CV Heljestrand MK 30, is it worth saving?

[honed]

Roaming around the antique shops of Eskilstuna & nearby cities can be very rewarding, still a lot of vintage straights to be found, by some of the greatest razor makers in history, like CV Heljestrand, unfortunally many of them are far from NOS.. Blade chips, rust & general signs of abuse.
So I let them be.

But when you find a Heljestrand MK 30 with tight, clean ivory scales, shiny blade & a allround nice apperance &
the "only" fault is a chip and some very small cracks in the edge, it makes a man wonder if you can save it in some way without having to let the kids starve in the process.
And besides money, with the obvious loss of some of the blades width, and being a full hollow how much does it affect the shave quality?

Anyone has any thoughts?

I myself is fairly new to straight shaving so my knowledge is fairly limited.
But I do know that it would be great to shave with a "local" straight like a good Heljestrand & I've heard alot about the MK30-33s are considered amongst the best of the best.

 

[professorchaos]

Chips, if they aren't too bad, can be honed out. Cracks, on the other hand, are something of a deal breaker.

 

[honed]

Chips, if they aren't too bad, can be honed out. Cracks, on the other hand, are something of a deal breaker.

That sounds logical about the cracks, now that I think about it, must be very hard to know just how the cracks have affected the blade.
Maybe hard to get them out, the blade just continue chipping when you hone it and so on.

 

[ccgnet]

Worth at least trying.

 

[professorchaos]

I can't see the cracks, but I think that chip might be too big to hone out. Too bad too.

 

[honed]

I can't see the cracks, but I think that chip might be too big to hone out. Too bad too.

The cracks are there , very fine hairline cracks, very hard to capture, at least for a photographicly impaired like myself.

I have another one at home, that I got at an estate sale last summer in one of those "Mystery boxes", before straights even interested me.. in a somewhat similar condition, its a 31. Also nice ivory scales.

They have a great reputation & I really like to try one, they were after all made just a 45 minute drive from my house...
I'll keep looking for a good specimen, they aren't exactly thrown after you, but they aren't that scarce either around here.

 

[Ray-man]

This is one of those razors that seems to be overlooked by many. I find it to be one that can provide an incredibly sharp and smooth edge, because of the quality of the steel.

I have personally honed several of these and have one sitting on my workbench that I intend to keep for my own personal use. These are great razors.

As far as the one you show in the picture, I wouldn't hesitate to try and reclaim the edge. That chip is removable, although I can't see the cracks you are talking about.

Good luck on your finds.

Enjoy!

Ray

 

[honed]

This is one of those razors that seems to be overlooked by many. I find it to be one that can provide an incredibly sharp and smooth edge, because of the quality of the steel.

I have personally honed several of these and have one sitting on my workbench that I intend to keep for my own personal use. These are great razors.

As far as the one you show in the picture, I wouldn't hesitate to try and reclaim the edge. That chip is removable, although I can't see the cracks you are talking about.

Good luck on your finds.

Enjoy!

Ray

Yeah, everyone who have tried them raves about them!
And like I said, they were made just around the corner from my house.
And they are hollow ground, not to big, have ivory scales & a thumb notch.
Exactly what I am looking for in a great daliy shaver

Maybe I should post some pictures of the 31 I have at home, almost identical damage & try to capture the cracks a little better.

Anyone have a rough estimate on the kind of money it would cost to get it up to full speed?

 

[Ray-man]

Anyone have a rough estimate on the kind of money it would cost to get it up to full speed?

What exactly do you mean by get it up to full speed? Why don't you check the restoration yellow pages at the top of the restoration section and contact one of them?

Ray

 

[Soopercat]

If you are patient and have a proxy in Sweden you can get just about any Eskilstuna made razor you want. Over time everything comes up, from NOS to shavers. I'v done business here and it's definitely worth the effort. Here is the site and the key word to search is Rakkniv (straight razor in Swedish) http://www.tradera.com/ .

kind regards,

 

[honed]

What exactly do you mean by get it up to full speed? Why don't you check the restoration yellow pages at the top of the restoration section and contact one of them?

Ray

Shave ready

 

[honed]

If you are patient and have a proxy in Sweden you can get just about any Eskilstuna made razor you want. Over time everything comes up, from NOS to shavers. I'v done business here and it's definitely worth the effort. Here is the site and the key word to search is Rakkniv (straight razor in Swedish) http://www.tradera.com/ .

kind regards,

Thank, but like I wrote earlier, I live 45 minutes from Eskilstuna, hence in Sweden. I'm very well aware of Tradera & I keep an eye there, but for me finding things "in the wild" is much more satisfying!

 

[professorchaos]

The cracks are there , very fine hairline cracks, very hard to capture, at least for a photographicly impaired like myself.

I have another one at home, that I got at an estate sale last summer in one of those "Mystery boxes", before straights even interested me.. in a somewhat similar condition, its a 31. Also nice ivory scales.

They have a great reputation & I really like to try one, they were after all made just a 45 minute drive from my house...
I'll keep looking for a good specimen, they aren't exactly thrown after you, but they aren't that scarce either around here.

Big fan of Heljestrands here. I have a 31 in ivory and another tortoise, a 32 in ivory and a 33 in horn. Really big fan.

 

[honed]

Here's an attempt at capturing the crack & chip on the ivory MK31 I have at home.

Crack to the left of the chip, otherwise in fine condition & very sharp.
Even pops a lot of hair on the arm if kept at the skin.
No rust at all, just some patina that most probably would disappear with buffing.

 

[professorchaos]

That's a lot of metal you'd have to remove to eliminate the crack and the chip.

 

[pthor]

Honed!
I got one mk30 good blade !
changed scales!!
Peter

 

[pthor]

30skr frakt!!
;-))