Questions about old razors

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Hi I have been left a few straight razors by my Dad when he passed. They have been stuck in box's doing nothing, I would like to perhaps try and sort a couple and try to use them. The question is can you get rid of the rust type marking on the blades, especially on the Tuckmar. I am not sure that is the original cover on the blade. Out of the first 4 pictures which do you think would be the easiest to get ready to use possibly the "Kobell"?? I would also like any feedback on the razors. I have about 10/14 razors but these possibly are the best or should I say cleanest. Again not sure how to clean them up. Interested in the ModoSo blade not sure if that is bone handle. Any english people in the area of Hereford who can help please let me know. Any help gratefully received.

Those are some great razors, but they will need a lot of work. The Tuckmar MAY have celluloid rot, given the patchiness of the corrosion and those scales. Scratch and sniff the scales and see if you get a strong chemical camphor like smell from it. Either way, to be safe you should segregate that one from the rest of the razor so that is does not start a chain reaction with any of your other razors.

The Modoso is the one with the worse damage to the edge. I'm pretty sure that its scales are synthetic, and not bone. Any of the others are perfectly good candidates for restoration and honing. The Kobell could be honed up and used as is. Ideally you would send a couple of these to someone else for restoration if you have any sentimental attachment to these razors. The reason for this is that the it is relatively easy (and common) for people to break razors as they are learning to restore and use their first razors. It might be better to practice with other blades unless you are okay with putting these at risk.

To start with, you can use ultrafine steel wool and metal polish to try to clean up the blades. This can accomplish quite a bit. Stepping up from that you would use varying grits of wet/dry sandpaper, starting at maybe 600 grit on up to as high as you can find. The is a lot of restoration information in the sticky at the top of the Workshop section of the forum so read there before doing anything.

Utopian many thanks for your reply. They all have possibly the original boxs so the Tuckmar is seperate. I did what you said and could not smell anything. Finding someone in the UK may be difficult saying that I have not really looked yet. Not sure how to start. I have some other possibly older razors that I may have a go at like you said with Metal polish first. I asssume the ones with no etching on I may be able to use the fine wire wool but I will look at that. So the next part is searching for someone to clean/rehone and get them ready for use. I am quite excited about having a go at cutting my face to bits lol

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Originally Posted by Utopian

Those are some great razors, but they will need a lot of work. The Tuckmar MAY have celluloid rot, given the patchiness of the corrosion and those scales. Scratch and sniff the scales and see if you get a strong chemical camphor like smell from it. Either way, to be safe you should segregate that one from the rest of the razor so that is does not start a chain reaction with any of your other razors.

The Modoso is the one with the worse damage to the edge. I'm pretty sure that its scales are synthetic, and not bone. Any of the others are perfectly good candidates for restoration and honing. The Kobell could be honed up and used as is. Ideally you would send a couple of these to someone else for restoration if you have any sentimental attachment to these razors. The reason for this is that the it is relatively easy (and common) for people to break razors as they are learning to restore and use their first razors. It might be better to practice with other blades unless you are okay with putting these at risk.

To start with, you can use ultrafine steel wool and metal polish to try to clean up the blades. This can accomplish quite a bit. Stepping up from that you would use varying grits of wet/dry sandpaper, starting at maybe 600 grit on up to as high as you can find. The is a lot of restoration information in the sticky at the top of the Workshop section of the forum so read there before doing anything.

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Do a member search or look in our vendor section , there are guys over there m really we have guys all over this rock, I,m sure you will get someone to help , but do a little looking or they will come along. Good luck. Tc

I think TC and Utopian have summed it up really well. The only thing to ad would be if that is not a crack through the 'G' on the Ern, it could be sent out and honed up with little or nothing else. I think the true patina on that one is rather lovely and I would do little to it. Starting to hone and restore before you start shaving can be done, but it is the difficult path. Also learning on heirloom razors is sort of risky. As new shavers we tend to be a little hrs on equipment. Perhaps you should purchase an inexpensive razor, maybe from the classifieds here, that is shave ready, and use it to learn with, send the two best of what you have out for a honing and slowly start to clean the rest up. When cleaning gently with a lot of elbow grease is the key. I am big fan of steel wool and polish. If it is looking rather tough you can drop down to 000 and then finish with 0000.

