Thread: How unrealistic would it be to try and restore this razor by myself?

Hey OP. Long-time member (mostly lurker) here. I see that gssixgun (Glen) mentioned a Zoom session, so I thought I'd chime in. I have been honing razors for about 10-12 years. I was always able to hone well enough to shave but my results were inconsistent. My best and worst results were mostly accidental. I do not knock this forum specifically but as a general rule I find that forums are not the best places to dissect or solve some of the more complex aspects of any issue. Quite frankly there are people on just about every forum who express opinions as fact about things they may not have even tried. For myself it translated to a lot of background noise and made discerning what parts of the information available were good, better, best… or just wrong. I turned to Glen. We had one Zoom session that lasted less than an hour. I asked basic, direct questions about what I was doing and got no nonsense answers about what was good and what I could throw away. Glen offered me a systematic approach toward evaluating and improving my honing. That one session gave me more than all the years of lurking on forums ever did. Without exaggeration I am now honing with a far better means of evaluating where my edges are and what is required to get them where I want them. I have re-honed my entire collection and turned one mediocre shaver after another into great performers and even revived a couple that I thought were goners. As it turns out I wasn’t that far off. I just needed that professional eye to help cut through the noise and get things on a better track. I really wish a similar opportunity existed when I first started honing. When you seek answers there isn’t really a better alternative than having a direct conversation with someone who is a highly regarded professional in their field.

Originally Posted by 3QS

\When you seek answers there isn’t really a better alternative than having a direct conversation with someone who is a highly regarded professional in their field.

Absolutely I'll take him up on that soon. I appreciate everyone's warm welcome here. I like reading too though and will take a few more shots at it myself and read a bunch of stuff before. Reading without practicing doesn't accomplish much especially when people contradict eachother and you aren't sure who to follow, but I've studied a bunch of things like this by myself before (guitar, piano, mathematics, etc) and it is definitely worthwhile to try and fail even with the sometimes bad signal to noise ratio on forums. For what it's worth SRP seems to be extremely consistent compared to a place like Badger and Blade where literally no one agrees about anything and everyone thinks they personally are the master of the craft with the correct opinion, lol.

That was the primary focus of the meets when we were able to have them. Hands on face to face, with questions and answers. I have been to meets with Glen. He is knowledgeable and passionate about honing razors. If you can zoom with him that would be almost as good as in person. There are guys in Canada that hone. I will send you a PM. Winterpeg is a ways away, especially with my mail service.

The offer is a 2 part thing. First and foremost it will give you a problem free razor so that stabilizer problems, spine wear, uneven bevel, blade warp, uneven grind or spine are removed fromm the picture. Second it will be as sharp as you will probably ever get it so that you know what you are aiming for. Additionally it will need to be honed again eventually so the keenness does not defeat the purpose. The intent to buy it is appreciated but the offer was intended to be without strings or obligation. Don't worry about the shipping or purchase. It is an attempt from a member who has been where you are and who has benefited from the help of others to pay it forward and help mentor the next class of students. PM me your address and I'll send it out.
Also, I think you should not overlook stropping properly. You could conceivably be honing properly and then roll the edge stropping which would ruin the shave. There are members here who make and sell strops of good quality for reasonable prices. Heirloom Workshops is one example and the proprietor (Tony Miller) is a member here also.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

The offer is a 2 part thing. First and foremost it will give you a problem free razor so that stabilizer problems, spine wear, uneven bevel, blade warp, uneven grind or spine are removed fromm the picture. Second it will be as sharp as you will probably ever get it so that you know what you are aiming for. Additionally it will need to be honed again eventually so the keenness does not defeat the purpose. The intent to buy it is appreciated but the offer was intended to be without strings or obligation. Don't worry about the shipping or purchase. It is an attempt from a member who has been where you are and who has benefited from the help of others to pay it forward and help mentor the next class of students. PM me your address and I'll send it out.
Also, I think you should not overlook stropping properly. You could conceivably be honing properly and then roll the edge stropping which would ruin the shave. There are members here who make and sell strops of good quality for reasonable prices. Heirloom Workshops is one example and the proprietor (Tony Miller) is a member here also.

Sounds fantastic, I'll PM you right away, hopefully shipping isn't too unreasonable. I actually already got a really nice $60 Illinois Horse Leather strop a few years ago but unfortunately never got to use it because the razor was never in good enough shape to bother. It bothers me ever cutting the thing so I always try to be conscientious about my stropping technique when I do it. Come Christmas break I'm going to dive right into the research.

Amusing anecdote, a member PM'd me and recommended me a local facebook group for wet-shaving suggesting I might find someone there who is good at honing, or who knows someone who is. Very first recommendation I got when I went there was the guy who lives just down the street from me.

Well let him do it. Facebook is full of experts, and most recommend knife guys cause they don’t have a clue what a straight razor is. But like I’ve said we hear this all the time, and then we hear about the razor being screwed up. But hey it’s your razor do what you want, your not shaving with it anyway

Definitely take Glen up on his offer. He is a master and not graciously receiving that tutelage would be like seeing a stack of $100 bills on the ground and walking by without picking it up.

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

Well let him do it. Facebook is full of experts, and most recommend knife guys cause they don’t have a clue what a straight razor is. But like I’ve said we hear this all the time, and then we hear about the razor being screwed up. But hey it’s your razor do what you want, your not shaving with it anyway

Yeah of course, just find it amusing how there is apparently only one well known sharpener in my whole city.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Definitely take Glen up on his offer. He is a master and not graciously receiving that tutelage would be like seeing a stack of $100 bills on the ground and walking by without picking it up.

Certainly will as soon as I have time.

I managed to track down a local who is skilled at honing straight razors, it only took about 2 years of casual searching, and a tipoff from a straight razor forum to a private facebook group, and then a tipoff from someone there to a local, I'm surprised I actually found someone at all honestly. His name is Joel and I told him about this forum so he will probably put up his own post. No review as of yet but I'll make sure to report back with how it turns out. Still am going to learn how to do all this either way.