Thread: Museum style resto

Hmmmm... why isn't there a "not like" button... [shoots meanie eyes at Glen]

I love a razor with tarnish and pitting. The bubbly black tar (devil spit) on the spine I absolutely abhor, but I love the character of a blade's life preserved. I have a newish Dovo 6/8 "Best Quality" that attained some assymetrical staining (more on one side) from my 40+ minute shaves early on which I intend to keep as a record of my learning curve. Just a touch of MAAS to remove any trace of reactive oxidation, just to be sure. But not enough work to remove completely.

Originally Posted by AxelH

Hmmmm... why isn't there a "not like" button... [shoots meanie eyes at Glen]

I love a razor with tarnish and pitting. The bubbly black tar (devil spit) on the spine I absolutely abhor, but I love the character of a blade's life preserved. I have a newish Dovo 6/8 "Best Quality" that attained some assymetrical staining (more on one side) from my 40+ minute shaves early on which I intend to keep as a record of my learning curve. Just a touch of MAAS to remove any trace of reactive oxidation, just to be sure. But not enough work to remove completely.

Daredevil !!!!

But as always the bottom line is, it isn't my razor, it is Legion's and he can do what he wants with it...

I don't very much like 200 years old razors to be mirror polished, unless one is going to use it for shaving. That polish ruins antique image of the razor. Some oldies should be only cleaned. There is enough younger blades for customs and different kind of restorations, which I like very much.

This razor is almost 200 years old. Look at the pins, scales. That's real antique. I'm not sure that it should be restored. Even very professional restoration. For restoration I can send two-three younger blades, at least 50-70 years younger.

If it is at all possible to keep a razor in it's original condition, I will. I have a 3-bin set of drawers that I store all my to be honed/restored razors in. The top drawer is 'hone' only. The second drawer is for razors that have a little bit of rust or funk on them, and just need a little bit of cleaning. The third drawer is for razors with busted scales and rusted/pitted blades. I try to keep the top drawer as full as possible, and the bottom as empty. I don't want to feel as if I am defiling history by cleaning a razor that doesn't REALLY need it, but that's just me!

I think that razor looks great. To me, polishing that to a mirror would be like taking the statue of liberty back to a penny-brown copper. Perhaps that's what she looked like many years ago, but she wears her green well as an older lady.

Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. Whatever one's thoughts are on the degree to which something should be restored, I don't think there's much doubt that you did a top-notch job with what you intended to do.

After reading this thread, I realized that I have several old pitted razors on display, not as extreme as this one. I am reminded of a recent post where the poster got one which was perfectly rusted and made it look awesome! I, personally, would not come close to shaving with any of them, but I suppose it would be ok! We DO shave with the edge and not the face of the blade!(I Hope!) I would use Comet with bleach and an old toothbrush!

On the matter of germs: I am no biologist by any means, only a humble chemist, but I can't even fathom the number of germs we come into contact with on a daily basis. Sure, maybe the act of using a razor increases the chance that some of these nasty buggers will make it under your skin, but would it really be that much different than giving your neck a good scratch with your fingernails? Also, can bacteria/germs live very long on a razor? I know that my rotation is large enough that it could be 2-3 weeks before I even think about getting back to a razor another time.

There is an interesting argument here, granted I only so far have shaved with blades in shiny condition due to the fact that I have yet to take on the challenge of a blade beyond a certain amount of degradation. I personally am not as worried about the germs in the pitting since the blade could be sterilized before shaving. I would be concerned if there was a danger of getting rust in a wound if, heaven forbid, I should cut myself while shaving with it.

perhaps this is a discussion that should be moved to out of the workshop gallery and into a forum that may get us a reply from anyone with the education to offer more facts on the matter, if we have such a member on these boards. I would certainly prefer an opinion from someone more educated on such a subject.