Thread: W&B Chort Chop

I have had this blade for ages, and always think what a nice shaver it would be.
Finally, I did something about it!
This 8/8 thing was reground by an absolute master back when. It must have been truly huge as it was made, The spine has an absolute 5/16 width and a huge tang, and when measuring my other "barber's use" blades, they are all 1/4! It lost some length for whatever reason. It seems common for the regrinders to have cut them short. I always wondered! I now know why!
As I wanted to make an original-looking "beater" out of it, I bought a big barber's use with a cracked heel and damaged scales up top for the purpose. The blade has gone to a member in Canada to work his magic on healing heels! The scales had to be shortened to the pin-hole which took off 1/2 inch. Measuring this blade against my FBU's gave this one a length of 3/8 short. It was gonna be close! I chopped them off, shaped as best I could to original shape and cleaned, sanded, and polished, then waxed them inside and out.
The Holy Hacksaw Blade against the lead wedge provided clearance as well as an aluminum "pop rivet" blade bushing to keep it from walking forward and some blade spacers installed.
It closes very tight to the wedge. All original collars and under collars, although I did not unpin the bottom. I feel a prettier job would have resulted if I had. Oh well! It's a beater!
Some hard work on the blade, I took the heel down a bit to even out the smile, and had to relieve the stabilizers at the bottom to get that shaving edge around the heel. Did not worry much over pitting and such, not too bad. It evened out and honed up nicely. Seldom do I enjoy the chore of honing, but to get this thing off the 1k and over to the Gnomestone and a long BBW/Coti pyramid and finish on a pile of Escher was kinda fun! Best thing is, it shaves like a demon and is super-comfortable to use. Balance is really good and it sings a sweet song!
Thanks for looking!

Thanks for that. 'twas an interesting read

Came out real nice ! I understand your not unpinning the the other end. Sometimes you find things you don't want to see and putting it back the way it was might not work out so well. Good call. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Wow, you did an excellent job restoring that beauty!

Turned out really nice, thanks for sharing it.

Beautiful work on this razor Tom, its purely elegant! And a great eye dear to shorten the scales at the pivot pin side.

Great save well done.

That is a magnificent razor! Big and yet slightly modest.

I wonder, though, why is your saw blade upside down?

Something to think about: The blade is one inch wide, and the spine is 5/16th thick. The optimal ratio is 1 to 4. This will achieve a bevel angle around 17 degrees. Your spine is going to make that more than 17 degrees, and that will cause problems. Consider grinding the spine down to 1/4 in.. Or, if it shaves well to your standards, leave it alone. Your razor - it's up to you. That said, it's a darn nice razor.

Love it. The stubby look is wonderful