Well I think I am getting into straights now... Need help please Guys!

[JaggerDragger]

Hey there I picked up these three straights yesterday.


On the back of the sunrise:


And brace yourself a broken #3





Ok so on the larger 2 straights the scales are broken and they need to be restored quite a bit. My dad is a woodworker and maybe we can work something out.

The broken blade is a smaller straight (sorry I did not measure) but the scales are OK. The two of my good blades will not fit the small scales; are these worth saving?

I searched the WM Croft & Sons name and it seems that this company was a Canadian fishing tackle company and imported and re-branded different items. I found a similar "sunrise" blade that was marked with a different name on the back.

At this same place I also got a nice metal handled brush and a dark brown hone about 1" thick, 2" wide and 6" long, It looks like the same material as a "barbers hone" but it is thicker and narrower.

View attachment 258430

Anyway I am looking forward to using these and reading more here on restoration and all other straight shaving arts. What do you think of my beat up blades??

I guess this is a bit of an introduction for me here. I usually DE shave FYI

 

[Nova316]

That #3 blade is garbage, if your careful your could depin that blade and save those scales and repin one of the other blades onto it. Also looking at #3 the gold wash seems to be non-centered meaning it was already ground down before, its had a rough life time to put it out of its misery.
Vintage king cutters are suppose to be great shavers, I have 2 of them waiting to be honed.

 

[Luc]

Is it the light or those have rust all over them?

 

[JaggerDragger]

Sorry it is the light Luc!

 

[trick420]

That first one is a very nice example of a Boker King Cutter. It will restore nicely, and they are fantastic shavers once properly honed. The second one is pretty average in my opinion, but still worth tinkering with. Again it will clean up.

As Nova stated, the third one is a lost cause. Shame... Personally, I wouldn't even mess with the scales, but that's just me - I make custom scales for everything though, so it's easier for me to pass judgement that way.

 

[Luc]

Sorry it is the light Luc!

The Boker seems to have some pitting on the edge. Which mean that pitting needs to be honed out before a healthy edge can be done (if that's the case). The Sunrise seems fine. #3 Boker could be used for the scales.

It's not a bad score, they just need a bit of work. My recommendation would be to take a few more pictures (sunlight would be best) and send them to a honemeister for restoration. They should be able to give you a guesstimate on the cost to save and hone them. You could them take an informed decision. If it was me, I would have them restored, try them and if I don't like them, sell them on BST.

If the scales don't fit your other two straights, the person who will restore them might do you a deal by buying them off you or giving you a rebate off the lot if they are in a good shape.

You could try to restore them yourself, there are a few threads about it, I would suggest looking in the Restoration forum sticky thread: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...Restoration-Sticky-Redux!-*****Look-Here*****

If you want to hone them yourself, I would not recommend it as you probably do not know what a shave ready straight razor is. Send it to a pro for that. Using a barber hone will most likely *not* work. There's only a very small percentage of straight razors that can be bought off ebay, in that condition, be honed on a barber hone only and become shave ready.

 

[BakerAndBadger]

The third one isnt broken, it's a very special blade for getting into those tricky hard to reach areas. Btw that's a joke!
I'd try and restore them myself if you have the time then send em out for honing OR you can buy a set of lapping film and order a whipped dog sight unseen to use but also compare yours to once you've had the time to restore and hone em.

Good luck and welcome to straight shaving!

 

[tomjr]

1&2 are certainly usable, #3 is a lost cause. the scales have been shortened so they are not usable 4 the others. just my opinion. tom

 

[JaggerDragger]

Yeah I knew that the #3 was a garbage blade, it was kinda humerus when the seller lady was trying to justify the jaggedness of that blade after I told her it was junk! I did not notice that the blade and scales were shortened though good catch!

I want restore these myself and maybe send them out to be honed and made shave ready. I have a question about the gold on the King Cutter, how do you go about polishing this one? I have blue magic polish but it is not safe for gold, how do you guys go about restoring these blades?

 

[Luc]

Yeah I knew that the #3 was a garbage blade, it was kinda humerus when the seller lady was trying to justify the jaggedness of that blade after I told her it was junk! I did not notice that the blade and scales were shortened though good catch!

I want restore these myself and maybe send them out to be honed and made shave ready. I have a question about the gold on the King Cutter, how do you go about polishing this one? I have blue magic polish but it is not safe for gold, how do you guys go about restoring these blades?

That's the thing, if you want to keep the etching, you would need to put a piece of electric tape or something over the etching to preserve it. Otherwise, it will go. Those are difficult to save.

 

[JaggerDragger]

OK thanks Luc. It should not be a big problem as that part of the blade is in decent condition.

 

[trick420]

OK thanks Luc. It should not be a big problem as that part of the blade is in decent condition.

Here's how I look at it... They're not collector level razors, and in their current state they're all unusable. Also, you don't shave with the etch, and it doesn't really add any real value in the state they're in, so if you remove the etch, in my book it's no big deal. It's not like that razor is going to get you another $10 should you sell it with the etch intact. Completely restored with fresh custom scales, you're looking at a $50 bill - maybe $60 depending on how good it comes out. Either way, you still have a Boker King Cutter, in 5/8, that will be an awesome shaver. King Cutters in 5/8 are pretty common too, which doesn't justify spending big bucks on a fancy frame-off restoration either. Now, if you had something rare, like a 7/8 or 8/8 (if that even exists in a king cutter, I don't know), THEN you have something that you could dump money and effort into for a return down the road.

If you mess up the etch it's not a big deal. Now, if the razor was all original and patina'd and had the original scales and just needed a good cleaning, THEN I'd concentrate on minimal impact to the etch.

No matter what happens to the etch on this one, it will always be a user-grade razor (and one of the better ones in my opinion).

But, like Luc says, careful placement of tape over the etch will shield it.

 

[smalltank]

you could grind that 3rd blade..into a 3/8 or 2/8...

 

[JaggerDragger]

Thanks trick420 I appreciate the sage advice. Better use them then worry about the etch! I am not looking for a collector grade or to turn a profit on these anyhow! The blade is really not as bad as it looks in the pics there is no major corrosion on the blade and it is still a mirror finish it is just a dull finish from laying around for years.

 

[Greybeard]

Sunrise was a brand name of, and made by, Solingen razor manufacturer FRIEDR. BAURMANN & SöHNE.
Good razor.

 

[JaggerDragger]

Thanks Greybeard,

It looks as though WM. Croft & Sons just rebranded this razor then. Here is a link that I fond about WM Croft & Sons.

Personally I like the feel and shape of the Sunrise better.