Thread: Late Greaves & Sons restoration, padauk and bone

Here is an Eyre wedge (late Greaves and son) This restoration has been underway in one form or another for a very long time. I bought it as a complete piece of trash. It was covered in rust, and there were rotten black pockmarks on the blade surface. There were no scales anymore either. The worst blade I ever saw.

For some reason, I think I forgot to take 'before' pictures, because I didn't think I'd ever make something worthwhile out of it. Every time I wanted to test something new, I just tried it on this blade first. I'll recheck my hard drives. If I took a pic and save it, I'll post it later.

A couple of months ago when I installed my new improvised grinding station, I decided to use this blade for regrinding practice. Grinding a large radius hollow with a small radius wheel takes some pracice after all. Before the regrind it was a 7/8, now it is a 13/16. As I said, it really was rotten.

After some trial and error, I was able to regrind the blade, get rid of all the rot and give it a clean face . It is about quarter hollow. After I was satisfied with the blade surface, I handsanded the blade (120 to 2000 grit) until the surface was very smooth, and then I polished it with felt wheels and chromium oxide.

The scales were made from Padauk, which I found easy enough to work. They are as thin as I dared make them. I can actually squeeze the scales together until they touch without a problem. They were coated with CA in half a dozen very thin layers, and then sanded with 2000 grit until they were supersmooth. Then they were finished with anitques wax for a soft gloss.

The spacer was made from white bone (cow's shoulderblade) and shaped together with the scales so that they fit just right. Pins and washers are brass.

Front side view:




The back side:


And closed:

Great job on both the blade and scales. I really like the shape of those scales they are sleek.

Charlie

Excellent finish on that blade, gives us amateurs something to shoot for!

Never would realize so much work was spent on the blade! Looks just plain right.

The scales look thin at the right spots, round where they should be, happily angular in unexpected areas. The definition of sexy if you ask me. Nice job.

Perfect example of a save, if you ever find a before pic I'll be staying tuned here.

Nice work, it looks finished!
Respectfully
~Richard

I love the rich color. The shape has an oriental feel. Very nice customization.

Bruno, I have a good idea how much work would have gone into that & the results speak for themselves.
2 big ups

Great job on the re-grind. I've restored some really badly corroded razors before, but never got one back to that pretty.

Nicely done, out standing polish and I really like the scale design.

That Super Grover cracks me up everytime I see your avatar