restoration - wife has an old straight

[TonyBrown]

belonged to her grampa she found it the other day, thinkin about restoring it to working condition, blade is in rough shape though, corrosion, pitting, etc... scales are rough as well, looks like its been in storage in a barn for the past 30yrs... I'll try and get some pics of it sometime this week as a followup but I'm generally curious about general restoration tips and resources... thx guys!

[hig789]

Post some pics of it and I'll try and help you all I can.

[TonyBrown]

thanks hig, when I can I'll get some pics, right now wifey has it tucked away in a box, she's sick and I'm not really gonna go make a mess trying to get it until she's feeling better, probably this weekend some time... for all I know it is beyond repair, as I said, its rough last I saw it (maybe 3-4 months ago) but it did still have its original storage box, albeit pretty bad lookin... overall it looks like it was exposed to moisture while in storage...

[hig789]

I would wait till she feels better too, if she's anything like my wife it would be like poking a bear with a stick, she doesn't like to get out of bed when she's sick. It could be beyond repair if it is a hollow ground but if its an old wedge that you possibly could have enough metal to fixer up. Even if it is beyond repair it will still be cool just for her to have it since it belonged to her grampa. I have my grandfathers brush and mug and I love it more than any of the gear I got.

[Doc226]

I would wait till she feels better too, if she's anything like my wife it would be like poking a bear with a stick, she doesn't like to get out of bed when she's sick. It could be beyond repair if it is a hollow ground but if its an old wedge that you possibly could have enough metal to fixer up. Even if it is beyond repair it will still be cool just for her to have it since it belonged to her grampa. I have my grandfathers brush and mug and I love it more than any of the gear I got.

True x 2. Wedges are much easier to repair as there is more metal to work with. Family treasures are way more valuable than anything that could be bought

[TonyBrown]

not in nearly as bad of shape as I had imagined in my head... its a wedge style, carboard box for it says "ITS A PEECH" (yes spelled incorrectly), does say Made in Germany on the box however, the scales say Minneaoplis, Minn.... the blade itself says BOWDINS WEDGE HAND MADE... it closes cleanly but appears to be a really cheap razor... the only metal on the unit is the blade itself and the two studs used to hold it together

[Doc226]

Does not look like a wedge from the side shot and there is some serious hone wear, but like you said does not look too bad

[morganjg]

That looks like it should clean up nicely with a moderate degree of effort. I like how SWMBO's grandfather honed that thing with no tape and the spine has some wear to it, really gives the thing some character. Check out the restoration links on the Wiki, I have cleaned up a few razors worse off than those and they have come out sparkling and new.

[TonyBrown]

Does not look like a wedge from the side shot and there is some serious hone wear, but like you said does not look too bad

ya, well, not knowing $#!T about straights I have to go with what I see, it says Bowdins Wedge on it so I kinda have to believe that... lol

i'll dig thru the wiki and see what I can find about restoring it to its former glory, may even take it for a test drive once or twice for giggles... i'm sure i'll be laughing all the way to the ER since I've never shaved with a straight before... haha

[joshua82]

That looks like a good beginner resto job. you might not even have to unpin it. just give it a good careful buffing and hone it up.

[tomjr]

looks like a good project razor.

[Krodor]

It'll work great. FYI, I picked up a dubl duck "satin wedge" yesterday at an antique shop (8 bucks, thanks very much, but the only straight in a 2-story mansion-of-an-antique mall...I checked all the stalls). I always thought they were wedges. Looking at it toe-on, it does look like a wedge, but looking at it heel-on, it has a veeery slight hollow to it. Compare that to a WB "Medium size hollow ground", and *that* sucker is hollow, but not much.

Moral of the story: no worries, man! beginner or not, I guess ya never *really* know. The more I learn, the more I think that hollow-ness is like women's garment sizes...totally dependent on company and what year/style happens to be in vogue at the time. Another reason the fairer gender has it more difficult than us guys. :)

I think for the scales I'd start with some 400 or 600 grit sandpaper really lightly to get rid of the surface ookie, then move through 800 and 1000, maybe add in some 1500/2000. then some Flitz polish on a old t-shirt and it'll shine like new (I assume it's a plastic of some kind?)

blade? I'd spend a long time at like 100 grit until the only thing I saw on the blade was the scratches the sandpaper left (no pits from the rust, no stains, etc). (careful around the stamp on the tang though, you don't want to make that go bye-bye). Then go 150 / 220, then flip to wet/dry 400/600/800/1000. I might stop there (it'd be fairly shiny at that point). If I wanted mirror, I'd keep going with 1500/2000/2500, then either Maas (which I've not used before, but heard wonderful things about) / "Mothers Mag Polish" (got some from walmart automotive section I was pleased with), or Flitz (all-around good stuff). The wet/dry I do with a mineral oil, not water to keep the sandpaper from clogging up. You can pick up all the sandpaper you need at your local AutoZone or whatever automotive specialty store is nearby...check the clearcoat repair section and (at least here) there is a big display of 3M sandpapering goodness. I also saw some 3M 1000 grit at Walmart right next to the Mother's polish, but for the 1500+ stuff, I only saw it at the car store.

good luck!

[TonyBrown]

well, after much debate and much waiting i finally got in touch with mycarver and asked him to do a resto on the above razor.

here's the result.

[TonyBrown]

I can't say enough about how good of a job he did on this. had this done for my wife for Mother's day and she is absolutely THRILLED with it.

[Kentos]

Glad mycarver is still around doing restos. Hard to beat his results .

[global_dev]

Beautiful restore.

[TonyBrown]

the pics don't do it justice. it is gorgeous.

[mycarver]

Thanks Tony,, Glad to hear your pleased with the results. I really enjoyed doing this piece. And though the pictures aren't all that great,, I do believe it looks much better in person. That Lacewood is very pretty. It changes as you move the razor. Cool.

Yeah guys, I'm still around. Been swamped with work lately besides the resto's. Have quite a few in the pipeline besides some customs.