My first restore

[Jakebullet]

Just got back from a two week holiday, and while there I found this rusty old razor in an antique shop.

It looked rusted but there were no big chips or massive damage to the edge so I thought it might make a good first restoration project.
The scales are broken and look like plastic so I won’t be saving them.
On the face of the razor, barely legible now, are the words ‘The Gentleman’s Hollow Ground Razor’.

I had to take a photo which I then put through a few filters so I could even read it.
I ordered a pack of wet and dry sandpaper from Amazon with various grits from 120 up to 3000 which was waiting for me when I got home.
I removed most of the rust with the 120 and WD40 but would need a coarser sandpaper I think to have gotten rid of the worst of the pitting.
Still it was an encouraging start.
I just used my fingers on a granite slab with the sandpaper and as the process went on a got a better feel of how to hold and sand the thing.
I spent about 30-45 mins on the 120 and got the rust off.

Then I went up through the grits, 220, 440, 600, 800, 1k, 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000 spending maybe 15 mins or so on each.
I alternated between heel to toe sanding and spine to edge sanding with each grit so I could have a better idea when the previous scratches were gone.
The razor is 6/8ths and has a slight smile.

As I neared the end of the process it began to get shiny.
Not exactly mirror as there’s still the deeper pits present but pleasingly shiny for a first effort.

Here’s the final before and after comparison.

I’d say it took me about three hours and was messy but it was a nice relaxing time and I enjoyed seeing it clean up bit by bit.
I’m not going to make scales for it, I just ordered a pair of black standard plastic ones from Etsy so will have to wait until they arrive so I can pin it then hone it to see if it shaves.
I couldn’t save the lettering on the face of the blade.
It was still there after the 120 paper but disappeared as I came through the grits.
I enjoyed my first restore though and I’m looking forward to finishing it up and honing it when the scales arrive.

 

[Silky Glide]

Looks fantastic! Congratulations. Nothing like using a piece of equipment that you restored yourself!

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

Good work.

Next time, remove most of the rust, then tape the spine and try to set the bevel. If it takes a bevel without chipping, then remove the edge and sand until your hearts content.

Nothing worst than sanding for hours/days, get her all polished up and find out the edge is Swiss Cheese.

I think you will be Ok with that one.

 

[Jakebullet]

Ha sounds like excellent ad

Good work.

Next time, remove most of the rust, then tape the spine and try to set the bevel. If it takes a bevel without chipping, then remove the edge and sand until your hearts content.

Nothing worst than sanding for hours/days, get her all polished up and find out the edge is Swiss Cheese.

I think you will be Ok with that one.

Hah sounds like excellent advice, I hadn't thought of that.
Why tape the spine? I’m new to all this.

 

[Jakebullet]

Looks fantastic! Congratulations. Nothing like using a piece of equipment that you restored yourself!

Thanks a lot, yes it’ll be nice if I can rescue this from the rusting grave it was headed to and give it another life.
I’m sure it’s had a few already like a cat

 

[Frank Shaves]

Nice job - looks great! Always amazes me what can be accomplished with a little sandpaper and some elbow grease. The before and after is amazing. That sucker was heavily pitted.

I used to sand to 3000-grit and use Mothers polish. I now stop at 1200 on Sheffield crucible steel and 2000 on modern steel razors. The difference is visible and worth experimenting with.

Did you finish each grit sanding the faces parallel to the edge?

If yes, try finishing each grit sanding the faces perpendicular to the edge to match the original grind marks.

For rattler, you want to finish each grit sanding the faces parallel to the edge - because this is how they were ground.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

I try to save as much steel as possible. So, no need to needlessly grind the spine to set a bevel on a razor you are going to sand away more steel on.

Once you have sanded the razor to the finish you want, if you test set a bevel prior to sanding it should be easy to cut a new bevel with or without tape.

Personally, if I spent hours sanding and polishing why would I not use tape?

 

[Gamma]

Looks a lot better than when you go it, that's for sure.

IMO - before cutting new scales, checking to see if you can get a clean bevel would be a good idea.
I have beater scales for stuff like that. The pitting is significant, the grind is heavy and may save the day, but I'd really want to know before investing time and resources in new pants.

Me, I wouldn't hone it on tape - few reasons.

1 - it's an unnecessary complication.
2 - blades with that profile often have a steep bevel angle to begin with. Measuring it accurately requires cutting new bevel faces in the steel on a stone. Tape adds to what might already be a stout bevel. Getting the geometry sorted first makes sense.
3 - after heavy sanding, leveling a good flat into the spine on a stone can be a very good thing.

 

[Jakebullet]

Thanks for the tips, I’ll have a go at putting a new bevel on it tonight would you give it a full shaving edge or just try a bevel set?

 

[ZeelandsRoem]

Thanks for the tips, I’ll have a go at putting a new bevel on it tonight would you give it a full shaving edge or just try a bevel set?

I'd say it's up to you how far you want to go. There is no right or wrong here.

One approach:

• Set the bevel and check if you can reach clean steel which is not affected by deep pitting or cracks. If it's okay, then restore it.

Another approach:

• Set the bevel, continue the progression and complete with a finisher. Shave with the razor. If that's okay, then take it apart and restore it.
• This may sound extreme, but in some cases it might be useful especially if the razor is hollow, full or extra hollow and was polished by a novice which possibly overheated the steel. I once purchased a quarter hollow razor which was overheated and would no longer take an edge. If you don't want to get into this, my advice is to just stay away from restored razors from untrusted/unknown sources.

