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You don't need to be a 'pro' to restore a razor

Gamma

Gamma

MasterChaud555 said:
Great thread! You've definitely made me feel better about trying to restore some razors in my appartment without the use of big power tools and making them look perfect.
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Whoops - I missed your post until just now.
It's good to hear this thread hit a chord with you.

Striving for perfection is great. Perfect stuff is great.

I have to be realistic about it though.
I don't have the tools, time, skills or patience for perfection - and even if I did, I seem to enjoy 'perfect' things less and 'imperfect' things more.

Mostly though - it's about just jumping in and getting started with doing it.
Marveling over the results is awesome, but for me the big fun is in the doing part.
 
MasterChaud555

MasterChaud555

Gamma said:
Whoops - I missed your post until just now.
It's good to hear this thread hit a chord with you.

Striving for perfection is great. Perfect stuff is great.

I have to be realistic about it though.
I don't have the tools, time, skills or patience for perfection - and even if I did, I seem to enjoy 'perfect' things less and 'imperfect' things more.

Mostly though - it's about just jumping in and getting started with doing it.
Marveling over the results is awesome, but for me the big fun is in the doing part.
Click to expand...

Exactly. My transition into straights and now restoration, is honestly huge for me. I'm jumping into something that I had no previous knowledge about.

I recieved my first razor to restore in the mail today. I've spent maybe 3 hours sanding it so far. There's a few dark spots on there that I had trouble getting to (on the stabilizers and in the jimping) but after a while I realized that they're perfectly fine being there. I know I'm not going for mirror finish. This is my first razor. I just want to make it a functioning tool. When I feel like I'm ready, I'll get the right razor and spend hours upon hours sanding just to get it to "perfection". But right now I just want something I can shave with.

I also plan on making wood scales for my razor. Mainly because I want to learn. I have never sanded anything before and I've never worked with wood. This is gonna be completely new to me. But that's what I look forward to, learning by doing.
 
SliceOfLife

SliceOfLife

Very cool thread. I've never tried CLR. I did use a casing tumbler for a bit, but in the end decided the time it took wasn't justified by the job it did. How much sanding time would you say the CLR soak saves you over just hitting the blade with something like 60 grit?
 
Gamma

Gamma

MasterChaud555 said:
Exactly. My transition into straights and now restoration, is honestly huge for me. I'm jumping into something that I had no previous knowledge about.

I recieved my first razor to restore in the mail today. I've spent maybe 3 hours sanding it so far. There's a few dark spots on there that I had trouble getting to (on the stabilizers and in the jimping) but after a while I realized that they're perfectly fine being there. I know I'm not going for mirror finish. This is my first razor. I just want to make it a functioning tool. When I feel like I'm ready, I'll get the right razor and spend hours upon hours sanding just to get it to "perfection". But right now I just want something I can shave with.

I also plan on making wood scales for my razor. Mainly because I want to learn. I have never sanded anything before and I've never worked with wood. This is gonna be completely new to me. But that's what I look forward to, learning by doing.
Click to expand...

Awesome post!

Don't forget to show us pix when you're ready!

My first scales were pretty ugly - but they worked real well. Felt great shaving with that razor after I honed it too.
 
Gamma

Gamma

SliceOfLife said:
Very cool thread. I've never tried CLR. I did use a casing tumbler for a bit, but in the end decided the time it took wasn't justified by the job it did. How much sanding time would you say the CLR soak saves you over just hitting the blade with something like 60 grit?
Click to expand...

Hard to say how much time it saves - but it lets me do other stuff while it's 'cooking' and it does a pretty good job.
It neutralizes rust too I think - not sure, but I think so.
 
Gamma

Gamma

Did a little comparison tonight.
Hard to do a real comparison here, but with 50x w/d it took me about 20 min to clear the blade well enough to move forward.
Meanwhile - i ahd another blade in CLR.
For the hand-sanding blade, I spent about 15-20 min each on 50x, 100x, 150x.
At that point I checked the CLR and that blade was good to go and I could start on 320x.

I know - not a scientific test, two different blades, no control group and a sample size of .5 - but my guesstimation is that the CLR saved me a fair amount of time - probably 1/2 or 1/3 - and it gets into all the pores that don't get sanded out and it kills that rust too.

There's some other stuff that's probably better/faster - Evaporust. I haven't seen it anywhere yet but when I do I'll buy some to try it out next time.
 
alpster

alpster

Gamma said:
Striving for perfection is great. Perfect stuff is great. I have to be realistic about it though.
I don't have the tools, time, skills or patience for perfection - and even if I did, I seem to enjoy 'perfect' things less and 'imperfect' things more.

Mostly though - it's about just jumping in and getting started with doing it.
Marveling over the results is awesome, but for me the big fun is in the doing part.
Click to expand...

This is a great thread. I can honestly say that I have ruined a couple of otherwise great shavers by striving for perfection. As I gain more experience, I tend to use more sober judgement about how much can be done and where to stop. Sometimes you just can't make 100 years of age go away with sandpaper, but you can usually salvage a sweet shaver. There is also a certain amount of character and history in a very old blade that shouldn't be sanded away. IMO. It is still hard to leave those last couple of tiny pits in an otherwise perfect finish. LOL
 
gbell1577

gbell1577

$uploadfromtaptalk1398173774349.jpgView attachment 439294$uploadfromtaptalk1398173859850.jpg

How bad would you say the hone wear is, I am trying to get an eye for this.
 
Gamma

Gamma

Hard to say, looks like it was sanded?
Whatever the case - I've seen worse. Much worse. I own many razors with way more spine wear than that.
They all shave great too.
Don't sweat spine wear.
 
