How to fix this?

[Frank Shaves]

You can come at honing from two directions:

1. Start with a real shave-ready razor, use it for a while, and then learn to finish it on your 12k
2. Start with a beater, kill the edge, and learn to set a bevel starting with your 1k

You will learn a ton from both directions, and they are complimentary.

 

[rbscebu]

The corrosion/deposits on your Prima may be cosmetic only. I would first try to hone the SR to a bevel set. This would confirm or otherwise if it is corrosion that has eaten into the bevel/edge. If it has, you will then need to hone the razor back to where, hopefully, this is no longer occurring. Then and only then would I consider further restoration work.

Until you have a SR without any pitting on the bevel, it is not worth restoring to shave with. Better then to just restore for aesthetics and display.

Being based in the Philippines a couple of years ago, I had to self-teach me to SR hone. The B&B Method taught me a lot. It's a long read but well worth it for the knowledge therein.

 

[lomfs24]

Have you tried using Barkeepers Friend on it yet? It's just a razor, not a Sumerian artifact. If it's superficial like you suspect it should clean up nice.

Honing is not like sharpening but it's not rocket science either. If you can find a cheap antique store razor or even an ebay ugly duckling you can probably learn quickly without worrying about messing it up. And you'll likely learn how to deal with corrosion. Also, you'll probably make some mistakes but learning how to correct them is part of the process.

So I did use some BKF on it today. And it cleaned up pretty darned well. You can see where there there is still a spot on the steel where it's slightly duller than the rest. Probably some metal polish would probably fix that. I may do that at some point. I tuned it up and put an edge on it. It's probably not the absolute best edge ever known to man, but it did do a pretty good shave this afternoon. I am well on my way to learning a new skill.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

So I did use some BKF on it today. And it cleaned up pretty darned well. You can see where there there is still a spot on the steel where it's slightly duller than the rest. Probably some metal polish would probably fix that. I may do that at some point. I tuned it up and put an edge on it. It's probably not the absolute best edge ever known to man, but it did do a pretty good shave this afternoon. I am well on my way to learning a new skill.

Great news!

Keep in mind if you do use a polish, don't get it on the bevel as it will kill your edge.

 

[lomfs24]

 

[CongaJon]

Looks pretty good from where I sit!

 

[Gamma]

1st - it's a razor, not a life support system. If you wipe out goldwash, the razor will be fine. It's not a collector now, and it won't be one when you're done either. There really isn't anything to 'mess up' here.

2nd - it's a full hollow, rust in the bevel is highly problematic sometimes. Pitting can go clear through. The only thing to do is to try and hone past the problem. That might be my 1st thing to do - working on 'looks' later.

3rd - unless the blade is severely warped, the task at hand falls in the garden-variety class. Don't dramatize it, don't let helicopter parents blow it out of proportion. It's just a razor.

4th - chances of the rust being caused by cell rot are extremely low.

5th - if you have good experience (read - really know what you're doing on the stones) with sharpening anything then you understand geometry and how important the initial bevel set is. That understanding is highly beneficial and it does in fact carry over to honing a razor. Honing the razor is easier since the angle is set by the spine. But honing a razor is more involved because there's a need for greater refinement and a a super-light touch past 5k or so. Imperfections left on a Chef Knife's edge would not fly when shaving one's face. For the most part, there's more work with a razor.

There are many paths to the top of the mountain here. Me, I would put a layer of tape on the spine and do a precursory bevel set to make sure I can get to good steel without turning the blade into a 4/8. If that passes muster, I'd pull the tape and hone normally. If you want to remove as much of the the oxidation as possible, before going past 1k - mask the gold wash and start with the least invasive/abrasive options first. BKF can work well, very fine abrasive slurries...etc. But you will see a 'line' where you masked off. Maybe you can blend it in with some work.. depends on patience and the severity of the damage from the oxidation. Honestly, if it was mine and I was determined to make it as pretty as possible I might just sand the faces of the blade until the grief is gone and then work up in grit till it's shiny again. I tend to not care so much about gold wash or the remains of oxidation, so I usually get blades to a point where things are acceptable and move forward with honing.