 

[Jakebullet]

I try to save as much steel as possible. So, no need to needlessly grind the spine to set a bevel on a razor you are going to sand away more steel on.

Once you have sanded the razor to the finish you want, if you test set a bevel prior to sanding it should be easy to cut a new bevel with or without tape.

Personally, if I spent hours sanding and polishing why would I not use tape?

I should’ve listened to you re-using tape.
I honed a bevel on a 1k king stone but either the steel was softer than I’m used to or I was a bit heavy handed as I made quite a lot of hone wear on the spine very quickly, mostly focussed in the middle.

I proceeded with a lot more caution from this point on but had already done a bit of damage.
I also couldn’t find my loupe or a sharpie which would both be considered essentials at this stage I think, I should’ve waited really.
So I couldn’t view the bevel edge on but I did have a few cherry tomatoes in the fridge so had to use those to test.
The heel was stubborn.
I worked hard at it but the undercut took a while to kick in there. I’m still not 100% convinced on that area.
I needed my loupe and sharpie.
Also the blade had a definite smile but I just honed it as I would any other straight razor, just standard half strokes, a few circles and x strokes. I probably needed to Lear a rolling x stroke but again I needed the guidance of an inked edge and loupe.
This razor was made in Sheffield but I found it in wales so I decided to hone it up using a piece of Welsh slate.

I made a diamond slurry like I would on my jnat and worked that for a while.
Then I made a lighter slurry with a slate slurry stone and worked on that.

I worked that for a while till I was happy with the undercut then did about 5-6 laps under running water. Idve done a few more but the blade stuck fast to the stone.
It was tricky to strop without the scales but I did my best.

I tried an HHT and got mixed results.
It cut here and there close to my fingers but was far from what I’d usually expect.
Tomorrow I need to dig out my loupe and sharpie and do this properly.
On the upside the edge looks pretty clean and not too many chips so I think I’ll be able to get it to shave.
Mistakes made today but all good learning.

 

[Frank Shaves]

Looks good, @Jakebullet. There is only one way to learn this stuff - by doing it.

 

[Jakebullet]

A set of cheap plastic scales arrived in the post and I had a free hour so I spent it scaling the restored razor.
I made a good few errors though, all avoidable.
Firstly I cut the pin a touch too long. Then I hit it a touch too hard and bent it.
I thought I could work around the bend but just couldn’t get it to tighten.
I had to start again so snipped the washers off and ordered some more brass rod from eBay but forgot to order washers.
The outer nickel washers I had were now smashed and so I used the larger brass inner washes on the outside.
These were pretty beat up too, and one of them split under the peening hammer but I had no others.
If I’d just looked in my tool bag id’ve found another piece of brass rod and new washers but I only noticed this after messing up todays job.
Anyway I got set up for the 2nd time.

The scales were now a bit beat up and the washers were cracked and generally finished.
I also cut the stock a little short this time.
Anyway I stuck with it but did a pretty poor job with the pinning.
Despite how it looks it’s nicely stiff and I was pleasantly surprised when it centred.

Next I took it to the hones.
This time i had my small 10x loupe which showed me that
there were three small chips still in the edge.
It was taking a while to get rid of them on the 1k King so I gave it a minute on a 600 diamond plate which got rid of them all nicely.
Then I erased the 600 scratches with the 1k King then erased those with the 6k side.

Finally I made a diamond slurry on the Welsh slate and diluted until the 6k scratches were gone.
Then I made a tomo slurry using the slate slurry stone and diluted down to mist.

I wanted to finish under running water but after three or four laps the razor stuck to the stone.
But the HHT wasn’t great.
So next i dripped some baby oil on the slate which let me get going again and I gave it a further 150 laps or so.
There’s something lovely about finishing on oil. The stone and blade really glisten and the razor slides with almost zero friction.

Next to 40 on linen and 70 or so on leather.
The thing was finally finished, the HHT was working lovely and I’m looking forward to tomorrows shave.

Before and after.

Don’t zoom in the pinning is ugly! (You couldn’t help yourself could you?) it was at this point that I found the new washers and rod in my tool kit.
I won’t bother redoing it as it’s going to be fine for me how it is, it was just a fun experiment.
Here’s hoping it shaves well.

 

[Ravenonrock]

Nice work! Hope you get some great shaves out of it.

 

[Jakebullet]

My first shave with the razor was very soft and smooth feeling during the shave.
I’d guess this razor is 1/2 or 1/4 hollow going by feel.
I don’t know when this was last used but it was lovely to bring it back to life.
But I noticed it wasn’t quite as close as I’m used to, so I poured a whisky and took it to my trusty 12k Welsh slate which seems to sort out the edge on any razor.
Once I’d honed under running water until the stone stuck, I took it to my black Arkansas as I’d read that you want to take your best edge to the black Ark.
I gave it 150 laps on oil.

Then I shaved with it this morning.
I used Mitchells after my usual cold shower.

It’s a lovely shaver.
Still not 100% dialled in sharpness wise. It’s at maybe 90% of my usual preference.
I think maybe the chip removal stage on the diamond plate is still lurking there somewhere but it’s definitely shaving well.
I think some time on a jnat with diamond slurry may do the trick.

 

[Eshebert]

Nice job. My razors like going from Jnat sticky to Ark. I gets them popping arm hair 1/8” above the skin with that pig/zing music.