Thread: Engström: Resurrection

Quite a while ago I got a John Engström frameback with ivory scales.

It was rusty, chipped and it looked like someone tried to clean the ivory with a fist-full of beach sand hammered into plywood. I was excited to work on it. So excited that I disassembled it within a minute of opening the eBay package.

This promptly snapped the scales at the toe.

Dejected, I put it away in my tool box and tried not to think about it.

Every now and then I'd try sanding some of the tarnish off the frame, but it was weirdly resistant to sanding.

I gave up.

Fast forward about a year and now I've got a new workbench installed in the garage with proper shop lighting, all my tools are organized and I have an arsenal of sandpaper and polishing equipment.

I never got any before pictures of this razor, but here's what I was able to do to it with a bit of elbow grease.



There were two bad dings in the blade that I ground out, which is why the shape is a tiny bit odd. The main thing I discovered is that sanding a frameback is hard work. There are so many fidgety little spaces that are incredibly easy to miss. In the picture above you can just see where the ivory snapped at the toe pin. A bit of CA glue and all was well there.



I'm only partially happy with the polish on the blade. I really need to stop screwing around and make myself a sanding jig so I can get steady, light and even pressure when sanding.



Other than the pins, it's all original parts.



A macro lens is a valuable tool for finding EVERY TINY THING YOU MISSED.



I'm sad that the ivory lost its patina, but there was nothing for it. Whoever had cleaned it left deep scratches that looked terrible. Like a cat had used it as a scratching post. Now it looks very shiny and clean, but also 'new'.



I don't consider the restore to be a full success, but it was an excellent way of breaking in the new workspace!

It might not be exactly what you were after but it is a very nice looking SR and highly usable too. I'd be satisfied with it, if it were me. Good job.

Bob

Looks great,You want patina? ,boil up the contents of about six teabags in a cup of water,wipe down the scales with alcohol,than wipe them down with white vineger,than use a rag and rub them down with the warm tea,when the correct color is achieved, wipe them down with mineral oil.

Nice job on a nice razor. I have been saving lots of razors for when I develop the skills they require. It is good that you gave up when you did and continued when you were prepared. It looks great! ......Tom

Have a similar Engström in the works here too - no ivory to start with so I made a new set of horn scales. Think I might blacken the blade.

Having owned, and restored a few of these in the past I know what PIA it can be....

I think you did very well, she looks great, and kudos for keeping her original

These old Swedish framebacks takes a fantastic edge

I don't know if you have honed her yet, and you might already know, but the steel in the frame is rather soft and will wear down ten times faster than the typical hard swedish steel in the blade, so if you don't usually use tape when honing, do an exeption for this one, it will keep her beauty

Don't forget the scales were once new so it's fitting that once again they age with the restored blade.
Looks a success to me.

Originally Posted by Zephyr

Having owned, and restored a few of these in the past I know what PIA it can be....

I think you did very well, she looks great, and kudos for keeping her original

These old Swedish framebacks takes a fantastic edge

I don't know if you have honed her yet, and you might already know, but the steel in the frame is rather soft and will wear down ten times faster than the typical hard swedish steel in the blade, so if you don't usually use tape when honing, do an exeption for this one, it will keep her beauty

Since the restoring is one of my favorite parts (other than shaving), I pretty much always tape... And especially on framebacks. This one has extremely minimal hone wear on it too, and I'd like to keep it that way.

I got it honed up today and it looks like it's going to be a fantastic shaver. It was a bit difficult to get an edge on, but only because of the previous damage to the blade which left it with a teeny, tiny warp. Not so much you can see it, but enough to keep some parts of the edge from touching the hone. A great reason to learn to hone tricky blades, that! And hone I did. I'll be shaving with it shortly.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Don't forget the scales were once new so it's fitting that once again they age with the restored blade.
Looks a success to me.

The scales I'm mostly very happy with, it's the blade I'm a bit disappointed in. I really would rather have gotten all the scratches out instead of the lightly brushed (in the wrong direction) look. Ah well. Live and learn!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Nice job on a nice razor. I have been saving lots of razors for when I develop the skills they require. It is good that you gave up when you did and continued when you were prepared. It looks great! ......Tom

I wish I could truthfully say it was entirely waiting on me developing the skill, but honestly there was a lot of laziness involved.

Originally Posted by EisenFaust

Have a similar Engström in the works here too - no ivory to start with so I made a new set of horn scales. Think I might blacken the blade.

Oh man, that's lovely! Great work on the scales too! Now you've got me wondering if I ought to blue the blade. I'm pretty sure that's the original finish. It'd help hide my shameful sanding job too! I could even put the compass needle back on... HMMMMM!

I do not think the blades were Blued in the orig form,just dark High Carbon steel in a natural color.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

I do not think the blades were Blued in the orig form,just dark High Carbon steel in a natural color.

I dunno, this looks to me like it was blued with a mask on the blade: