Thread: Newbie working on restoration

Hey, i am a 17 year old kid who has about 1 1/2 years in practice with shaving. I started with a Dovo shavette (which is total BS, i hated it and transferred to the Parker) and now i use a feather artist club razor. Recently my grand father was cleaning out his house and he found his fathers straight razor and he gave it to me. The razor is super rusted but has no chips in it (thank god) but it's pretty dang dull. I want to restore it and make it a kind of family heirloom but i have no clue which stone to use and i am not sure how a full hollow ground would react with this type of restoration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0huv9ON9_I

. I really don't want to take off like 1/3 of the blade with the router or the wet stone!!! Please help.

I was also wondering the worth of my 230 W.H. Morley & Sons clover brand razor.

There is a lot of info on restoring in the library, try this page for starters.

I haven't used powered equipment to restore, so can't advise, but I would strongly recommend that you get a razor in similar condition to yours off ebay to practice restoring. It would be better to make mistakes during learning on something other than a family heirloom.

Hi, and welcome to the forum!!

You'll be well ahead of the game if you do a lot of studying and reading before you take action. It's kind of like the old joke, "I've cut this board 3 times, and it's still too short".

Heres a link that should help you a lot http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...wers-here.html

Enjoy the forum, and again.....Welcome!!

Regards,

Howard

Welcome aboard.

We don't do valuations so we can't help you there.

You really should read through the posts in the workshop and in the hones and honing forum as well as some of the videos we have. be careful with any power tools around straights. Most of us do it the old fashioned way-by hand.

The three gentlemen before me have given you absolutely solid advice... The only thing I might add is that if you try and restore an ebay special with no success, you can always see if one of the members in the classifieds section thinks it's possible to restore it and give an estimate on doing so.

I know we don't do valuations here, but the heirloom razor to me would be invaluable. I'd certainly never forgive myself for botching it up. That said, don't let that discourage you from trying... just practice on a cheapie and take your time and learn all you can before starting.

good luck!

Maby post a pic from your granddad his razor. We can see if it is worth and give you advise of dont or restore.
as the others say try first a other one to restore. Good luck whit it

I wouldn't use power tools right out of the gate .. Handsanding would be the way to go in my opinion by far am I a expert but the razors I have restored I sanded by hand and you really learn a lot.. Read threw the forums here plenty of great info and plenty of great people who will help u out.. Worse comes to worse send it to,the pros in the classifieds section look for member services..

Ok so what i have gotten from this is "Do not use power tools" which is cool. Is the way described on this website Hand sanding a blade - Straight Razor Place Wiki The best or do any of you have any modifications/improvements you would like to share?