Thread: "The Survivor" Suggestions Please

So here is my latest project, I call her The Survivor. I picked it up at an antique store this last weekend. It was in rough shape, rusty, and the worst of it was that someone had used a grinder to probably try and sharpen it. But, It is a Joseph Rodgers & Sons with ivory scales (cracked at the pivot but serviceable) so I thought I'd see what I could do. It was cheap enough at $25. So with wet/dry paper I took it up through the progression of grits, 0000 steel wool with MAAS polish, then just MAAS on a cotton ball. As you can see in the photos, from the grinder the edge is VERY wavey. The heel 13/16 and increases to 14/16 at the toe. Another consideration is that the blade is a near wedge, maybe quarter hollow. So how would you shape the edge? Straighten the edge and keep it increasing in width to the toe so it is uneven? Straighten with even width?

It's definitely got some geometry problems. The edge looks straight from the center back and then what's left of the smile is going to suffer with the hone wear at the toe. And then the stabilizer looks like it is going to have to be raised in order to hone it.

I would match the edge to the spine. Jack the stabilizer up and put a test bevel on it. Start the bevel with 4 layers of tape and see where it at.
Looks more like a regrind project than a simple restore.

Originally Posted by 10Pups

It's definitely got some geometry problems. The edge looks straight from the center back and then what's left of the smile is going to suffer with the hone wear at the toe. And then the stabilizer looks like it is going to have to be raised in order to hone it.

I would match the edge to the spine. Jack the stabilizer up and put a test bevel on it. Start the bevel with 4 layers of tape and see where it at.
Looks more like a regrind project than a simple restore.

When you say raise the stabilizer and jack the stabilizer up, do you mean grind it down near the edge so it starts further up the blade width?

yep, reshape it out of the way. It will ride on the hone and cause all kinds of honing problems. I am just guessing from what I see in pictures but if you set the bevel and it hits the stabilizer then it will have to be ground up out of the way. It looks to me like the bevel stops short of reaching the heel by about a 1/4 " now.

Look here >>>> http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...ing-heels.html

Just to reiterate what 10Pups said. Be sure to do a test bevel to see that the razor will hold an edge. If there is evidence that a belt grinder was used, the possibility that the temper was ruined is worrisome enough to test it before doing all of the restore work.

Originally Posted by 10Pups

It's definitely got some geometry problems. The edge looks straight from the center back and then what's left of the smile is going to suffer with the hone wear at the toe. And then the stabilizer looks like it is going to have to be raised in order to hone it.

I would match the edge to the spine. Jack the stabilizer up and put a test bevel on it. Start the bevel with 4 layers of tape and see where it at.
Looks more like a regrind project than a simple restore.

Newbie question: Shape the edge or correct the stabilizer first?