My first restoration

[Daview]

All being that I'm very new to sr shaving, only a couple of months, thought I would try my hand at restoring an old eBay razor.
Just cleaned and honed the blade, let me know what you pro's think.

Here are before and after.

 

[David]

Nice work. Did you have any trouble honing the toe?

 

[Daview]

Thanks Dcaddo111, the whole edge was pretty uneven, I spent about 2 hours on a 1000 whetstone, then onto a 4000, I think its reasonably straight now, also spent hours with a buffing wheel to get the grime off then a polishing.

 

[sfeile]

I'm not a pro, but it looks to me like you did a fine job. What are you going to use for scales?

 

[Daview]

Hi sfeile, for now I've re-pinned the old scales, acrylic, but not too bad.
I've just got my hands on some Burma Padauk wood, very prone to splintering,
but, I've got a bit cut and ready to sand to shape when I get the chance.

 

[malocchio]

Looks great, and I like the scales as well...Have you shaved with it since honing ?

 

[sfeile]

Hi sfeile, for now I've re-pinned the old scales, acrylic, but not too bad.
I've just got my hands on some Burma Padauk wood, very prone to splintering,
but, I've got a bit cut and ready to sand to shape when I get the chance.

View attachment 838653 View attachment 838654

Just a thought.
If I'm seeing it right, it looks like you made a cross-grain cut off the end of the board. That will leave your grain going vertical on your scales. Your scales are going to be (normally) fairly thin.
When you put your wedge in there, the bowing action as you open and close your blade is going to stress right on that vertical grain making it prone to breaking very quickly, especially in a very straight grained wood.

You might be better off taking a rip cut along the side of the board and having your grain run with your scales.

 

[Daview]

Thanks, sfeile, I never thought about that, think I'll follow your idea and just use this bit for wedges.

Malocchio, just spent today stropping and it passed hht, so tonights the night

 

[Daview]

Tried a shave and a bit tuggie, so more stropping required, lovely size though for getting those annoying whiskers under the nose

 

[Ice-Man]

Looks Great, Some good advice from sfeile above.

 

[Daview]

It's the only way to learn

 

[Daview]

getting a shave now, but not really perfect yet, my stropping requires more practice.

 

[Ice-Man]

try putting your strop on a flat table, then strop you might get a bit sharper till you get used to stropping. As that way your taking the bow out of the strop, but you only need light pressure on the razor.

 

[Daview]

Thanks Ice-man, I'll try that today, how many strokes in each direction should I be aiming for ?

 

[David]

What was your honing progression? 1k-4K to what?

 

[Daview]

That's it, should there be more ?

 

[sfeile]

That's it, should there be more ?

That explains your tugging. Common practice is to hone to 8K, then follow it with some sort of finisher.

You aren't refining your edge enough to get a good shave at 4K. There will still be deep scratches that will leave your edge basically serrated.

If you don't have other stones, lapping film is an in-expensive way to get you started.

 

[Daview]

Thanks sfeile,
so if I go 1k-4k-8k and then what do you suggest as a finisher ?

 

[sfeile]

I like Japanese naturals personally, but there are many options. As I said earlier, lapping film is pretty cheap. A 0.3um should make a good finisher.
A small Coticule can be good as long as you get a hard one.
Arkansas stones are used a lot.
There are those Chinese slates, but they are hit and miss as to whether you get on of finishing quality or not.

I've tried all of the above other than a properly done Coti edge. Jnats are my personal favorite, but any of them will do well.

Oh, almost forgot synths. You could go 12K(ish) on a synthetic stone also. Mainly depends on how much you want to spend. Eventually you may decide you like a certain type over another, but any of them will get you started.

 

[Daview]

I bow to your knowledge sfeile, I will kit myself out with the proper stones right away, as I am really enjoying getting to grips with straight razor shaving or DIY skin grafts, as I sometimes call it.
This is a great site, such a font of knowledge and everyone is so willing to help.