First go at it

[CptNemo]

I've picked up a straight razor for cheap at a local thrift store and decided to have a go at restoring it. It was a prime candidate since it's not too far gone, I won't do any cutting, just sanding it down and giving it a polish. I might try my hand at making my own set of scales, since the originals are quite cheap looking.

I didn't take pictures of it when I acquired it, It was missing one side of the pivot pin so I knocked it through.



I did slightly sand it down before this pic, but I was most confused by the fact that there were no washers in this razor. Is this normal? I think it was meant to be a cheap razor and this just confirms it.

Anyway, the blade looks like this:



And I managed to sand it down to this;


I'm not finished yet, but I've noticed that the engravings have become harder to read. Is it possible to fill them in with ink, or will the ink just wash out during shaving?
If it turns out good I will donate it to another member as gratitude for the wealth of knowledge contained within this site.

[mycarver]

Inks, even the 'industrial Sharpie' will wash out. And it claims it's good to 500 degrees. Keeping engravings is a trick. Naturally the more you sand , the shallower they get. It's a balancing act.

[hig789]

I like that razor. Nice job. I have a few that don't have washers I dont think it means they are cheap though. It could I guess but my cheap ones shave as good as my better known ones.

[CptNemo]

I think I'll keep the engravings, as I don't mind to see some pitting, as long as all the rust has gone. I kind of like the logo. I'll just have to wait and see how it holds an edge after I'm finished sanding it down. Now I'll need to source some higher grit sandpaper.

[mycarver]

I have quite a few Gencos , no washers on any of them, plain Jane scales, boring blades and I have to say they are some of my favorites. Consistently great shavers and a no brainer to hone up.

[shakin_jake]

Hey Captain Nemo...nice find

I'd keep those schales if I were you. In any event, maybe someone local to you could use them one day for a re-schale, or you could also mail them to someone in need. As far as that goes, if you give them a light sanding and polish them up, you may change your mind about using them. Nothing wrong with keeping the original schales on a razor, especially if they're not cracked, but if you are restoring the blade, you could also restore the schales...just a thought

Now about the lack of a washer between the shank and the inside of the schales (each side)...most of the original vintage straight razors I have are washerless in that area. Some used them, some didn't...no biggie. Now if you're referring to the schales being washerless on the outside of the schale...I have one or two like that

If you've never pinned a razor before, using these schales would give you practice, and since you don't care for the schales, if you cracked one of the schales while pinning, you're really out nothing since you mentioned wanting to fit something different, so for that reason alone I'd at least use these schales for pinning practice. Have fun with this and please ad more pics to this thread as you go along. I'd like to see what you end up with


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.

[Doc226]

Hey Captain Nemo...nice find

I'd keep those schales if I were you. In any event, maybe someone local to you could use them one day for a re-schale, or you could also mail them to someone in need. As far as that goes, if you give them a light sanding and polish them up, you may change your mind about using them. Nothing wrong with keeping the original schales on a razor, especially if they're not cracked, but if you are restoring the blade, you could also restore the schales...just a thought

Now about the lack of a washer between the shank and the inside of the schales (each side)...most of the original vintage straight razors I have are washerless in that area. Some used them, some didn't...no biggie. Now if you're referring to the schales being washerless on the outside of the schale...I have one or two like that

If you've never pinned a razor before, using these schales would give you practice, and since you don't care for the schales, if you cracked one of the schales while pinning, you're really out nothing since you mentioned wanting to fit something different, so for that reason alone I'd at least use these schales for pinning practice. Have fun with this and please ad more pics to this thread as you go along. I'd like to see what you end up with


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.

Schales?

[CanisiusHistGrad]

Yeah, wondered about that myself...

[mycarver]

+1,, me too.

[shakin_jake]

scale=English

schale=German

School's out, go have fun


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.

[tomjr]

nice gesture.

[mycarver]

Yeah, shows just what the 'hale' I know.

[CptNemo]

Thanks for the reply jake! The idea of keeping the original scales to practise pinning is simply good, I should have thought of it myself. Pinning's probably one of those things that seems easy until you have a go at it. I've just cleaned up the other side a bit more, but I haven't found any higher grit sandpaper yet so there are no shiny new pics.

Also, on a side note, isn't schale also German for helmet? I was looking for a 60's helmet for a café racer project I'm doing and found a German site, halb-schale.

[shakin_jake]

Thanks for the reply jake! The idea of keeping the original scales to practise pinning is simply good, I should have thought of it myself. Pinning's probably one of those things that seems easy until you have a go at it. I've just cleaned up the other side a bit more, but I haven't found any higher grit sandpaper yet so there are no shiny new pics.

~~~after butchering a few of my first pinning jobs, it only made sense for me to recommend for you to at least keep the schales to practice with. Back when I first tried my hand at plugging tubeless tires (on a motorcycle), I went to a junk yard and paid $5 for a non descript car rim w/a tire mounted on it to take home and use it to practice putting plugs in it. I wore a pair of safety glasses and used a drill driver w/bit to make the simulated nail hole while the tire was under pressure. I then used the reaming tool to clean the hole up, then put the gummy worm on the hook tool, applied cement to the plug and ran it into the hole, trimmed the plug clean w/the tread 9using a DE razor blade) and called it done. Then drilled another hole and repeated that process several more times. I wanted to make sure if I was out on the road and got a flat with my motorcycle that used tubeless tires, that I could repair it myself w/o having to call road service. Even with a mobile phone and an insurance policy that covers basic road services, you sometimes can't get cell coverage in BFE and I wanted to be prepared. Plus, I don't want to be dependent and or have to wait for road service

Also, on a side note, isn't schale also German for helmet? I was looking for a 60's helmet for a café racer project I'm doing and found a German site, halb-schale.

~~~does schale mean helmet in German too?...I dunno but, I've perused more than a few German straight razor websites that referred to straight razor scales as razor schales. Apoligies in advance if I confused anyone with my use of the word schale. it just makes sense to me using the German translation, but then, I've been drawing horizontal lines through my hand written number sevens for years, as my sevens look like twos


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.

[CptNemo]

Well I'm back at square one. Somebody accidentally flung the razor across the room, and it bent the tip. So I had to sand down the bent area. Luckily the blade didn't break or chip, but I needed to sand it down with a low grit paper (no power tools), so I'll have to sand everything again to get those scratches out...

[mycarver]

Whoever that somebody was, slap their hand. Funny that a tip should just bend. Usually with this tempered metals they just snap, crack or chip in some way. You got lucky.