Need some help with this Haddon razor

Hi everyone. I was fortunate (I think) to purchase a Haddon razor from a local consignment store. It's a Haddon razor made in Sheffield, England. I don't hear to much about them so anyone with feedback or comments would help a lot. I'm not sure if it's a collectible or not because it doesn't show up in the Standard Guide to Razors (3rd ed, Ritchie and Stewart).

I at first walked away from this purchase because it had two small chips towards the back of the blade. Then I went back 3 days later thinking I would try to restore it by grinding down the blade, sanding and finally honing it. So that's what I did. Unfortunately I might have ground down a bit too much...I'll explain why I think so in a bit. Below are the progress pics.

Now it's clean, polished and back in its original scales (also cleaned and buffed). The chips are gone and all the rust is gone as well. Here are my questions:

a) It still has some minor pitting on the back near the middle and toe of the blade. I'm not sure if I should go back and remove all the pitting or just leave it. I think I can live with how it is now. What do you people think? It's nice and shiny now and if I go back and sand it then I've got to go through the progression all over again.

b) My main concern is really about the chips that I managed to remove. I know I should have sanded it or honed it down but I wanted the try to do it quickly. It took me a whole 10 seconds to grind down the heel of the blade enough to remove the chips then I stopped. Unfortunately I might have gone just 1 or 2 secs overboard because the blade is not exactly symmetrical as I was trying for a slight smile on the blade edge. The problem is that I can't set the bevel on the last 1/3 of the blade. Is this because I've taken off too much during my grinding phase? Can I keep going on my 1k whetstone and keep taking off steel until I am able to get an even keen edge enough to shave arm hairs or is there something I'm not doing right?

Now, I thought maybe it was my honing technique because I'm a newbie but then I took another razor that I restored and honed it and was able to set the bevel on a 1k whetstone, then went to I think a 4k oil stone, then 6k (or maybe it's an 8k) King Japanese wetstone. These are all the hones I have for now and I was able to shave with my other razor this afternoon - by the way this was my FIRST ATTEMPT at honing a dull razor which came out of my tumbler and I got it to shave ready after stropping on linen and leather of course!! This took my about 45 mins.

Restored pics of Haddon razor. Please take a look a the last one. This one shows the heel of the blade and you can see the part that I ground down. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you.

Oh yeah I also don't have nickel pins/collars so I just used my stainless steel microfasteners and peened the end of the bolt.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

Very nice!

Looks like a lovely job Terry - you should be proud of it. I'd live with the minor pitting.

Hopefully you kept the blade cool when you ground those chips out - if not, you may have ruined the temper of the steel at that point and it will never take a proper edge. Lets surmise that the temper is OK, though. What you have done is make the bevel start higher up the grind, which has a twofold effect: the angle to the spine will alter and if the grind has a belly the metal will become thicker, so the resulting bevel will be wider.

That little flat area needs to come out too - whether by honing or just working the heel a bit more.

After such radical surgery, it takes a good long while to get the bevels to meet again - an hour or more sometimes, and that's using a really coarse hone like a 325 diamond plate! You need to get a strong loupe or usb 'scope and look at the bevel planes to see how you are progressing - don't go up to a higher grit until the bevels meet.

Good luck!
Neil

I've read in some instances those with really bad smiles require tilting it a bit as you complete x-patterns. Might want to try that.

The rolling x-stroke will hone that from toe to heel. It will take a while (a long while) but it can be done. Tape the spine and replace the tape as it wears down. Clear your schedule and get started.

Neil Miller said:

Hopefully you kept the blade cool when you ground those chips out - if not, you may have ruined the temper of the steel at that point and it will never take a proper edge. Lets surmise that the temper is OK, though.

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Thanks Neil. I tried to make sure I didn't expose the blade to the grinding wheel for too long. I kept my finger behind the blade so that I could feel the heat build up. After a few seconds I back off and just blew on it to cool it down then continued. The whole process took no more than 15-20 secs I think.

Neil Miller said:

That little flat area needs to come out too - whether by honing or just working the heel a bit more.

After such radical surgery, it takes a good long while to get the bevels to meet again - an hour or more sometimes, and that's using a really coarse hone like a 325 diamond plate! You need to get a strong loupe or usb 'scope and look at the bevel planes to see how you are progressing - don't go up to a higher grit until the bevels meet.

Good luck!
Neil

Click to expand...

I have given this some thought. I have been able to get the blade to shave already so I might just enjoy using it for now. It's only the last 3/4" of the blade that I am having trouble with and rather than sacrifice a good amount of good steel to make the bevels meet, I would just live without it for now and over time as I hone and strop I'll eventually wear back the blade allowing for the reunion of the two bevels. I hope I'm on the right track here.

wazazzle said:

I've read in some instances those with really bad smiles require tilting it a bit as you complete x-patterns. Might want to try that.

Click to expand...

wazazzle said:

I've read in some instances those with really bad smiles require tilting it a bit as you complete x-patterns. Might want to try that.

Click to expand...

Yes I tried the rolling x and the slight tilting of the blade but I'm not experience enough to maintain a correct angle for this second stroke but the rolling x is pretty easy to do.