Thread: That time in life, got to teach the boy to shave time to restore another razor

Well, the title pretty much says it. My 14 year old son looks like a homeless Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. He has needed to shave for a good 3 months but I have been ignoring it. It is to the point now that he has got to start shaving.

So I figure he might as well start right. What he uses will be his choice in the end, a cartridge razor or a straight. I obviously hope he ends up choosing a straight but in the end the choice is his. So I got to digging around my cigar box full of razors looking for something that may suite him. Starting him off with a big 7/8 or larger may be a bit much. I did find a old Wade&Butcher 6/8 wedge that should clean up nicely so I grabbed it. Somewhere I have a Mach3 razor kit as well. I need to find it and turn a handle for it, then he can pick which one he wants. Have to turn a brush as well.

Those of you that have been around for a few years know me and have seen my work many times. For those of you that are new to the forums, good morning. You should be seeing more of me around in the future.

I decided to go with some Ironwood burl that I had laying in my cutoff's bin for the straight. I will keep the theme throughout the process and go with Ironwood burl for the cartridge razor and the brush.

The razor was not in too bad of shape. Your typical been ignored for 70 or 80 years. Who knows how old the blade is, probably a good 100+ years. The pitting went deeper than I expected. I had originally taken it to the wheels with some greeseless compound to clean it up. Once I had the rust off and the blade fresh I decided to go the extra mile and hand sand it. Stopping with just the greesless compounds and buffing left the blade to rough. If you are going to do it, do it right and a nice blade/scale combo deserves the extra bit of work.

Ignore the bayonette, that was a different restoration project but that was the only photo I had of the razor before I started.







The blade is coming along. It needs more micromesh sanding before it goes to the buffing wheels. It will not be perfect, there will be some minor imperfections in the blade even after sanding. It would take some heavy sanding to get every little divot out and frankly, I just do not have that much time to throw at it.

The scales I am finishing in epoxy reson and going with a traditional shape. I dont want anything too large. More to come.

That's gonna be awesome for your son.
I'd be so proud to give it to him
Mike

I'll be following the progress of the restoration with great interest. You won't be able to post too many pictures to suit me, or give to many details on the restoration process.

Joe

Would you be interested in adopting a 49yo?

Very nice-Here's another 49-year old up for adoption!

You should be adopting me, I am only 44. Scales are finished and I am about to start buffing on the blade. Updates later tonight.

Finished sanding, or finished all the sanding I was going to do. Ran it over a complement of compounds on the wheels. There is still some light pitting but it would take hours of work to get them out.





The scales are finished in epoxy resin


I decided to just get it finished and pinned it tonight with a Wenge wedge. Tomorrow I will turn a brush from the other block of Ironwood burl.

Very nice, I hope my son will appreciate a straight when he's old enough
He's four now...

Beautiful scales-I keep wanting to try your epoxy finish. I have read a tutorial buried on the site somewhere, may try it soon.

Wow, that is striking. I'm in the same boat with my oldest son, but he is not getting one of those.