Thread: eBay Purchases - Restores for fun!

Ok - so I was looking around on eBay and found two razors pretty cheap that didn't look like they were in bad shape. I went in late on bidding and ended up winning them for pretty cheap, so I figure even if they need some work on the honing front, I've got two razors to play with. I have a new Ralf Aust that is my shaver now, so hopefully, after a bit of work, these can be added into rotation, but the good news is that I don't need them right now so I'm in no rush. The other nice thing is that I know what "Shave Ready" is, and I'm feeling pretty good with my good razor as it stands today. So, these are "fun" straights just to play with for now.

One is a Boker, the other a Dovo. Got them in the mail today and at least to my untrained eye, they seem to be in decent shape. I am interested in getting into the restore/honing/vintage side of things as well, and am curious on seeing how these change. One of them appears to maybe have a bit of bevel still on the blade, but the other seems completely lost. In either case, these probably both need their bevels set and then sharpened up from there. My debate now is, do I send one out to get redone by a pro and then keep the other to work and practice with? Do I send them both out so I can have a comparison of good before/after for future purchases and see it done on two different blades?

I'm not rushing, and still haven't picked up a honing kit, but I had money in my PayPal account that was just sitting there, and these were cheap . . . so hey, why not? If I shave with them before Christmas, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Oh, and just to be clear, these are completely dull right now and don't really even pull on an arm hair test. Neither were billed as shave ready, so I wasn't expecting anything more than what I got.

I think you picked a couple of nice candidates with which to learn the honing process.
These both have the potential to be really good smooth shaving razors.
Also they don't look like they will present any nontypical issues for your learing experience.
I bet you won't wait untill Christmas to order a hone or more likely hones!!

Originally Posted by Galaxy51

I think you picked a couple of nice candidates with which to learn the honing process.
These both have the potential to be really good smooth shaving razors.
Also they don't look like they will present any nontypical issues for your learing experience.
I bet you won't wait untill Christmas to order a hone or more likely hones!!

Possibly true ... But I figure a $20 razor is ok playing with vs a $140 one.

If you send them out you will at least be sure that they are good before you do anything to them, you can always dull the edge and start again if you want, and you will know that the edges are otherwise right, whoever does the work for you can probably give you an idea of any issues that the blades have too so you will know what to look for/ expect if you work on them yourself.
As a bonus you will be able to use them for a bit and work out if you like them, if not there is little point doing anything except reselling them, and if they are actually shave ready they should be easy enough to sell.

Originally Posted by edhewitt

If you send them out you will at least be sure that they are good before you do anything to them, you can always dull the edge and start again if you want, and you will know that the edges are otherwise right....

Excellent point . . . I like that idea actually . . . get them in shape and then since they are cheap, play with them and if I dull them out a bit . . . work to get them back in shape but not be faced with a complex problem right off that I wasn't aware of and needed more work to get set . . .

My opinion is that both of these razors are much too noble to risk learning on.
Go back to ebay and get something much less save-worthy/elegant to refine your honing skills on first.
They are nice enough to merit sending out, so that you can fully enjoy them now.

I think they're fine honing projects. Not expensive and has no personal meaning. I would definitely do what ed said though about getting them pro honed first. But your not going to destroy the razor learning to hone as long as you don't do anything idiotic. I mean it's not like it's going to melt if you do it wrong. Just go slow be mindful of what you are doing and keep the edge and spine on the hone at all times. And heed the advice given to you in honing videos from the experts and you'll be buying hones and razors to feed your addiction like I do

Well, you already have a good razor for benchmark. If honing is what you're after then there is only one way to do it - you have to get the razors from where they currently are to your benchmark.

I'd suggest you get one of them honed but just setting the bevel. That's the bulk of the work anyways and the rest is pretty straightforward.
Then you have two tasks
(1) get your second razor to where the first one with the proper bevel set is
(2) get the first razor through the rest of the progression (should be pretty easy)

If you want to just do maintenance work then get them honed and afterwards when one of your razors degrades noticeably use your finishing hone to get it back in shape to match the others.

Originally Posted by cosperryan

I think they're fine honing projects. Not expensive and has no personal meaning. I would definitely do what ed said though about getting them pro honed first. But your not going to destroy the razor learning to hone as long as you don't do anything idiotic. I mean it's not like it's going to melt if you do it wrong. Just go slow be mindful of what you are doing and keep the edge and spine on the hone at all times. And heed the advice given to you in honing videos from the experts and you'll be buying hones and razors to feed your addiction like I do

Oh ... You don't heat them up in that 12000 degree over first. . Actually, that is a really good point about not really being able to destroy them if I'm smart with it. Debating that I might send one out to get a bevel set and use that as a good indicator for working the other one to get it set with a bevel and then working them to get them to what I know shave ready to be.

Originally Posted by gugi

I'd suggest you get one of them honed but just setting the bevel. That's the bulk of the work anyways and the rest is pretty straightforward.
Then you have two tasks
(1) get your second razor to where the first one with the proper bevel set is
(2) get the first razor through the rest of the progression (should be pretty easy)
.

Great idea and I think I might go this way ... Then again, still have to get hones.