Worth the trouble to restore this razor?

[Randa11safety]

Hey gang,
On impulse I purchased this razor from an antique store thinking that it would be a snap to get into straight razor shaving. Well, a few weeks and many hours of scouring this wonderful website later, I think I'm almost ready to think about maybe shaving sometime soon with my razor.

So, what I would like to know is, is this razor worth fully restoring?

I've taken the rust off to make it functional but would it be worth unpinning to do a complete polish and replace the scales?

The text:
Chas. Hoemig
Fort Wayne IND
M.I. Germany

The Wayne

Thanks,
Randall

P.S. Happy first post!

 

[Mike'sWorld]

Of course the razor is worth saving. You're askng the wrong bunch of people, though.

As for the scales, unless there is hidden damage that I can't see here, keep them, they look great.

Edit: Just notice this is your first post. Welcome!

 

[Skyrider55]

Looks like a great razor for a first restore. Welcome to the B&B. Now you should start a new thread in the shave clinic/ noobie check in and get a proper welcome. Lots of help and advice here.

 

[azmark]

I can't really tell how the edge looks. If it isn't too bad, just hone it. If there is staining just leave it and enjoy the character it has.

 

[Joe Edson]

Of course the razor is worth saving

Considering that I think almost every razor is worth saving I can agree with you. I take a stab at everything save blades with cracks or microcracks extending too far into the blade.

 

[honed]

From the looks of it, it shouldn't give you any trouble.

 

[O. Glenn]

You said you already got rid of the rust, so I'm assuming that is a "before" picture. If you'd like to polish it up further because you'd prefer it that way, then by all means go for it! Only you can decide if the effort is worth it.

Enjoy!

 

[Pkrankow]

From the looks of it, hone it and use it. If you have never honed a razor then send it to someone who hones.

My favorite razor has all kinds of staining on it. Enjoy.

Welcome aboard!

Phil

 

[Legion]

Leave the scales on, remove the rust, shine it up with metal polish, and have it honed. Then you can try it out and see if straight shaving is for you, and it will cost under $50 and some elbow grease. Worth a shot.

 

[Randa11safety]

Thanks for the tips!

I ran over it with some 150 grit and it revealed some minor pitting but it looks like it's in great condition; no chips or cracks. I'll probably go for the full polish in time.

My only issue with the scales is that I think they're plastic and that doesn't quite meet my standards.

I'll put up some pics later tonight.

 

[Legion]

Thanks for the tips!

I ran over it with some 150 grit and it revealed some minor pitting but it looks like it's in great condition; no chips or cracks. I'll probably go for the full polish in time.

My only issue with the scales is that I think they're plastic and that doesn't quite meet my standards.

I'll put up some pics later tonight.

Wow. 150 grit is pretty coarse. 600 will get rid of surface rust.

 

[johnmrson]

Considering that I think almost every razor is worth saving I can agree with you. I take a stab at everything save blades with cracks or microcracks extending too far into the blade.

I'd second that. I've got some straights at home that have blades that are full of pitting after they've been restored and look pretty ugly but they are great shavers. I've got an antique French Janus razor with a worked spine. The blade looks like a 17 year old with really bad acne but the edge is clean and it shaves like a dream.

 

[Randa11safety]

Right on. I went down to the 150 because I couldn't get any of the darkness out of it with 320. Maybe I didn't work on it long enough... Oh well! I'm still learning and having fun.

 

[Pkrankow]

OK, you are finished at 320? Bump up to 600 or so and go the whole length of the blade in one smooth stroke starting at the heel and going off the tip. Start off the blade and end off the blade.

It should have a super awesome satin finish if you do it right.

Or keep going up through 1200 grit then onto compound to get a mirror finish.

It looks good, and honing it up and shaving is an option the way it is.

Phil

 

[Randa11safety]

OK, you are finished at 320? Bump up to 600 or so and go the whole length of the blade in one smooth stroke starting at the heel and going off the tip. Start off the blade and end off the blade.

It should have a super awesome satin finish if you do it right.

Or keep going up through 1200 grit then onto compound to get a mirror finish.

It looks good, and honing it up and shaving is an option the way it is.

Phil

Do I just skip polishing the tang?

 

[Pkrankow]

Do I just skip polishing the tang?

Your choice. It would probably look better with it all the same finish. Comes back to the old "fish or cut bait" dilemma.

I did one blade polished out on a low speed buffer (it didn't need much) and I have done a minimalist cleaned up but left it stained. I kinda like the stained look better, but I don't like polishing so I am biased by my laziness.

