New to me razor. Now i need some advice.

I finally purchased my first "real" straight razor. I was at an antique store in New Braunfels when I came across a Griffon CarboMagnetic in a secluded corner of the store. I'll include pics but it looked to me in much better condition than some other vintage razors I have come across and for $14 and I couldn't let it by. I found a strop there too in decent condition but a little aged obviously. Not sure how much of a deal or a bust this is but that's why I'm here. Now some questions.

First,what do you guys think of the general condition of the blade? I will definitely get it honed but is it in pretty good condition or would I need to restore it a bit more than just a basic hone? Second, how would you guys suggest I clean my linen strop up for my first use? It has quite a bit of buildup from the previous owner, it looks like, and I don't want to ruin a shave ready edge by using this if its not ready. Any other advice would be great.

Attachment 100602Attachment 100603Attachment 100604Attachment 100605Attachment 100606

Looks to be in good shape. The toe could become an issue but if you send it out to be honed a honemiester should be able to work with it and even it out.

Any pics of the strop?

Yes it's a C-mon Blackie.

A basic hone?

That razor has some very serious issues with it. Much wear and some strange wear too. I would have to really inspect it to determine what it would need if it were mine but personally I would never have bought one looking like that but that's just me.

Maybe with some creative restoration it can be brought back to life. Depends on the wear pattern and if it affected the grind.

There looks to be a frown on the edge, it shouldn't be to bad to fix by someone who know how to correct for that. The rest of the blade needs some polishing tlc, but will probably look nice when done

judging by the pics I'd be a bit dubious. As thebigspendur said, there is some strange wear patterns there. It would need to be evaluated by sight as to its worth as a shaver. i would also be a bit wary of that strop of yours. It looks a little bumpy in that second last photo. I think I would try again all up and look at whippeddog.com as a start.


Mick

This is one of the monthly beginners tips I do, it has some good tips on buying razors for restore

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...eb-2011-a.html

I have one of those razors, and it hones and shaves very nicely. Yours has seen some heavy-handed honing, unfortunately. A pro might be able to bring it back to life, but the honing would cost more than the blade had. It's your call whether you want to pursue the investment.

Your strop could be a real winner. You can gently sand out any nicks in the leather side, and I'm pretty sure I've seen instructions for cleaning a linen strop here. Search the site for "cleaning linen strop" and see what you get.

Best wishes, good luck, and welcome to SRP!

I picked up an old C-Mon "Blackie" strop, just like yours. I don't use anything else, now. The bump in mine is slowly working its way toward "flat".

Along with other poster, I think the blade may take some careful work. I think I see a "hook" where the edge meets the shoulder. That will mess up any honing, until the shoulder is ground down so that it's narrower than the blade width.

Ah, the joys of inexpensive antique-shop razors . . . <g>

Charles

i have two cmon blackie strops, great draw and great results. i may be vintage stuck but these old strops deliver

I'd take a bit off the heel, as I think that'll be an issue; and of course remove the frown. I think it'd take quite a bit of work and you'd need to remove a fair amount of metal but if it was me I'd be tempted to give it a go.

In one of the photos it look like it has a really really wide bevel near the toe, but it just may be the picture. It doesn't seem to have a lot of spine wear to me.

I'd give it a go honing it for nothing; but you'd need to pay the postage to me. I'd post it back, as I'd like the opportunity to have a challenge and also have one of my edges evaluated.

It might be worth getting new scales too, even though it looks like they're hanging together.

Carl