Thread: First restoration finally finished

This weekend I finally bit the bullet and finished my John Barber restoration project. I had been working on it on and off for 2 months now.
I do this with all my projects. I start them and them I work on them whenever I feel like. And occasionally I pick one and work until it is done.

This is what it looked like originally:




And this is what it looks like now:




Looks good for something that's close to 200 years old, eh?

The little smudge on the toe is a visual artefact. It is not there on the razor itself.
I took off the scales, and handsanded carefully for 12 hours. Then I polished for 2 hours of with my dremel, a felt wheel and 14 micron chromium oxide.
I pinned it this afternoon with my mother's small anvil and peening hammer. I also replaced the butt pin so that it would be identical to the blade pin.

All in all I am satisfied with the result. I did not make new scales for it because the original scales are in good shape, and they are a good deal prettier than the default black scales that are found on most older razors with cheap handles.

I also took care to fully preserve the maker's mark because that's what drew my attention originally. Luckily it was stamped very deep.
The blade is perfectly straight so honing it should not be too hard. Definitely a keeper.

Beautiful, especially for a first

very nice job looks like chrome. Hows the shave?

what did your progression of sandpaper grits look like? how high did you go?

Originally Posted by edk442

what did your progression of sandpaper grits look like? how high did you go?

80, 100, 120, 150, 180, 240, 320, 400, 600, 1000.
I wanted to go higher but I could not find higher grits locally.

i'm working on a boker right now, my progression looks like

100, 150, 180, 220, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000

i'm only at 400 right now

i considered going with 80 grit but it seemed a little TOO coarse for my liking. i have 120 paper but decided to skip it. i don't think it will affect the end result

Nice job ! I've also got some old razors I would like to restore, although they are in a good shape, some of them have some 'black' spots on them.

Bruno,
I really like the razor. Could you post a better pic of the tang stamp? It looks like the maker might have been a member of the craft.
Don

Beautiful job! That razor looks sweet now.

-Steve

Stunning result