To guess, from a glance, your blade's bevel doesn't look so-so bad compared to many mistreated blades I've worked on. So you can probably hone to good steel pretty easily. Cleaning up that oxidation won't be too hard either. But sometimes pix make things look differently than they do in person. I've honed hollow grind blades with pitting holes clear through the bevel, and they came out fine. Once in a while they don't. I think that Dovo will be ok though.

 

[stone and strop]

You can also selectively rub in polish like autosol with a qtip around the gold wash with minimum side affect so long as you wash off the polish under running water and fingers only wiping away from the logo.

 

[Alum of Potash]

I agree that that blade looks pretty darn good. I would take a close look at the edge in profile with a 10x Hastings triplet loupe to see if there is micro-chipping. If there isn't, a mere stropping or a brief visit to the 12k hone may be all that is needed. Less is more, especially in starting out. Beyond this, I find that passing the hanging-hair test, consistently applied with the root out after stropping, is a pretty fair indication of a razor's edge being ready to shave in at least a rudimentary sense.

As it's your first razor, getting stropping and shaving down is very important. Both can damage the edge if done improperly. Before taking this one to the bevel-setting stage, if needed, I would recommend practicing on a couple of junkers first. Even though "it's just a razor" and "not a Sumerian artifact," it is a metallurgic object involving a fairly elaborate sequence of production leading to the good state in which it appears to remain. It would be a shame to ruin it tyro-style.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

The heel needs correction, note that the heel corner, (Blue Arrow) ends near the stabilizer and the heel corner is a different angle from the rest of the bevel, (Red Arrows)

Also note the excessive wear on the spine over the stabilizer and tang (Black Arrow) and the wonky grind on the spine where the edge transitions over the stabilizer, (Yellow Arrow) this is reflected at the wonky edge bevel, (Red Arrows).

Whoever has hone it used more pressure in an attempt to force the heel on the stone causing the wonky spine and edge. Might have been why it was put away dirty, previous owner was frustrated that it would not shave as almost a third of the edge was off the stone. You are doing more of the same.

Reprofiling the heel will move the heel corner away from the stabilizer and allow the razor to sit flat on the stone and hone the whole edge evenly.

It’s a 5 minute fix on a diamond plate.

Yea, kinda not, Garden Variety honing.

 

[lomfs24]

The heel needs correction, note that the heel corner, (Blue Arrow) ends near the stabilizer and the heel corner is a different angle from the rest of the bevel, (Red Arrows)

Also note the excessive wear on the spine over the stabilizer and tang (Black Arrow) and the wonky grind on the spine where the edge transitions over the stabilizer, (Yellow Arrow) this is reflected at the wonky edge bevel, (Red Arrows).

Whoever has hone it used more pressure in an attempt to force the heel on the stone causing the wonky spine and edge. Might have been why it was put away dirty, previous owner was frustrated that it would not shave as almost a third of the edge was off the stone. You are doing more of the same.

Reprofiling the heel will move the heel corner away from the stabilizer and allow the razor to sit flat on the stone and hone the whole edge evenly.

It’s a 5 minute fix on a diamond plate.

Yea, kinda not, Garden Variety honing.

WOW! Brad, thank you. I have no idea how to fix that. That picture you picked apart was prior to me trying to hone anything. The guy I got it from said it was sent out to get honed before he sold it. But I don't think it was. And I am sure I didn't do it any favors when I tried to hone it. Let me take a new picture of if. I might have to send it out to get it squared away again.

 

[lomfs24]

So I looked at the razor again. I can't get a good picture that really shows what's going on. Your black arrow is pointing to the original steel on the tang. It doesn't appear to have ever been touched. Where your yellow arrow is pointing at the wonky spine, there are two different angles that are about the width of your arrow. The rest of the spine looks pretty flat. The blue arrow does point a spot where the edge seems to wrap around the end of the heel. The back side of the blade doesn't look much better.