Honing my first wedge!!!

So I finally got a wedge. Its a Fredrick Reynolds and it has horn scales which are in need of replacing and the etching is a picture of George Washsinton and says "Washington Champion of Liberty" on it. It has quite a bit of patina and pitting and some on the edge but it doesn't seem to go up to far maybe .5 mm that i need to take off but god is it going slow. Any tips will surely be appreciated. Also I think I will attempt to do my own scales on this one. Where can I get some brass rod to do the pinning?

Welcome to the world edge restoration.
Reynolds razors have hard steel. If you're removing metal you'll need an appropriate stone. For me that would be below 1k.
Brass rod is typically available at hobby stores.

Some hardware stores carry brass brazing rod in pin sizes.

Online is where i ordered my pins and washers (auction site initially, then i found duder's regular web site). Methinks the price of shipping far outweighs the hassle of getting the helpful store clerks to understand your needs.

Or industrial supply house like McMaster Carr...ohhh yeah, crap here i go again!

You could also try a hobby shop for brass pins and washers.

Bob

Well Oz, unfortunately the lowest stone I have is a 1200 grit diamond. It works fast but its no 600 or 800 which would work better.

I will probably go to a hobby store and get some pins. Theres tons of them around here. I ordered some "cola de pava" burl scales. I have never heard of that wood but it looked pretty good and was right in budget.

One other question. There is some devils spit or black rust and pitting on the spine near the toe and on the face of the blade but not near the edge. I would rather leave all the patina on the razor and not remove too much of it especially to preserve the very light engraving on the blade face but I don't won't the black rust to spread. Do you think that as long as I make sure it is dry after use and oil it will be enough to keep the rust from spreading or getting worse?

This is my first ever type of restore and although I do not plan on changing to much of the actually blade its still more than I have ever tried in the past.

Microfasteners.com has always been my mainstay for washers. You may think 100 washers are a lot till you realise how easily 500 fit in the palm of you hand.

So I have found some fasteners and what not. The real challenge is coming from restoring the edge. Its going quite slow since all I have is a 1200 grit stone as my lowest grit. I will say though that 75% of the edge has a nice bevel its just where a few chips remain in the middle of the edge that are taking a while to go. I would say maybe another .25 mm to go and I will be in good steel.

I thought that the smile would throw me for a few more loops being I only have one other smiling razor and it doesn't have that much of a smile, however this one seems like it is pretty straight forward on the way to hone it. I have just been doing a very heel forward swooping stroke. No wavy bevel or anything, nice and even.

Sounds like, to me, you are using the right stroke for honing that smile. The 1200 grit hone doesn't sound too bad, all I have is a 1000 grit hone as my lowest for bevel setting. If it is slow going I take frequent breaks to avoid being frustrated and try to rush things. Be sure and keep us posted on your progress.

Bob

Yeah I am taking breaks here and there mostly when my fingers hurt, haha. I have some pictures taken of before and when I get it altogether I will take some of the after. I don't know why but the site isn't letting post pictures for some reason. I don't know if it is the computer or the site but I am doing it the same way as before. I don't know what I want to do for the wedge though. I think maybe I will try some one piece scales. Might be tough for my first set of scales. I think the etching will just have to be sacrificed too which sucks because its pretty neat.

Can't really help with the photo posting other than to say I use Photobucket and just copy and paste the img tag into a post. Works as usual today. I don't know if a one piece would be any harder than a two piece scale as that eliminates doing a wadge and one pinning operation. OTH I found it a little difficult to put a finish on the insides of the only one piece I have done. Sorta what you make on the beer you loose on the peanuts proposition. Does the pitting/rust and or bevel intrude into the etching? If it does not then you can mask off the etching to protect it while you carefully polish around it.

Bob

Yeah it does protrude in some parts. I really don't mind leaving it there but the etching is so large that the bevel goes into parts of it and then the spine wear goes into the other side. Its supposed to say "Washington, Champion of Liberty" but it looks like "Ashingto, Hampio of Ibert".

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Originally Posted by cosperryan

I have some pictures taken of before and when I get it altogether I will take some of the after. I don't know why but the site isn't letting post pictures for some reason. I don't know if it is the computer or the site but I am doing it the same way as before.

