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I'm so proud of myself....
I bought a Wade and Butcher razor on eBay for $28 (#391011527949, if you want to see what it looked like). It was in fair shape, with a bad "frowning" on the blade, but no rust or pitting anywhere.
I washed the razor in a mild germicide/soap, dried it well, then cleaned it up with a dremel and some green polishing compound. The plastic scales were shined up and scratches removed with Novus Plastic cleaner and Novus #2 plastic polish. I then set upon fixing the blade. I first had to get rid of the blade frown by grinding the blade vertically on a DMT lapping plate to even off the edge. Next was setting the edge on a 400 grit stone, followed by 1000 grit Naniwa, followed by 4000 grit Naniwa, followed by 8000 grit Naniwa, followed by 3M lapping films 8000, 12,000, 32,000 grit equivalent (Thanks euclid440). Spent several hours getting the edge back and set, but it wasn't that difficult.
Here are some "after" photos of the razor:
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The razor, according to my evaluation, is truly "scary sharp". Since I don't shave, I tested the blade on my arm hair:
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The hairs literally "popped off".
All the practice honing I did on several Gold Dollar and Gold Monkey razors surely paid off. Thanks to the information and advice on this forum, I'm confident of my ability to hone a straight razor, and to strop properly. I'm quite impressed with the lapping films (thanks euclid440) as an alternative or in conjunction with the Japanese whetstones.. In addition, again thanks to euclid440, I've been playing with various strops loaded with CBN and other abrasives and find them to be quite effective in achieving a really sharp edge.
(the photos here are not the greatest. I've got a lightbox, or tent box as some call it, on order from B&H in New York City. They have a nice setup with bulbs, tent, and a small tripod, all for about $48 including shipping. My objective is to take better pictures with the light tent, not only for this forum, but for e-commerce).
