Thread: Projects from the Past Year

Over the past year I've taken a handful of beat-up flea market finds and have tried my hand at giving them a second chance at life. The advice and experience from the folks on SRP have been invaluable. The razors below have all been inexpensive 'experiments' providing a lot of learning - layout, stabilizing, poly, wax, and CA finishes, honing, and use. They are all now excellent shavers and I'm looking forward to many more projects.

T to B, L to R:
Joseph Allen, Sons, Non-XLL, square tip hollow, cocobolo
Wade & Butcher, swayback, Ebony
Imperial, round nose hollow, Heartwood
Torry, notch tip hollow, cocobolo
EMDE Bros 'Improved Magnetic', square tip hollow, oak
Erik Antonberg Eskiltuna, square tip hollow, cocobolo
Henckels 'Platinum', square tip hollow, oak
Wostenholm & Sons 'Pipe', Full wedge (terrible to hone!!), cedar

Nicely done! A great set of blades...

A great thing to see all those old blades go back on the line to serve.
Thanks for sharing them.

Thanks for looking.

I enjoy tinkering and fixing neglected razors gives me something to do. It has definitely been a learning experience - experimenting with different scale materials and thicknesses, making wedges (the brass ones are from plumbing fittings heated and hammered into shape and the lead wedges are re-purposed 240gr bullets). I find the finish to be the most challenging. All of the wood is stabilized and then finished in either wax, poly, or lately I've been using CA glue. For some reason it just takes forever to get them looking just right. Once I think I'm done I always find a spot I missed.
I've got several other razors that had decent enough scales that have been left alone and only honed. The best shave of all is a Henry Sears wedge, with some rough looking horn scales. It just wouldn't look right if I cleaned it up.

Really nice job ... now you can shave 8 a week !!

Fine work. You got a very nice set there.