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Easy Razor Polishing Tutorial

I've been seeing a lot more members asking about polishing and restorations in general. A lot of times some newer members may feel like they need to send it out to someone and sometimes with good reason but a lot of times you don't.

I personally really enjoy polishing razors but I use two methods. The first one being the most popular for major restoration is with greaseless compounds on buffers. Quite honestly I ONLY do it if I have to, it is dangerous even with quite a few blades that I've done I don't fully feel comfortable and have even had blades shoot out of my hands and scare the bejesus out of me. So I only use buffers if the blade is pitted heavily and completely needs a clean up.

This next method is my favorite and want to share how I do it and of course you don't have to do it like I do but it works, it's easy and anyone can restore and polish a blade.


  • This polishing kit from Dremel is one of the main tools I use and quite honestly you don't have to buy the kit but because of the price point of buying it by piece and in a kit it makes sense. About ~$15

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(I have never used the polishing compound it comes with so I have no idea how it works)

  • Any Dremel will work. I personally like a battery one for restorations because you don't have to worry about cords. Also I've never drained a battery completely during a polish.

A few attachments
I use the smaller felt wheels for 5/8 and below but I was running low on the larger wheels for 6/8 and above.
  • Wheel attachment
  • A cloth wheel for the final buff
  • A wire wheel brush for removing grime and loose items in corners and this works excellent to run on jimps.
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Rouges

I use Dico buffing compounds that can be found at ACE Hardware and probably any other hardware store.
  • E5 (Grey)
  • CR1 (Red)
  • WR1 (White)
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There are other items that Dico carries that are in between but I've never used them an figured if I was going to use all of those I may as well use greaseless on buffers.

  • Chromium Oxide
This is the powdered form
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A few other necessities are cloth and most importantly SAFETY EQUIPMENT!!!. You will be covered in the rouges and this stuff flies everywhere.
  • Eye protection
  • Some kind of respiratory protection

This razor was a nice snag for me off the bay and will be a piece of cake to polish to a brilliant mirror finish. There is no pitting, just staining but not too bad but beyond what MAAS can do. This is a 6/8 Syracuse Barber Supply Razor with great bolsters and great plastic scales. I am not going to give up these scales, they are just perfect.
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Edit: Use the wire wheel to remove and loosen oxidation and rust.

Before loading the wheel I like to clean off any rouges that are on there already and of course this is only if the wheels are not new. I use 80 or 100 grit sand paper and just lightly turn the Dremel on and rough the wheel up a bit.
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Load the wheel with the Dremel on and it's as easy as letting it spin in the rouge to load.

I keep the Dremel at the #2 position and never higher on it.
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Always Always Always.....keep the wheels rotating from the spine to the edge. It is very easy for blades to crack and send shrapnel flying. I like to use side to side motion.
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After you completely buff the entire buffing area use a cloth to wipe the razor down. The grey will clean the major grime off the razor and this is usually where I spend the most time doing.

The red is where you should notice a huge improvement.
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:thumbup:
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Then follows the white
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Then the chromium oxide. Just drop the cloth wheel in the baggy and mix it up in there to cover the entire wheel. This will be extremely messy and dusty, you will have green fingers afterwards but it cleans up easily. You must use a respiratory device here, the excess will shoot up right at you. This is a really light touch, if you use a heavy hand you will leave scratches in the blade and you will have to do the entire process from the beginning again.
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Tada:001_cool:
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I hope this helps folks that thought they couldn't do some minor polishing. Don't be afraid to try your own restorations and also most importantly don't be afraid to ask for help. I from time to time send my razors out if I feel the work is too much restoration or if I don't have enough time.

These scales look perfect but were uneven and would not stand up on its back. So I've been experimenting on fixing scales lately by fixing warped scales and in this situation I actually cut the scale on the back side.:sneaky2: and fused it back after I straightened them out. Because of the bolsters and inlay I didn't want to try and rescale. It came out perfectly!! I'm going to wait a bit to see how they last but I've done it on scrap pieces and it holds up pretty good but only on acrylic. Not 100% but pretty darn close. I'll get a tutorial up on this later along with straightening warped scales.

My biggest goal from this tutorial is to hopefully have other members who have an area they feel comfortable doing to share that with others and expand the knowledge of the members. Maybe a pinning tutorial, honing, unpinning, etc.
 
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I shaved with the razor today and it came out like a dream! It's almost 1am and I barely feel my 5 o'clock shadow:001_cool:
 
Excellent tutorial!

That was really helpful. Now if I can just ever actually find a straight in an antique mall around here somewhere I will try this out.
 
Really glad you fellas liked it. You don't have to invest much money or time for that matter. It literally took me longer to write the post than to do the polish; a good hour of polishing does a lot and most of the time not needed. Cost of the entire necessities is still under $100 and that includes the most basic Dremel.
 
that was great... this was extremely helpful... my wife is gonna think I am insane when she sees me try this.

Trust me she is going to appreciate it. I forgot to pull my wife's truck (caddy) out of the garage one time because "hey it's completely on the other side of the garage.":blush: Buffers can send razor flying across the garage.
 
Can you use some of this stuff for polishing the scales? Would you just use the white rouge for that?

Just checked my local hardware store and they have this exact same stuff, so I'll be heading down there later today to pick some up (couldn't remember which 3, so didn't buy then).

Already have the dremel and polishing kit, so for about $20 I should be on my way.

Thanks for the great tutorial!!:thumbup::thumbup:
 
Can you use some of this stuff for polishing the scales? Would you just use the white rouge for that?

Just checked my local hardware store and they have this exact same stuff, so I'll be heading down there later today to pick some up (couldn't remember which 3, so didn't buy then).

Already have the dremel and polishing kit, so for about $20 I should be on my way.

Thanks for the great tutorial!!:thumbup::thumbup:

You can use the same stuff, I use MAAS or Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound for scales though. I haven't done too much on scales with compounds so I don't know if there are any tolerances to worry about.
 
I wanted to add that you do have to keep aware of the blade heating up but I use my fingers that are holding the blade to feel the heat. I don't worry about it heating up though just keep the thought in the back of your mind.
 
Well my local hardware store didn't have the CR1 stuff, so I just bought a combo back that had Emery, Tripoli, SCR, and Jewellers Rouge. Also bought the white rouge stuff.

To my surprise they also stocked foot-long pieces of 1/16" brass rods, though the only size 0 washers they had were stainless steel.

I have a Joh Engstrom razor that is a perfect candidate for this and am going to give it a go this evening.
 
Well my local hardware store didn't have the CR1 stuff, so I just bought a combo back that had Emery, Tripoli, SCR, and Jewellers Rouge. Also bought the white rouge stuff.

To my surprise they also stocked foot-long pieces of 1/16" brass rods, though the only size 0 washers they had were stainless steel.

I have a Joh Engstrom razor that is a perfect candidate for this and am going to give it a go this evening.

Cool. If you don't have crox just use the jewlers rouge but start at the tail.

Let's see some pics tonight!
 
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