This is not ready for prime time. I shall say this first before anything else. I realized, as my collection is growing, and I seem to be getting more and more into wedge safeties, I had better learn to restore and hone these things myself, or this is going to creep out of my price range. So, a bit ago, a guy was selling a straight with good scales and a moderate amount of rust for something like $10, so I thought this would be a really good learning razor.
While I was fortunate enough to turn my brain on when I was actually rubbing this thing close to the edge, my brain was not thinking far enough to take a "before" pic, so unfortunately, all I can show is my "after" shots. But suffice it to say there was a fair amount of rust from the spine down to almost the blade -- one of the reason I chose this was the blade itself had very little on it.
I was able to remove all the rust and corrosion. I used 120 grit sandpaper, WD-40, and I did run the Dremel over it with the sanding attachment thinking it would be good to speed things along. I am not sure if it helped or not. But between the dremel and hand sanding, I kept at this until every spot of rust/corrosion was gone.
After that, I began vigorously sanding back up, trying to be as even as possible throughout. 180, 240, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 3000. This is my result. I did get it back to a mirror finish. But I also still have a fir to significant amount of pitting. Plus my sanding lines are still there. I am not sure if it is because of the dremel use or I just needed to sand more.
I wanted to see what I could do with the equipment I have on hand. I have not attempted to begin honing yet (stones are in the mail). Where would I go from here to get the razor more presentable and clean up the evidence of work and pitting? Or can it be at this point? Or would I need more significant machinery to do more?
Thanks for guidance on my first try.
While I was fortunate enough to turn my brain on when I was actually rubbing this thing close to the edge, my brain was not thinking far enough to take a "before" pic, so unfortunately, all I can show is my "after" shots. But suffice it to say there was a fair amount of rust from the spine down to almost the blade -- one of the reason I chose this was the blade itself had very little on it.
I was able to remove all the rust and corrosion. I used 120 grit sandpaper, WD-40, and I did run the Dremel over it with the sanding attachment thinking it would be good to speed things along. I am not sure if it helped or not. But between the dremel and hand sanding, I kept at this until every spot of rust/corrosion was gone.
After that, I began vigorously sanding back up, trying to be as even as possible throughout. 180, 240, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 3000. This is my result. I did get it back to a mirror finish. But I also still have a fir to significant amount of pitting. Plus my sanding lines are still there. I am not sure if it is because of the dremel use or I just needed to sand more.
I wanted to see what I could do with the equipment I have on hand. I have not attempted to begin honing yet (stones are in the mail). Where would I go from here to get the razor more presentable and clean up the evidence of work and pitting? Or can it be at this point? Or would I need more significant machinery to do more?
Thanks for guidance on my first try.
