The subject, a Genco straight that I got off ebay a little while ago. Overall in decent condition but there was a little rust on one side and these weird black spots on the other. Here's some pics before the cleaning process. Also note, not having anything to remove the pins or any new pins to replace, and also not being a huge job, I had to try and clean around the scales.
My first small "restoration"
- Thread starter bmc1979
- Start date
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- #2
Before getting into the cleaning, here's a list of the stuff I used.
-3M multi pack wet/dry sandpaper (incl. 320, 400, 600 and 800 grit)
-3M 1500 grit wet/sandpaper
-Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound
-Prestone brake cleaner
-Blue Magic Metal Polish
-Microfibre cloths
-small white cloths
-glass of water
-baking sheet
-3M multi pack wet/dry sandpaper (incl. 320, 400, 600 and 800 grit)
-3M 1500 grit wet/sandpaper
-Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound
-Prestone brake cleaner
-Blue Magic Metal Polish
-Microfibre cloths
-small white cloths
-glass of water
-baking sheet
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- #3
First up was the 320 grit paper. Now never doing this before, I'm trying to figure out the best way. So this was my procedure for the 320 grit and the 400 grit.
-Tear off piece of sandpaper
-dip in glass of water
-dip in Turtle rubbing compound (says to apply with a wet cloth so I thought this was a good idea and worked well)
-rub using up and down strokes
-when satisfied with results spray with brake cleaner and whip off with towel
Results after 320grit:
As you can see, with the 320 I was able to remove the rust from the one side and the black spots came off very easily. I did my best to get around the scales but I was more concerned with the actual blade.
-Tear off piece of sandpaper
-dip in glass of water
-dip in Turtle rubbing compound (says to apply with a wet cloth so I thought this was a good idea and worked well)
-rub using up and down strokes
-when satisfied with results spray with brake cleaner and whip off with towel
Results after 320grit:
As you can see, with the 320 I was able to remove the rust from the one side and the black spots came off very easily. I did my best to get around the scales but I was more concerned with the actual blade.
- Thread starter
- #4
Here are the results after the 400 grit. Same process as the 320 and in my mind, just trying to remove a little of what the 320 left behind and clean it up a little further.
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- #5
Next up was the 600....or should I say 800. When I went to do this step I thought I'd grabbed the 600 paper but accidently grabbed the 800. Didn't even realize until after I was finished. I did make one change for this step and that was just using the paper without the rubbing compound. I thought by this stage there was no real point in continuing to use it. So just dipped the paper in water and sanded.
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- #6
Last but not least I jumped to the 1500 to finish it off. Like the 800, I just used straight water with no compound when sanding.
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- #7
To finish things off, I then polished the razor with the Blue Magic Metal Polish. Overall, for me anyway, I think it turned out pretty good. I know it's not as in depth as others get on here but for a first go I think it was a good place to start. Total time was probably just over an hour from start to finish. I probably could have put more time in on some of the papers if I wanted but the end result works for me. Now I just have to hone it and see how well it shaves. Hope my post is helpful to others out there starting out and hopefully it shows that if a razor just need a little TLC, it doesn't take much to get it cleaned up and ready to use. Thanks for reading.
Looks very nice. Congratulations on the first "restore." I hope she shaves well, and that you enjoy using your handywork!
Congrats on your first restore
Well done and very helpful. When you use the grit paper on the blade did you go lengthwise along the blade or up and down?
Michael
Michael
Nice work!
Up/down is best to leave a "honing" mark
Up/down is best to leave a "honing" mark
Excellent job.
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- #13
On the blade I went up/down. When to doing it, it just felt like the natural movement to use.
Thanks everyone. As I said, I know it's not as extensive as some restorations on here but I felt pretty good about the little I did and how it turned out so I wanted to share it.
