Thread: New Here

I'm new to here, and to straight razors in general. I do a lot of wood work and I make and collect knives, so I'm not completely new to sharp things. Here's a link to some photos of my work: Flickr: dobsoncwm's Photostream.

About a week ago, I picked up an old Genco Model B2 at an antique store. It had some problems. The blade was dull, rusted, and scratched, and the handle was warped and cracked. I re-finished the blade and made a temporary handle form desert ironwood and ebony. I'll be making a nicer handle when my adjustable pivot and washers come in. I honed it on a progression of stones through to a Spyderco UF ceramic and stropped it on leather loaded with cerium oxide. The same thing I do with my knives. I'm planning on loading a strop up with some 100k diamond soon.



Shaving with it has been a good experience. The first couple of shaves were a bit rough, but it's getting much better. At the moment I'm just using regular shave gel, as I don't have anything specific to straight razors.

Any tips and suggestions would be appreciated. I plan on making my own razor soon. I have the steel profiled, (CPM154), and I'll be putting the grinds in as soon as my small contact wheel is up and running.

Phillip Dobson

thats a beauty!!!! Welcome to the forums you should fit right in here!

welcome, that is a really great looking razor. hope to see more from you in the future. you may want to think about making and selling some on here.

Welcome to SRP. That is quite a good job you did on that razor. In the future if you do restores putting a before photo up makes the finished product that much more impressive.

Here is the SRP Wiki where you can find all the tutorials on about everything you might want to know about shaving with and maintaining a straight razor. If you don't see it in there don't hesitate to ask on the forum.

You should check out the 'Workshop' forum as well. That is where the guys that make razors, scales and do restores post on those topics.

Welcome aboard Phillip :beer:

There's several more but here's one you might find useful in future

Rust Remover Restoring Razors

Welcome to SRP. The Genco looks nice as it is. Can't wait to see the improvements. Make sure you post them. Just for future reference, before pictures are always nice.
Kent

Thanks guys. I can see that I have a lot to learn about the world of razors. It's surprisingly different from knives.

I realized I should have taken some before photos only after I was almost done refinishing it. I was too excited to see if it was even possible.

I haven't decided on what to use for the real handle. Whatever it will be, it'll be nice. My parts should be here in a few days. I'll be sure to get some photos.

looks quite nice, but you do have experience with knives
micarta is quite popular with custom makers.

Wecome, and thanks for sharing a picture of your beautiful work!
Jeff

Originally Posted by gugi

looks quite nice, but you do have experience with knives
micarta is quite popular with custom makers.

I have some new micarta I'm itching to use. It's different shades of blue cotton-linen and black canvas. I had it custom made by Todd Combs. Not sure if I'll put it on this razor. I'm still on the lookout for the perfect project for this micarta.