to sand it going working from grits 320, 400, 600, 1000, then 2000

[Fnord5]

As you can see from the pic the nevr dull cleaned it up quite a bit but did not put a finished polish on it.

Now that it's cleaned up I'm going to sand it going working from grits 320, 400, 600, 1000, then 2000

If the second picture is the one you just polished, start out with the 600 grit paper.
And, if you need to replace the worm eaten scales, there are several people that do replacement work(myself included)

[JMan424]

Initially I was thinking I wasn't going to worry about the scales, but now I'm tempted to take a whack at those too. I'll have to look around for how much the cost and such. I'd probably attempt it myself though. To me this is a somewhat expendable razor that I'm trying to learn on.

The razor whose steel I'll "restore" when I'm ready has beautiful, intact scales.

I'm also surprised to see a couple people note them as worm-eaten or parasite-eaten. I thought they were just a couple chips off the plastic.

[Fnord5]

The first razor has either plastic, or ebonite(hard rubber) scales.
The second however, has horn scales and there is a little bastard of a bug that likes to eat them.
Here is a W&B I picked up a long time ago with some massive bug bites.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/fnord5/DSC00249.jpg

[JMan424]

For anyone interested, here's a progress report

Per Ray's advice, I picked up a bunch of finishing sandpaper, cut it into 1/5" x 1-1/2" strips, and went to town. He recommended wet/dry 320, 400, 600, 1000, and 2000. The hardware store had 320, 400, 600, and 1500 so I used those.

Filenames should be pretty self-explanatory as to which picture corresponds to which step.

I'm amazed comparing these to the original "Before" picture

[JMan424]

Okay - original "before" compared to a couple after today's polishing with Flitz

[ambrose]

Very nice!

[NoFair]

Looks very good.

Great work:thumbup1:

[Lo'Tek]

I would absolutly recommend that you try this out first with a razor that you don't mind screwing up.Ray

Unless you're me - I never listen. But It worked out in my case, I only screwed up a little the first time.

[Lo'Tek]

Oh, nice straights; but i have to observe - that red box is one of the nicest old cases I've seen in a while - not just black. Pretty fancy.

[JMan424]

Oh, nice straights; but i have to observe - that red box is one of the nicest old cases I've seen in a while - not just black. Pretty fancy.

Thanks! It's my favorite, or at least was when I started. After that first razor I decided to save it for last and practice some more on another ("before" pictures attached) and I'm really taking a liking to it as I work on it.

It's amazing how in touch you start to feel working on a piece of steel like this. As oppposed to the first razor, this one was clearly used thousands of times (I was telling Ray a barber wouldn't surprise me) by the finger-shaped rust pitting. It's a Joseph Rodgers & Sons and I'd love to learn more about how old it is, history, etc. The blade just feels much more substantial in my hands. I could see myself shaving with this thing (of course it's far from shave ready, but maybe way down the road)

[JMan424]

You know what else - I don't think I ever posted my final (for now ;) ) "after" picture of the first Wade & Butcher.

Many, many, many thanks to Ray for his guidance!!

[mdunn]

great job, mate - it cleaned up really well

[elosamurai]

im glad this post ended well... because to me your second razor'' the one you experimented on" has a higher value than your first..But in actuality if it is a family heirloom of coarse you can't place a value on... But they both look great..way to go on your first go round..

So now is when i'll suggest what no one will.. get your self a real POS and give it a hand at honing, from what I've seen your quite adept at following direction so have no fear honing at it!! Just don't do it to any of these we've seen, OK
Best of luck
el samurai

[JMan424]

These are all from my grandpa. I don't believe he ever used them, he was a collector of many things- razors, cameras, guns, pens, coins, you name it pretty much. He would've fit right in on this forum I believe.

However, I don't have a clue as to the value of any of these.

So while I don't know that I'd call them family heirlooms (maybe an inherited collection, but my grandpa acquired them from non-family sources) I don't have any idea which I should favor experimenting on. I don't know straights so these things may be worth $5 or $10 for all I know