Phil

 

[onimaru55]

My only issue with the scales is that I think they're plastic and that doesn't quite meet my standards.

Razors were traditionally scaled in flexible materials like horn & plastic as they could be shaped around less than perfectly straight razors. Much harder to do that with stiffer materials.

 

[Slash McCoy]

The scales are fine. Celluloid, bakelite, etc just other names for plastic as far as I'm concerned, and they worked just fine for even many high end razors over the last 100 years or so. The material is fine. The scales look ok. Just hone it, or have it honed if you don't know exactly and precisely how it's supposed to be done. If the scales are so loose a fit that the blade can easily catch on a scale when you close it, then you need to peen down the hinge pin a bit. Don't overdo it. Just tighten it up a little at a time until you get it where you want it.

I recently got a lot of 3 razors pretty cheap from ebay and the one I was really wanting, a Hudsor, turned out to have a big piece of the edge just.... gone. The damage was an inch long and went about 5/32" into the blade at the deepest part. After stomping and slamming stuff around for a while, I thought maybe I could salvage it after all. I breadknifed on a 150 grit diamond knife hone, set the bevel, worked down through 3 more diamond hones to 600 grit DMT, hit the 1000/6000 chinese, then a hard arkie with 1u diamond paste, then on to .25u diamond paste on paddle, stropped that baby up and had a most delightful shave. Took all of an hour and a half, including the one-pass shave. I felt so good about it that I went back to ebay and upgraded my feedback for that purchase to "neutral". Almost any razor without serious bends, warps, or cracks can be restored, whether it is a full restoration or just a functional restoration consisting of little more than honing. My suggestion is to just have it honed, shave with it, get acquainted with it, and when you buy your next razor, if you are really attached to that one then consider a complete restore. Really... do you shave before an audience? Do you think you will want to enter your razor in a world's prettiest razor contest? If it shaves good, that's great. If it looks nice, that's cool, but not essential.

If you are just now seeking to get started with straight razor shaving, I will offer this advice. No matter how handy with tools you are, or how expert you are at sharpening knives and tools, or how smart you are, or how many online tutorials on razor honing you have read, viewed, committed to memory, I would not recommend you hone your first razor yourself. There are a lot of variables involved in learning to shave with a straight. Having a nice professional edge on it takes one variable out of the equation and straightens out the learning curve a little bit. I started out doing my own honing, and I paid the price for it. It wasn't nothin nice, either. So send your first razor out. Maybe try honing your second one, or your third one. Yes, you will probably buy more razors than you need. Just one of those things. But you want to have at least one, preferably two, good, dependable shavers before you start experimenting.

The best price I have seen lately is $13 from whippeddog.com. Well, actually the best price I have seen lately is free, but that was a one time offer to one particular newbie. If your razor has issues, then Larry might want a few bucks more for fixing them. Also, I think Larry (whippeddog.com) sells beginner cheapo strops. It is likely that you will put a lot of nicks into your first strop so you probably are best off with a budget strop for your first one. At any rate, you MUST have a strop. It's not an option. The razor is stropped before every shave, so it is something you will have to learn to do right off the bat. In addition to the strop, you will want a shaving brush, a mug, and a puck of soap. VDH (Van Der Hagen) is cheap soap and you can often find it at walmart, walgreens, or a grocery store. It lathers nicely and does everything a shaving soap ought to do. www.starshaving.com sells a cheap badger brush that is quite a bit nicer than the VDH boar brush that you might find with the VDH soap at megalo-mart. No need to get fancy about the mug... one from the kitchen will do for now. You can melt your VDH into your mug in the microwave. Try about 25 seconds to start, then give it 10 more at a time until you get the desired results. Too much and you will have lots of soap in your microwave but not so much in the mug. Been there. Done that.

When you got all your gear together, check out all the relevant threads and go for it! If you still have questions about technique, ask them here. We love to help and convert newbies. Otherwise, who would we sell our old shaving junk to?

 

[Randa11safety]

I'm pretty sure you all are my new best friends.

I think I am going to leave the staining on the blade. I uncovered some pretty deep pitting that I don't have the time or desire to clean up completely. I went over it with the 600 and I think I like the finish it has.

Thanks Slash for all the info! I do have a cheap 1000/6000 waterstone that I tried out on it but got nowhere near a usable edge.
I'll be sending it out tomorrow.

As for strops, I ordered a cheap first one from Starshaving.com. I'm shopping around for a more permanent solution as well.

Thanks everybody for the feedback!

Randall