Le Grelot w/ Custom Ebony Scales

Hi gents,

I grabbed this Le Grelot 68 "Le Roi Soleil" (Sun King) to restore.
It's marked 6/8 and it stayed that way after honing it and putting it in shave-ready state.
As you can see the etching is gone, the price you have to pay when going from 180 to 2000 grit sandpaper plus 2 polishing compounds.
The first two pictures show how the razor was. It was covered in icky dirt with broken scales. The following 3 pictures show the final results. Don't mind the stain on the blade on the first picture, that's a coat of oil.
I ordered a set of ebony scales to razor-handles.de to make them in TI-shape. I'm happy with the final result:

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/1516/p9300059rx7.jpg
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/6415/p9300060yd4.jpg
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/1412/10ct1.jpg
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/449/20uh4.jpg
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/7372/30hi4.jpg

Leon,

How difficult did you find it to restore? I'm trying to get some pitting out of a shoulderless Le Grelot that I have, and it's way more difficult than any other razor of mine so far. Did you think this restore was more difficult any any others you may have tried?

man that's a lot of hard work you did! but paid off, looks great. can I ask what grits you did, as far as how you jumped? I went yesterday to local paint supply store, I told them what I was doing and they SWORE I could go from the 320 to 600 to 1500 to 2k and recommended that I not go lower saying that the 320 (this is the norton automotive stuff) cut so well that if I went courser it would likely leave scratches I couldn't get out, and that it was really rated a bit off and the 320 was like a 240.

sorry to hijack you with a question.

Red

That progression sounds exactly right.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bpave777

Leon,

How difficult did you find it to restore? I'm trying to get some pitting out of a shoulderless Le Grelot that I have, and it's way more difficult than any other razor of mine so far. Did you think this restore was more difficult any any others you may have tried?

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Actually this restore took the same amount of time and effort than my previous ones. The restore I'm foing right now, a Filarmonica, is the toughest so far, the pitting doesn't seem to have an end!
I get to a point were we need to choose whether we can stick to the blade with some pitting, or eat some more metal and put the blade stability at stake.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Big Red

man that's a lot of hard work you did! but paid off, looks great. can I ask what grits you did, as far as how you jumped? I went yesterday to local paint supply store, I told them what I was doing and they SWORE I could go from the 320 to 600 to 1500 to 2k and recommended that I not go lower saying that the 320 (this is the norton automotive stuff) cut so well that if I went courser it would likely leave scratches I couldn't get out, and that it was really rated a bit off and the 320 was like a 240.

sorry to hijack you with a question.

Red

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My first grit is 180 grit and it's the "workhorse" grit. I don't move up until the pitting is gone. The 320 grit is too slow to remove metal IMHO. Some people here go lower than 180 grit. I use this grit because that's the lowest grit available here. Then I go 280-360-500-800-1200-1600-2000.
I find it strange that they told you that the lower grits could leave you scratches that you couldn't get out. I don't get it why they think that way. The 180 grit will scratch the blade in a way that the next grit, say 280 or 360, will level it using tinier scratches and then next grit will leave even tinier and smoother scratches on the blade. You will get to a point were you can't see scratches, that's when you've achieved a satin finish, then by polishing a satin surface, you'll get a mirror finish.

thanks guys, nun2 I rushed out to get these papers yesterday to try and get my razors ready to send out. I'm hoping it doesn't take too many hours. luckily only one really needs much work.

Red

[QUOTE=Leon;279060]Actually this restore took the same amount of time and effort than my previous ones. The restore I'm foing right now, a Filarmonica, is the toughest so far, the pitting doesn't seem to have an end!
I get to a point were we need to choose whether we can stick to the blade with some pitting, or eat some more metal and put the blade stability at stake.


Nice transformation Leon.

Sometimes a little remaining pitting just adds 'character' - Looks much nicer than a broken blade :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Leon

My first grit is 180 grit and it's the "workhorse" grit. I don't move up until the pitting is gone. The 320 grit is too slow to remove metal IMHO. Some people here go lower than 180 grit. I use this grit because that's the lowest grit available here. Then I go 280-360-500-800-1200-1600-2000.
I find it strange that they told you that the lower grits could leave you scratches that you couldn't get out. I don't get it why they think that way. The 180 grit will scratch the blade in a way that the next grit, say 280 or 360, will level it using tinier scratches and then next grit will leave even tinier and smoother scratches on the blade. You will get to a point were you can't see scratches, that's when you've achieved a satin finish, then by polishing a satin surface, you'll get a mirror finish.

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I'm going to do something similar. I have a blade that has some scratches from a lower grit. I need some higher grit to smoothen the scratches out.