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Straight Razor Restoration for Dummies

So your Uncle gave you his old straight, or a friend picked one up for you because they know you shave like 'a crazyman', but you've only gotten as far as a DE (and the occasional lusting at straights in SOTD pics) you want to use it - only its a bit rough and you don't know quite what to do with it - what do you do? Sure, you can send it out to a pro, but that's expensive, and you're feeling pretty handy..........

After seeing more and more of these kinds of questions, I thought I'd create a thread showing that anyone with only the basic tools can bring a razor back to life well. Sure it wont be as good as one that a superpro has fixed, but there is a certain satisfaction that goes along with fixing it up yourself. I should also caveat that I'm no expert - but this is what works for me. I'll be working on a blade I saw on ebay, and even though it was a bit rough I couldnt help myself but get it anyway.

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So here it is, just slid out of the envelope. The scales are clearly shot, and need to go. I used a hand drill with a tiny drill bit to drill out the pin on both sides, then I pushed a nail through and out it popped.

Lets get a better look at the condition of the blade...

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Bummer. Worse than I thought. This is even after I'd given it a little polish with a rag and Brasso to see what was loose junk and what was actually rust/stain on the blade.

However, most importantly, the edge is fine. If there was rust right on the edge it would probably not be worth saving it, and even if it was - its outside the skill range of the average guy.

You can see the brown patches of rust - there's sure to be pitting under there. There's also these strange scratches (check out the second pic in paticular) that will need dealing with.

So now what... now we need to remove metal. That gets rid of the junk just on the surface, but also by removing metal across the entire blade it makes the pits shallower. This is a wedge so its no problem to remove metal, but you have to be more careful on a more hollow (thinner) grind.

The weapon of choice for the shaver without a dremel is wet&dry sandpaper! I start at 240 grit, you can go lower but I dont like to make such deep scratches.

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This is after a decent bit of sanding with 240. I sand in a circular motion, and then just when I'm about to move up a grit, do some sanding along the length of the blade. You can see that the rust and discolouration has been removed, but the pitting remains. The horisontal scratches are from the sandpaper.

Its frustrating as hell to stay at this grit when all you want to do is start moving up - but you really want to remove all the pitting you plan on removing at this level.

Once you've removed all you want to or can (because it's a thin blade, or like this one you dont want to remove interesting stamps on the blade) then you start moving up. Then its 360, 400, 600, 800, 1200 and 2000 if you can find it (often at auto shops). Remember to remove all the scratches of the previos grit before you move to the next one. I spray a little WD40 on the blade every so often while im sanding, and it seems to make it go a little easier.

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You can stop here if you like, the blade has all the rust removed, and will look pretty good, and have a fairly decent satin finish. If you want to go down the mirror polish road though, you need some more tools.

No, not a dremel... micromesh! I picked up a lot of cloth backed micromesh in grits 1500, 1800, 2400, 3200, 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000, 12000 on ebay for like $30. Use it just like sandpaper.

And after some attention from the micromesh.....

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Looking good, though still not perfect. Some more rag and brasso action is needed!

Until...

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Shazam! Mirror polish with only hand tools!

There's still a bit of pitting in the blade that I could have removed, but I like the looks of it being a little worn and used, I think it goes with this blades crazy curves and points.

So thats it, easy as pie. It will take a couple hours for all that sanding, but it's worth it in the end. Not a professional finish, but one you've done yourself and can be proud of :thumbup:

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And finally, at work, in one of my favourite SOTD pics

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Thanks to my chat buddy SlagleRock for a proof read!​
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That was pretty impressive. In the future I want to try a straight myself. This may be a good way to go about it. Nice job.
 
What a fine rendering of a resto.
The blade you have is TRES COOL. Swept lines and points.

Thank you for showing us how it can be done.

Would you talk to us some more about the micromesh???
Tom
 
i love it, i want to do this :)
i have 2 razors that need to be restored :) then i;ll just send them off ot be honed, and make some pretty scales
 
I really like what you've done with the blade.

I've seen some sites that sell premade scales. I was thinking it'd be a good idea for someone like me with limited wood working experience, if the scales need to be replaced.
 
Thanks guys.

TOB9595 - micromesh is basically just sandpaper, only much finer grits.

TBH scales arnt that hard, even without powertools. Just use whatever saws you have to cut a rough shape and have at it with sandpaper. Its drilling straight holes without some kind of mounted drill and the finishing of them thats the tricky part, and unless you go after something super tricky - its more time consuming than anything else.

Im going to make some scales for this guy out of vasticola burl, which is an Australian wood. This stuff...
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I'll probably use power tools, but if you guys want I can take some pics along the way (keeping in mind im by no means an expert on all this).
 
I have always been a fan of cratex and have been using it on a blade with a lot of etching. sanding will not work for this blade. At least not without removing the etching. it is great for cleaning up a blade and different grits can get back that mirror quite well if you do not have heavy damage.
the blade i am working on has some pitting, but i plan on bluing it all (brassframeback, should work quite well) and that shouls actually show the etching back off after my cleanup.
 
I have always been a fan of cratex and have been using it on a blade with a lot of etching. sanding will not work for this blade. At least not without removing the etching. it is great for cleaning up a blade and different grits can get back that mirror quite well if you do not have heavy damage.
the blade i am working on has some pitting, but i plan on bluing it all (brassframeback, should work quite well) and that shouls actually show the etching back off after my cleanup.

cool - ive nver heard of cratex. What is it/how does it work without removing etchings?
 
Cratex is a brand name for a rubberized abrasive compound. I discovered it while working at renaissance fairs as it is great for removing surface rust and patina. It comes in a number of grit levels, but even the most coarse I have have used is extremely gentle. It will not, at least that I have come across, actually remove material like sanding does, so pitting will not be removed though the staining will be. I used the basic green coarser stuff on a Henkles I picked up at an antique mall. The blade was in great shape but had patina and staining. A quick go over and 30 minutes later it was like new.
 
quick update...

the wood has arrived (Vasticola Burl, an Aussie wood). I'll probably keep the scales pretty plain because this razor is so insane looking. They'll probably be very similar to the original ones. I'll get to work once ive some spare time.

...now to decide on how to finish the wood.
 
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