MasterChaud555

MasterChaud555

Well I've been slowly working on my scales. I've got them shaped and sanded all they way up to 2000 grit. They look awesome in my eyes. I worked on the wedge for a little bit today and totally messed it up haha. I'm gonna try again tomorrow but this has definitely been a learning curve for me. I'm planning to shellac the scales and see how they turn out. Hopefully I'll start a thread showing it off in a week or two.
 
Heespharm

Heespharm

Gamma said:
Ahh - cool - sorry for the delay in getting back to this.

I may just take you up on the offer - thank you kindly.

I still have this thing in my head though, that says the 'bumper' inside the scales should be 1/8" and that leads me to using something else.
So - what I'm thinking is this - use the brass tubing but put some shrink tube over it. That would beef it up.
Plus - it would add a bit of cushion to the contact point I think. Hmm.

Good stuff here - I like the idea. Just time and motivation to get to doing it.
Click to expand...

Just found the perfect thing beads for kids neckalaces... Go to any hobby lobby and they'll have beads of many shapes and sizes... Bore out the inside to match you pins
 
N

NewellVW

BUMP!!!
Awesome thread, needs to be resurrected! I am working on getting a Mappin Brothers razor back to its dignity by returning it as close as possible to OEM condition. Blade is pretty clean but has a couple of cracks in the horn scales and your fix just may work.

I loved reading this and your explanation with accompanying pics did wonders for my knowledge of bringing back scales.

Thanks Gamma!
 
147_Grain

147_Grain

Between this thread and a video on scalemaking that Lewis Razors posted on Youtube, I was inspired to go to the antique shop today and pick up some razors in need of TLC. Forty five minutes later and forty five dollars lighter I walked out with a W&B spike in great condition (probably only needs honing), an H. Boker 1893 Columbian Exposition (aka Chicago World's Fair) razor with some minor rust on the spine and tang, and the coffin cases they came in.

The W&B feels pretty heavy and looked to my eyeballs to be a 5/8 or 11/16 quarter-hollow (I haven't measured it yet); I suspect it began life as a 7/8 in a thinner grind since there's a fair amount of honewear on the spine (reasonably even though). The proprietor of the antique shop thought the scales were horn, though I'm not sure - I'll take some pictures when I get a chance.

The Boker has a set of ill-fitting modern-looking plastic replacement scales on it, replete with an improperly sized wedge that rubs against the point when the razor is opened or closed. Thus this is a great opportunity to practice making scales and pinning the razor with them :V Even if there's a flaw in the metal that I missed and the thing is unsalvageable I'm only out twenty bucks or so.

The antique store had six or seven other razors in stock that I passed on, mostly due to severe frowns (I don't know how anybody shaved with them once they got so bad), and one very nice Solingen-made razor with gorgeous light colored horn scales marred by significant rust and pitting near the edge and what looked like it might have been a crack. The rest of the metal on that was pristine, I wish I could find the guy who let the edge get all messed up and call him a blockhead for turning it into the world's fanciest letter opener or paperweight.
 
Gamma

Gamma

Cool - thanks guys - glad this thread is still alive and people are still getting something from it.

NewellVW said:
BUMP!!!
Awesome thread, needs to be resurrected! I am working on getting a Mappin Brothers razor back to its dignity by returning it as close as possible to OEM condition. Blade is pretty clean but has a couple of cracks in the horn scales and your fix just may work.

I loved reading this and your explanation with accompanying pics did wonders for my knowledge of bringing back scales.

Thanks Gamma!
Click to expand...

147_Grain said:
Between this thread and a video on scalemaking that Lewis Razors posted on Youtube, I was inspired to go to the antique shop today and pick up some razors in need of TLC. Forty five minutes later and forty five dollars lighter I walked out with a W&B spike in great condition (probably only needs honing), an H. Boker 1893 Columbian Exposition (aka Chicago World's Fair) razor with some minor rust on the spine and tang, and the coffin cases they came in.

The W&B feels pretty heavy and looked to my eyeballs to be a 5/8 or 11/16 quarter-hollow (I haven't measured it yet); I suspect it began life as a 7/8 in a thinner grind since there's a fair amount of honewear on the spine (reasonably even though). The proprietor of the antique shop thought the scales were horn, though I'm not sure - I'll take some pictures when I get a chance.

The Boker has a set of ill-fitting modern-looking plastic replacement scales on it, replete with an improperly sized wedge that rubs against the point when the razor is opened or closed. Thus this is a great opportunity to practice making scales and pinning the razor with them :V Even if there's a flaw in the metal that I missed and the thing is unsalvageable I'm only out twenty bucks or so.

The antique store had six or seven other razors in stock that I passed on, mostly due to severe frowns (I don't know how anybody shaved with them once they got so bad), and one very nice Solingen-made razor with gorgeous light colored horn scales marred by significant rust and pitting near the edge and what looked like it might have been a crack. The rest of the metal on that was pristine, I wish I could find the guy who let the edge get all messed up and call him a blockhead for turning it into the world's fanciest letter opener or paperweight.
Click to expand...
 
FairlySlow

FairlySlow

*cries in deleted picture hosting sites* 😢 so many good picture references for newer people like myself lost to the abyss of the internet. Awesome write up either way. Im gonna start my projects someday soon I swear. I want to so bad but the procrastination is to real lately.. ill get there though
 
Ravenonrock

Ravenonrock

I shaved the pig
Great thread revival and inspiration for regular guys to jump in and bring some old razors back from the dead. Wish we could see some of those pics along the way also!
 
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