Thread: Any salvation for a chipped and cracked blade??

I just got a JA Henkels Twin Works 415 9/16 with Brass inlays, cracked ice scales. Its excactly like the one Maximillian posted a while back.... Unfortunatly it had a cracked and chipped blade. Its a beautiful Razor and was so cheap I bought it. Can a blade be repaired????

Thanks,

mike

can we see pics?

Hello and welcome to the forums. As for the razor being salvaged, many members would be more then happy to give opinions, but first you need to post pictures so the damage can be seen and evaluated.

Thanks, will do. Its pretty bad the chip could be fixed but the crack goes a few eights of an inch or more. I will get pics up in the morning.

mike

A chip can be honed out if it is not too deep but a crack and the blade is generally toast. If it is out towards the end some guys shorten the blade but it if it is "a few eighths" the prognosis is not good.

Here you go.... thanks for the feedback. I hope it has some collectable value at least since it wont be usable.

Thanks,

Mike

Lovely scales on that and they are worth something. It is hard to see the crack on my screen but if it is extending up from the chip you might be able to have a knowledgeable person shorten the blade. Some guys who trim around beards or goatees like to have a short maneuverable blade.

Like Jimmy said, shortening looks like it might work- although shortened razors look a little funny in their original scales. I have one from the early 19th century that someone dropped and then regroud the point on.... so it's an old-fashioned practice.


The other option would be to look for another 'nice' Henkels blade with crappy scales... and make them into one razor. The bonus here is if you find a blade that is structurally sound, but rusty, you have a cheap by that a resto pro could clean up and slip in those scales for you...

One option may be to shorten the razor by cutting off the toe and then shorten the scales to make it look in proportion. You could either send it to a restorer to do this or try it yourself.

If you opt to have the blade shortened have a set of replacement scales put on and save those beauties. To some guys those scales are worth more than you paid for the razor in total. BKratchmer had an excellent suggestion to find a nice Henckles blade in poor scales and swap them out.