The Kobell, the Ern and the Hamburg Ring look like with little work would come out nice. Would also addy vote to getting something else to learn with if you value these razors. It's pretty well inevitable you will damage a razor in some way when learning and would be a shame to hurt an heirloom razor. Good luck and any questions feel free to ask

Celtic Crusader is in Wales. Could try giving him a pm.

Cut off all the rust with a single edge razor blade, then clean with 000 steel wool and WD40 or similar.

Yes, the Tucmar, does look like Cell rot as does the Modoso, all nice razors worth restoration, but nothing crazy collectable.

The Workshop Forum and the Library is chocked full of how to information if you want to restore yourself. Do some reading before jumping in and doing more damage than repair.

Hi what is cell rot please

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Originally Posted by Euclid440

Cut off all the rust with a single edge razor blade, then clean with 000 steel wool and WD40 or similar.

Yes, the Tucmar, does look like Cell rot as does the Modoso, all nice razors worth restoration, but nothing crazy collectable.

The Workshop Forum and the Library is chocked full of how to information if you want to restore yourself. Do some reading before jumping in and doing more damage than repair.

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cell rot is a very bad disease that that affects metal - causing it to corrode. It comes from certain types scales as they react and decompose. It can accelerate the decomposition of other scales.

Cell rot is the decomposition or off gassing of Celluloid, an early form of plastic. There are various forms of Cell rot depending on the formulation used. The causes are really unknown, but heat, storage in an attic or in a hot glass case, (antique shop) seem to kick it off and once started there is no cure. All you can do is remove the scales. Take good photos, measurements and tracing of the scales and remove them to save the blade.

Certain types of scales are more susceptible, clear or translucent, Fax tortoise, and Whitefish fax Ivory seem to be the most common. Some have smell, some don’t.

Left unchecked, it will eat completely, a razor or will leave the steel so pitted and damaged that it will not hold an edge.

More specifically, cell rot is the same process that vexes film historians. You've heard of old film stock (from the 1920's and 30's) disintegrating? It's the same thing because for a while, razor scales were made of the same stuff. Celluloid (or some other proprietary named blend, there are a variety of names).

The really short version is that transparent celluloids have a very strong -- perhaps inevitable -- tendency to degrade over time. When the material breaks down, it emits nitric acid vapor.

With regards to razors: many different types of scales were made with some variety of celluloid, but only a small subset of them have been reliably unstable. The ones designed to imitate tortoise shell are very bad. The Tuckmar is the only one of your collection that is likely to be exhibiting cell rot, though its outgassing may well have caused some of the corrosion on some of the other razors if they were stored in an enclosed space with it.

The opaque yellow (ivoroid, ivorine, or French ivory) are also a celluloid type scale, but typically those are stable.

There's a widely held belief that one razor with outgassing scales can 'infect' other celluloid and cause it to break down. I haven't ever seen anyone conclusively prove this, but whether or not it's true it's a good idea to isolate suspected celluloid breakdown simply because the nitric acid gas is bad for any razors near it.

There is nothing you can do to stop the process once it's started (and it may not be possible to prevent it from happening in the first place). It can be sort of mitigated, but the best practice is to make new scales for the razor.

That's a nice selection that your dad passed down to you! I would second that you should look for someone in your area that is more experienced in restoration, I have broken both blades and scales doing restoration work and that would be terrible on a family piece!!!

Celticcrusader has come back to me he seems the man I need to meet. I am waiting for him to come back to me. Really am getting excited about having a go at shaving. May not be after first try but whatever lol