Why do people do such damage??

[onotoman]

I recently bought a lovely, probably little used vintage Thomas Turner of Sheffield razor called 'The Royal Navy Razor' - it has a very nice engraving on the blade.

The downside is that some (I've got to say it) 'fool' has tried to sharpen the blade on what looks like an old house brick or edge of a step!

The blade has some quite deep scores, but hopefully I can buff them out. I'll post some 'after' pictures once the razor has been restored.

Maybe I'm being unkind to someone possible no longer alive, but why ruin such a piece - they obviously couldn't shave with it.

I wish they would just leave things alone as it just creates work for those of us who must bring nice razors back to life:

 

[Mike'sWorld]

That's a shame. You can bet the person who did that did not shave with straights. The original owner knew better. Such a beautiful etching, I hope you can bring it back to life.

 

[smalltank]

They only get worse when there is rust on the edge which if looked under a microscope...looked like "swiss chesse holes"..then its a true loss..to the bin it goes..unless the scales can go to a better razor..that's what a few honemeisters told me.

 

[cb91710]

80% ignorance and 30% greedy eBay or antique store sellers wanting to make an item present well for sale.
That one in particular looks like someone did a half-baked attempt at "polishing" the rust and pits out of the flat surfaces, and a basic run over a regular knife sharpening stone in the 1000 or more coarse range.

Some sellers know better but don't care, some know better and sell as-is, some know better and give the item a basic non-damaging cleanup for sale.
The rest of the cases might be an inexperienced buyer picking something up at an estate sale, getting a horrible shave, attempting to sharpen like a pocket knife, and giving up back to carts.

Ya.. some times the damage is pure greed, but in most cases I'd call it ignorance.
Like the guy who has a beautifully aged antique revolver and "cleans it up" with a wire brush.
He doesn't know any better, thinks he's doing something good, and has destroyed a piece of history.

 

[Mick]

It's the old....

I didn't pay much for it, I'll try to fix it...

Whoops... fiddled that up pretty badly...

On well.... might as well sell it now that it is trash...

 

[johnmrson]

It looks like they'll buff out. I actually like buying those razors and bringing them back to life and getting them back in circulation. It is a shame that people damage nice razors but look at it as an opportunity.

 

[mdunn]

so many ebay razors have those same marks from some yahoo trying to clean them up.

good news is that its recoverable

 

[Seraphim]

That is definitely salvageable. No problem

 

[Pkrankow]

They only get worse when there is rust on the edge which if looked under a microscope...looked like "swiss chesse holes"..then its a true loss..to the bin it goes..unless the scales can go to a better razor..that's what a few honemeisters told me.

Takes work to recover a rotten edge, but the blade is NOT garbage. Breadknife through half the bevel, correct the profile, and then reset the bevel. A paid professional won't do this because it can take a couple hours to do this, but it is not an epic amount of work.

Measure your blade, calculate your angles and use tape as needed, especially for the initial setting of the bevel. Blowing an etching is almost guaranteed however.

Phil

 

[cb91710]

Takes work to recover a rotten edge, but the blade is NOT garbage. Breadknife through half the bevel, correct the profile, and then reset the bevel. A paid professional won't do this because it can take a couple hours to do this, but it is not an epic amount of work.

Bingo.

I stopped questioning why my "professionally honed" blades were delivering poor shaves compared to those that my inexperienced hands had honed when I realized that I'm spending a full Saturday afternoon honing up 4-6 blades.
That much time simply can't be spent by someone when the shop is charging $15-$20 and likely paying their honer $20/hour and they have a 40 blade backlog.
1000-4000-8000 and CrOX if you're lucky. Certainly "shave ready"... but not the optimal shave the blade CAN deliver.

 

[Doc226]

I think people start off with good intentions to clean up the blade, but quickly realize it takes more than some 120 grit sandpaper.

 

[UPD]

Takes work to recover a rotten edge, but the blade is NOT garbage. Breadknife through half the bevel, correct the profile, and then reset the bevel. A paid professional won't do this because it can take a couple hours to do this, but it is not an epic amount of work.

Measure your blade, calculate your angles and use tape as needed, especially for the initial setting of the bevel. Blowing an etching is almost guaranteed however.

Phil

I disagree, this is what I do with at least 75% of the razors that come into my shop. It usually takes me about 30-45 minutes to correct something like that from start to finish.

I stopped questioning why my "professionally honed" blades were delivering poor shaves compared to those that my inexperienced hands had honed when I realized that I'm spending a full Saturday afternoon honing up 4-6 blades.
That much time simply can't be spent by someone when the shop is charging $15-$20 and likely paying their honer $20/hour and they have a 40 blade backlog.
1000-4000-8000 and CrOX if you're lucky. Certainly "shave ready"... but not the optimal shave the blade CAN deliver.

Just speaking for myself. While I can see your point and its true that I don't have time to spend an entire day honing a single razor... I truely do treat every razor like it was my own. Nothing goes back to the owner without meeting my personal shave standards, which are pretty high. Also, just speaking from my own experience honing for someone else at one time, I was paid per razor honed. I think it boils down the individual doing the honing... Personally I wouldn't want to put my name on something that I wasn't proud of, and I never skimped on honing razors just to be able to hone more razors in a day. Many a time razors went back to the beginning because I wasn't happy with them after stropping.

Mike

 

[Doc226]

I truely do treat every razor like it was my own. Nothing goes back to the owner without meeting my personal shave standards

I agree 100% I have honed several razors for friends/members and that is exactly my approach. I will not send it back unless I am happy with it.

 

[Mike'sWorld]

I truely do treat every razor like it was my own. Nothing goes back to the owner without meeting my personal shave standards, which are pretty high.

I can attest to this, having shaved with your edges.

 

[honed]

I think that is pretty common to find razors like that one.
They have some ~150 grit scratches on a part of the blade & perhaps on the spine & then nothing more..

Probably someone trying a quick fix, saw it didn't work & then they put it on eBay...

I see the same thing with vintage furniture, instead of a proper cleaning & waxing, "someone" runs a cloth full of that gawdawfull silicone/junk "polish" sold everywhere over it to make it "look like new"

Ignorance/lack of knowledge & the wish to make a quick buck in an unholy combination is what makes it happen most of the time IMO.

 

[Pkrankow]

I disagree, this is what I do with at least 75% of the razors that come into my shop. It usually takes me about 30-45 minutes to correct something like that from start to finish.

...Personally I wouldn't want to put my name on something that I wasn't proud of, and I never skimped on honing razors just to be able to hone more razors in a day. Many a time razors went back to the beginning because I wasn't happy with them after stropping.

Mike

What is your setup for doing that much material removal that quickly?

I may have over-generalized with my statement. Smalltank's statement was not the first time I heard something like binning a "rotten" edge. ALL my razors would have been trashed before becoming wonderful blades because they had edge problems.

Phil

 

[UPD]

What is your setup for doing that much material removal that quickly?

I may have over-generalized with my statement. Smalltank's statement was not the first time I heard something like binning a "rotten" edge. ALL my razors would have been trashed before becoming wonderful blades because they had edge problems.

Phil

I use DMT diamond plates and also a different technique with a sheet of sandpaper to remove a lot of metal fast, reprofile, etc. Then I create a new bevel shape on the DMT 325, and off to bevel setting we shall go...

Mike