Here's a recent restoration I completed on an old Sheffield blade from Marshes & Shepherd (circa late 1830-early1840s). I picked this razor up as I was intrigued by both the diamond-shaped tang and full wedge grind. The condition of the razor obviously wasn't great it had some old wooden scales (not original), held in place with two soft nails.The blade had some severe shear marks on the stamp side, and some typical black rust all over.
Scales now removed from the blade revealed the task ahead of me. Several small cracks radiated out from the oversized pin hole, but none appeared too deep so as to ruin the integrity. You can see in this photo the grooves on the blade. If this were a hollow-ground blade, I'd probably be out of luck as there wouldn't be much steel there to remove. Fortunately this was a true wedge and I could minimize the scarring.
To the buffer: I made a number of passes on the bench buffer with greaseless compounds, starting at 85 grit to removing a portion of the steel and even up the area where the severest blade gouges existed. Next I switched to 180 then 240 grit in multiple passes. I took care so as not to harm the maker's stamp on the tang, despite the evident pitting that surrounded it. Switched to 400 grit to soften any harsh marks leftover from earlier. Final compound passes using 600 grit. Final number of passes using emery to soften any residual marks left over from the 600. 'More matte than mirror' was the overall finish I was striving for.
Some specs:
Blade: Carbon steel; wedge grind with a hollow notch and slight smile; 3.25" long; 6/8" wide; removal of all black rust; minimized the deep gouges and scratches on the blade face. Some pitting remained on the tang in order to keep the maker's stamp.
Scales: Polished black horn; I kept the shape simple, similar to the 'cigar-shape' scales found on the old stub-tail razors
Wedge: Brass and amber
Hardware: brass pins ; domed brass washers; inner brass bearing washers
Honing: Chosera 1 k (bevel set); Naniwa SS progression (3k>12k); finished on Apache natural. These old wedges take a scary-sharp edge and hopefully the natural finisher can soften some of the potential harshness. Shave test still to come!
Scales now removed from the blade revealed the task ahead of me. Several small cracks radiated out from the oversized pin hole, but none appeared too deep so as to ruin the integrity. You can see in this photo the grooves on the blade. If this were a hollow-ground blade, I'd probably be out of luck as there wouldn't be much steel there to remove. Fortunately this was a true wedge and I could minimize the scarring.
To the buffer: I made a number of passes on the bench buffer with greaseless compounds, starting at 85 grit to removing a portion of the steel and even up the area where the severest blade gouges existed. Next I switched to 180 then 240 grit in multiple passes. I took care so as not to harm the maker's stamp on the tang, despite the evident pitting that surrounded it. Switched to 400 grit to soften any harsh marks leftover from earlier. Final compound passes using 600 grit. Final number of passes using emery to soften any residual marks left over from the 600. 'More matte than mirror' was the overall finish I was striving for.
Some specs:
Blade: Carbon steel; wedge grind with a hollow notch and slight smile; 3.25" long; 6/8" wide; removal of all black rust; minimized the deep gouges and scratches on the blade face. Some pitting remained on the tang in order to keep the maker's stamp.
Scales: Polished black horn; I kept the shape simple, similar to the 'cigar-shape' scales found on the old stub-tail razors
Wedge: Brass and amber
Hardware: brass pins ; domed brass washers; inner brass bearing washers
Honing: Chosera 1 k (bevel set); Naniwa SS progression (3k>12k); finished on Apache natural. These old wedges take a scary-sharp edge and hopefully the natural finisher can soften some of the potential harshness. Shave test still to come!