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Have you tried using the 'Basic Uploader' option ?

That is a pity about the etching. If you do save it you could always claim it is Latin. ;)

Bob

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Originally Posted by BobH

That is a pity about the etching. If you do save it you could always claim it is Latin. ;)

Bob

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Or Elvish. :)

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Originally Posted by BobH

That is a pity about the etching. If you do save it you could always claim it is Latin. ;)

Bob

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Yeah thats true. I think that I will keep what I can but its not going to be pristine. I took a few more pictures and I will try and upload them now.

Good luck on your restore. I will be trying my first soon as well.

Alright heres some pictures. The camera battery died on me so these are taken with the phone but oh well. I don't know why some of these uploaded upside down when in the editor they were right side up. The etching looked good on my phone but not so good once they uploaded but oh well.

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That little black dot near the edge in the 2nd and 3rd pic is the only place where there is pitting on the edge and I am really hoping its not that far up because thats going to end up being another mm that I will have to take off the edge. That silver glint in the 5th pic is where the chips from the pitting are in the edge. Its only like a centimeter of steel but it goes up the bevel some. I first I thought it only went .5mm up but now like I said I think it goes up a full mm. I really could use a coarser stone but all well. The scales are in some sad shape too but they still function and the blade closes center and the edge doesn't touch the scales. That little fracture in the scales in the last pic near the pin looks like somebody tried squeezing it closed too tightly and it popped a bit and is now delamanating.

Hopefully this project turns out well. Ive seen some of you guys turn some pretty beat up blades in worse looking condition into real beauties. I got it for 27 bucks at an antique store. The guy there always has razors and I actually bought my best razor from him a month ago. He also had a nice Red Imp that I might have to go back and get for 20 bucks.

That is a good looking blade and should clean up pretty nice. The scales don't look too bad either and could likely be saved too with a little work. No expert here mind you though.

Bob

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Originally Posted by BobH

That is a good looking blade and should clean up pretty nice. The scales don't look too bad either and could likely be saved too with a little work. No expert here mind you though.

Bob

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Yep, I agree with Bob :)
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Yeah its starting to get there. There is pitting on the one part of the blade that I had mentioned earlier but it is almost gone. I think I am just going to rescale it too.

And the etching isn't holding up too well and as I have seen several others of these razors floating around the internet and not the only one of its kind I think I will just sand the faces of the blade and get rid of some of the corrosion and give it a nice even finish. I don't know, I will what till I finish getting it honed up and see how it shaves first before I do that though.

Speaking of honing, I knew wedges take longer than hollows but Jesus, its like the progress is glacially creeping by.

Nice blade. I prefer to save etching but I'd opt for standing this blade for a mirror or satin finish depending on what you want. That being the. Ase I'd also opt for rescaling it. Rust never rests you need to eliminate it. Should make for a great shaver.

Yeah I got some cola de pava burl to make some scales out of. I have never worked with that type of wood but I got enough to make at least 2 sets of scales incase I botch the first one or to see how it reacts with shellac vs just being hand rubbed

If you are going to clean up the blade and put it in new scales you should do that before finishing the honing. Cleaning the blade will inevitably affect the edge and you also run far more risk refurbishing a freshly honed blade.

I would not replace those scales. They are old and original, if you notice they are wedge-less also, which I find very cool. about rust - black rust is inactive and will not spread. The downfall is, there could be red (active) rust beneath.. In any case, the rust on the top tip of the toe I would not worry about.

That thing looks great, btw.

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Originally Posted by str8fencer

I would not replace those scales. They are old and original, if you notice they are wedge-less also, which I find very cool. about rust - black rust is inactive and will not spread. The downfall is, there could be red (active) rust beneath.. In any case, the rust on the top tip of the toe I would not worry about.

That thing looks great, btw.

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Well I have been on the fence really about this razor. Whether or not I want to rescale it or not and sand it or leave all the character (rust/patina/scales). I really wanted to leave everything but I didn't want to just do a half ass job on it either. Well I think you have convinced me to leave it alone and so I shall just hone it up and enjoy it. I will use the new wood for a different razor with unimpressive scales. And yes the wedge less design is one of my more favorite features on razors. I have another without and wedge and I just like the uniqueness to them.