First partial restore attempt

I got an old Larkin this week on the bay and honed it right away to make sure it was shavable. It was in decent shape but the scales were too short, the wedge was loose, and razor blade would barely fit pinched between the scale and the wedge. I rushed through the progression and it shaved ok...the edge wasn't quite where it should have been but I know with a bit more attention it would be a great shaver.
Here is where I got it.





I have some scrap mahogany and flamed maple but decided to go with the mahogany on this one. Here are some pics of the process.

First I ripped the 1/2" piece in half giving me 2- 3/16" pieces


I traced the old scales but added about a 1/4" to make sure they'd be long enough


I doubled side taped them together and headed to the band saw



Then the ROSS...Rigid Oscillating Spindle Sander...a tool that should be a part of any wood shop


Not to bad


Some additional sanding for thickness and then rounding the edges all over got me here




I think I just found my wedge material...There's a reason I keep all my scrap


I went to the hardware store and they didn't have any 1/16" brass rod or washers so I went with stainless instead... less than $2 and I'm in business


I just put a small drop of titebond on each side of the wedge and clamped it in


Back to the ROSS


Not too shabby, I think it'll work


I drilled the hole in the wedge end then hit it with a coat of Tru-oil, I'll probably hit it with a couple more coats tomorrow and call it done.


I have been waffling back and forth on whether or not to polish up the blade, but I just kinda like the blue-ish patena it has right now and want it to still look antique although with using threaded pins it will be awfully easy if I change my mind to break it down and get to work. I think I'm going to hit the films again with it after I finish the scales and shave with it a while.

Ok, here my attempt at a partial half *** restore.

I decided to go ahead and take down some of the patena from the Larkin blade now rather than wait. Once I got working on it with 600, then 400 it was clear I wasn't going to get all of the little pits out and I didn't want to drop down to 220. I decided I just wanted to get it to where it looked respectable and clean...not mirror finish and brand new.

Here it is in direct sunlight






Here it is in a little more subdued lighting







For now I'll keep the stainless fasteners in there...however I realized I had a crap load of 1/16" brass brazing rods in this old brazing table...now I just need to get some washers

That's very nice work. Congrats on a beautiful restore and thanks for the WIP pictures.

Thanks BSAGuy, it turned out way better than I anticipated...I can't wait to get it honed up and shave with it again.

Suticat said:

I'm going through the same thing right now but one of my blades needed a LOT of work. And it would figure that it was the one I wanted to keep from the beginning.

Nice job on the scales btw.

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Thanks Suticat, yours are looking good too. This one is definitely the best condition of the 3 that I bought. The others might not turn out as well.

Spent and hour honing the larkin yesterday...I'm slow...15u, 12, 5, 3, 1, .3, balsa strop and leather. Was popping hairs pretty well and I couldn't wait until this morning to take it for a test drive with its new scales and cleaned up appearance.

It was an awesome shave... my 51st straight shave actually. I'm definitely used to the heavy gold dollars and the steeper bevel angle, but this larkin is like a sports car comparitively...the gold dollar is more like a town car. They both get the job done well...but...they are definitely different.

Love this razor

Order yourself some film and pick up a marble tile. It really is fairly simple as long as you have a straight blade...if its got a curve to it there's a bit more finesse that I haven't quite figured out yet.

I've got a wade & butcher that has a pretty twisted spine that will be teaching me some lessons on the rolling x technique. First time honing that one gave less than stellar results but I'll get there.

Yeah, if you can cut people open and sew 'em shut you can figure out the honing thing. Just 3 blades in and I'm exponentially better than I was.

very nice work indeed, awesome pictures of your progress

shemmer said:

very nice work indeed, awesome pictures of your progress

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Thanks shemmer,

I figure it ain't bad for $14.50 plus less than $2 on the hardware and less than pennies for the scrap mahogany. I'm not sure the others I've picked up will turn out quite so nice but I feel like this was a good start.

Looks fantastic for a first restore! Well done!

That's a great job!

Winchester38 said:

Looks fantastic for a first restore! Well done!

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pmaster said:

That's a great job!

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Thanks fellas, it was fun but I'm ready for another!!!

I've been shaving with this razor for the past couple of weeks and it is a fine shaver.

I did go back after the first few shaves and hit the 3u, 1u, .3u, and balsa CrO again and it got the edge right on. I've not shaved with a gold dollar for over a month now...I may have to go back and pick one of them up and see the comparison with this smaller vintage blade.

Fun read, really nice job with the razor. Congrats!

After not having shaved with the Larkin for over a year I finally got it back out and honed it back up on the norton 8k and the c12k followed up by crox on cotton. I shaved with it last night and it was one of the smoothest and most comfortable shaves I've ever had and near BBS. After enjoying the shave I decided it was time I replace these micro fasteners and pin it. I also took some #0000 steel wool to the tru-oil finish on the scales to level it out a bit and then polished them up really well. I was thinking about getting rid of this one since I never shave with it...but I think I'll keep it in the rotation now. I was having a serious case of RAD, so maybe getting this one back in service will keep it at bay haha

Very nice! I would like to try making some scales soon. I need to get a hold of a bench sander first.

dmatcuk said:

Very nice! I would like to try making some scales soon. I need to get a hold of a bench sander first.

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Thanks dmatcuk,

You can definitely make a set without a belt sander but it's more work for sure.

Beautiful work.

edwinhmcbride said:

Beautiful work.

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Thanks edwinhmcbride,

I was surprised at how much gloss I got from the tru-oil finish. I have finished guitar necks before with it and have never attempted a polished finished on those.