I'm about to get my hands on a couple vintage razors that will need some work done. That being said, I am wondering if it is possible to restore a razor with just basic hand tools, or would I also need to invest in a dremel, drum sander, etc? I think I would enjoy the hands-on connection of hand-restoring them. What do you think?
Hand tool- only restoration?
- Thread starter dankeeler128
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At one point in time, they were made completely with hand tools. Power tools just speed some parts of the process.
You can do an awful lot of work with just W/D paper and shaped sanding blocks.
- Thread starter
- #4
What grit should I start with? I know I will need to polish any grinding i do, but not sure where to start.
Without knowing what your actually doing, it would be hard to say.
Be careful if using power tools .It is easy to overheat a blade and destroy it temper .It will never hold an edge after that .
- Thread starter
- #7
Mostly looking at narrowing spines, etc, on a GD, before I start honing it.
I might actually use a file to start with. I find them easier to reduce things the same amount, or to the same amount, with them. I would try 600 grit for removing metal though, then go courser/finer/same depending on how it is doing.
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- #9
That's kind of what I was wondering. Wasn't sure what would be best to start. Thanks.
For material removal like shaping spines I would start with 60 or 80 grit. This will create pretty deep scratches but if you are far from your finished surface the scratches don't matter. Just start going to finer grits as you are getting closer to your finished surface. 600 grit is well into the polishing stage and dimensional changes are minimal at this grit. Go ahead and try sanding away material with 600 grit, and you will see that you are getting nowhere. I would start at 600 or even lower for removing light patina.
Is it possible to regrind the face of a razor by hand or is it only possible with a wheel of some sort?
You can pretty easily do enough to reduce bevel width by hand, but you are not going to change a quarter hollow to a half hollow unless you want to turn it into a religion.
It is better for me to start out with a high grit and go backwards than take off too much with low grit aka 200 wet/dry. Some eBay seller scrub the metal too much for my taste. If a blade is 130 years old I expect it to resemble it's age minus any destructive rust or grime.
