Seeking advice on an old, poorly maintained blade

[Solar Granulation]

Hello all

The razor I speak of isn't actually a straight razor, but an eighty-odd year old hollow-ground safety razor. However, I thought the straight razor people might be the best to ask.

It was very badly rusted along the edge, though I have now removed that rust. I have also ground out most of the resultant chips on a sharpening stone. The blade is now sharp enough to slice into my thumbnail, but not to cut hair.

I don't have an 'after' picture, but this is how it looked before my efforts.
http://www.lapisnetworking.co.uk/NonLapis/Razorpics/08closeupback.jpg

Where should I go from here?

Should I continue for a while on the sharpening stone? It was designed to sharpen chisels.

Should I move to a strop, and then to a hone? Or is it the other way around?

The razor in question came with a built-in reversable strop/hone (not unlike the famour Rolls razor) but it is in very poor condition and, despite my best efforts to restore its condition, I think it is too decayed to do the job.

Any advice would be welcome, thank you.

 

[mdunn]

unfortunately that blade looks toast to me, so much rust on the edge.

if, however, it looks much worse than it is you'll need a much finer hone than a chisel one (and one that is 100% flat). Strop is always after honing.

 

[Amyn]

Sorry to say so but anytime you have rust on the edge the blade IMO it has to be laid to rest. Putting it on a hone will not solve your issues.

You will have to regrind the blade to get an acceptable edge and this is really not worth the effort.

 

[Solar Granulation]

What a shame Thank you for your input.