Thread: Broken DD #1, just sold for . . . $305!

It just so happens that I know the whole story behind this razor, and the ending is pretty unbelieveable.

About two months ago, I found a DD Special No. 1 on eBay for sale in really nice condition. The scales were completely warped out of shape (like all of them are), but the blade was pristine. Even better, the blade was not the usual 6/8 size that you see, but instead the much rarer 7/8. So with all of that, I decided to buy the razor and have it rescaled. Total price for razor plus shipping was $58.

Anyway, I sent it to a friend to work on and asked him to fit the blade into a nice set of white scales that he had. My friend got the blade all set into place but found that the tip was just ever so slightly hitting the wedge as it closed. So he tried to grind back the tip by just the smallest amount, and that's when disaster struck. He ended up damaging the whole toe of the razor and had to remove like a half inch or more from the end of the razor and had to turn it from a square point into a round point.

Anyway, my friend is a true gentleman and called me up immediately with the bad news. Of course he offered to pay me back for the price of the razor, mainly because it wasn't the same blade anymore. As he said, it looks more like a DD Dwarf than a Special No. 1 now. I felt bad about taking his money, but he said, "no, don't worry, I'll be able to sell this on eBay," and that was pretty much the end of it. I think he ended up selling it to someone else for around $50, so I didn't think anything more about it (except that I wanted to try to find another DD 7/8 Special to replace the blade that got mangled).

Anyway, the exact same razor shows up on eBay this weekend, and after a FRENZY of newbie bidding (one person with 7 transactions, one person with zero), the razor sells for . . . ahem . . . $305!!! Well, I told my friend, and we were both soiling our pants over that price. Apparently, the person who bought the razor from him is the current seller, and he and I both recognize the scales and the shortened blade. So should we be breaking off the tips of more of our razors?! Is it the nice white scales that did it?!

So with all of the complaining here about newbies bidding crazy amounts on eBay for junk, I thought this story would strike a chord. Here's the auction link and photo:

STRAIGHT RAZOR DUBL DUCK RARE AND SHAVE READY - eBay (item 220560550841 end time Feb-28-10 12:11:59 PST)

That is ridiculous on a number of levels...

The first being that anyone who would grind a razor to make it fit some plastic scales should never, ever, be allowed to touch a razor...


...aside from that, its crazy that someone would pay so much for it!

I guess they didn't pay attention to the "Blade seems has been shortened" part of the listing. But when the item condition is listed as "New", I could see how one might not comprehend the phrase about the blade being shortened...
That's too bad though. You guys should have thrown it up on eBay and then split it with 200 for you and 100 for your friend

Originally Posted by BKratchmer

The first being that anyone who would grind a razor to make it fit some plastic scales should never, ever, be allowed to touch a razor...

That was the first thing that came to my mind.

The description of the auction was pretty shameful, especially since my friend's listing of the razor SPECIFICALLY STATED THAT THE RAZOR HAD BEEN DAMAGED AND SHORTENED!! Now, if you are the purchaser and you know this information, how do you not include it in the description when you go to resell it? Well, that's for the next purchaser to figure out.

And about my friend, he'd agree now that grinding the tip of the razor wasn't the best idea, but I think this was something that looked ok at the time -- according to him, the tip of the blade was only hitting the wedge by the tiniest of measures (like 1 mm or so), so just removing that tiny amount of metal seemed ok. He's actually a very, very experienced restorer, so if anyone has the skills to pull this off, it would be him. I'm not defending the mistake, and I'm the one who lost a really nice blade purchased for well under "market" value, but I can say that he does know how to restore razors quite well, and despite this one mistake has done great work for me and many others on this site.

When i have had this problem in the past. I took one of my small files i use for removing pins to remove material from the wedge.

Originally Posted by JeffE

The description of the auction was pretty shameful, especially since my friend's listing of the razor SPECIFICALLY STATED THAT THE RAZOR HAD BEEN DAMAGED AND SHORTENED!! Now, if you are the purchaser and you know this information, how do you not include it in the description when you go to resell it? Well, that's for the next purchaser to figure out.

And about my friend, he'd agree now that grinding the tip of the razor wasn't the best idea, but I think this was something that looked ok at the time -- according to him, the tip of the blade was only hitting the wedge by the tiniest of measures (like 1 mm or so), so just removing that tiny amount of metal seemed ok. He's actually a very, very experienced restorer, so if anyone has the skills to pull this off, it would be him. I'm not defending the mistake, and I'm the one who lost a really nice blade purchased for well under "market" value, but I can say that he does know how to restore razors quite well, and despite this one mistake has done great work for me and many others on this site.

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

When i have had this problem in the past. I took one of my small files i use for removing pins to remove material from the wedge.

Bingo... I would argue that:
A. Anyone who was an 'expert' restorer would know not to shorten the razor
B. Would not shorten any razor for a set of pre-made plastic scales
C. Would TEST FIT the blade before pinning it in.

I wouldn't be sending any more blades to your friend, well-meaning as he may be... it just isn't right to do something so dumb to a razor, much less to a CLIENT'S razor. What was he going to tell you if it worked? "Oh, yeah, it's shorter now, but I needed to sacrifice a little of your blade for these run-of-the-mill scales" ?

While I (and others) agree it wasn't the smartest thing to do, it's to late right now.
It happened and I'm sure they each learned their lessons. Let's not turn this thread into a vendetta against the restorer. After all the OP is talking about how a $58.00 razor turned out to sell for $305.00

Thanks, Max!! I was worried that everyone was going to start running for their torches and pitchforks!

Look, I honestly don't know how to do all of the black magic that Max and other people here do to bring these razors back to life, so I try not to speak on issues that I know nothing about. (And, by the way, I've asked Max for help with some razors too, but he's booked through 2015!)

You say it was wrong to grind the tip in the first place? No argument here. You say that someone who would grind the tip should should never be permitted to restore a razor ever again? I say, please, give the dude and me a break. He broke my razor, he paid me back, and now that same stupid, broken razor has been resold on eBay for about what you'd pay for A LIGHTLY USED MASTRO LIVI! That's really what I'm getting at here. Thanks!

I'm not looking to raise up a pitchfork. I have had similar situations, myself. I always try to leave the smallest amount of gap possible between the wedge and the blade. When a blade has a worn pivot hole, I have found the best way to measure where to cut the wedge is to fit everything together and pull the blade toward the wedge if there is any "slop" in the pivot hole. But I thought I would offer a suggestion for anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation.

A set of diamond burrs like this:

20 DIAMOND BURR burs bits dental DREMEL 1/8" +Ships USA - eBay (item 360195509691 end time Mar-03-10 18:57:37 PST)

works great for situations like that. I find it easiest to fit one in the drill press, lower the burr between the scales and put a slight amount of pressure between the burr and the wedge. It will file down the wedge in no time at all.

I also use them in the same manner to remove old epoxy when restoring old shaving brushes. They are very handy and can save someone a lot of headaches.