Thread: Erusta clean up

Basic break it down. Sand the blade, polish the spine/shaft/tail. Redo the blade to the factory looking finish.
Polish up the scales and make mini SS washers and Nickel pins to wrap it up.
I also made spacer washers to keep the shaft from getting scored. Why mess up a good thing?

Beautiful restore.

... and I love Boehler Steel!

Me too and this is one killer blade. Nice size and Oh so sweet.

Just like new! Beautiful

As always, nice work my friend

A couple of questions for those of us trying to reach your level of restoration.

1. How did you get the 'factory' look finish on the blade?
2. Did you simulate the washers 'size'? Or did the blade arrive un-scaled and 'guessed'?
3. Are there any before pictures?

Just wondering

As Always: Nothing Wrong With That Work Bubba! Great Job!

As is a flaw of mine,, i'll probably write too much. Most want photos not script.Hence my tendency to lately just say " Clean it up, polish the blade, scales etc. etc" . Who reads this stuff? But here goes for what it's worth.
I didn't take photos of the razor before as much as showing the situation I had to deal with. And it wasn't much.
The "before" shots are only missing the pins. And this is a sticking point with me that I have yet to figure out. The blade came fully pinned just showed the typical albeit not much wear.
These pins, for lack of a better word , looked like nipples. I believe they were stamped on one side and a simple washer was added to the other. Do enough blades and you'll come across them. It makes sense from a production standpoint. Make up a bunch of pins and only add washers to one side and peen.
I haven't found a suitable substitute to duplicate them so I'm stuck with traditional type washers that I make. Looks OK,,,, but it's not perfect. They're small, maybe not small enough but very close.I'll work on it.

The factory look on the blade?
Well examine a factory blade. Whatever piece you're restoring. I try to emulate what I see. First you have to remove all the rust, patina, pitts, etc. , get it perfect ,, then reproduce the texture. Most times using just sand paper will produce the desired effect. Make it perfect,, then scratch it up.
Now watch. Not all blades have the same texture left from the grinding machines. Some will take 220, some even finer.Think Doubl Ducks. I think my mistake is making it too uniform.Some factory blades, even after all these years show variations in the scratch pattern. Most , if you notice will have several very deep ones near the stabilizers. It just seems to be there. Not to sound conceited but I think at times I try to make the razor the factory intended but didn't have the luxury to produce. I'm only doing one. They did thousands. I can fuss over the texture. They couldn't. Am I right,, or am I wrong. I swat at gnats. Maybe at times I over restore. I'll work on that too. But most want to see "Mirror" polished blades. I want to produce a factory looking razor after its been beat for how many years?
But before you dive into a blade examine it, record it and if you want to reproduce it pay attention to the details. Don't just go willy nilly and sand it, buff it or worse of all toss it in a tumbler.
If you want to restore it pay attention. Photograph it if you have to to reference back to.
Sanding and buffing look cool in some respect but not if you want to have an original looking blade. It's not everyone's cup of tea. But it takes effort. More effort in fact than just polishing it up. That takes minutes. The other stuff doesn't and i've been there. Sand polish, mirror finish. In many cases it isn't right. But it's a good look none the less that many want . Depends what YOU want.

One silly little detail on this blade that I really like, is the tail, shaft, spine are polished as you'd see from the factory. But the one little sliver of shoulder is also polished. This, against the main blade being satiny finished just makes my day producing it. Does anyone notice? Doubtful but it hits you in a subliminal way. It's another detail that I find fascinating and important. A buffer doesn't see this demarcation. I do. And I find it important.

See. I wrote too much. Bla, bla, bla.


If I were able to produce a perfect factory looking blade I think most would be bored. Show some bling, shine, burls , micarta, etc. Stock is boring. But harder.

And you don't want to get into my head. It's too jumbled in there with all this nonsense.

Bubba? Ha,, my grand daughter calls me Babba.

My friend,

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time out of your very busy life to answer in details my questions. :

I for one did notice the attention to detail with the shoulder being polished and the blade satin.

While I may never achieve your level of attention to detail and patience, I again thank your for sharing for those of us trying to reach your level of excellence

Humbly; ('I clean up Razors') cudarunner

They are fantastic shavers one of the very finest razor I own.