Can it be honed?

[usncorpsman8406]

Just picked up this Otto Deutsch & Söhne the other day.




As you can see there is pretty significant pitting (hope the picture illustrates). New to the scene and was curious if you guys think she can be made shave ready. If the blade is too far gone I guess I will wind up hanging it on the wall or something. Appreciate your opinions.

[Kristian]

Hello.

I'm pretty sure it can be honed. It's a matter of how much pitting there is near the edge. If you can set a bevel on a 1000k hone where no pitting makes a saw mark in the edge you are good to go.

However the pitting might have weakened the edge material so much, that it's difficult to reach the same high grit on the finisher, as you normal would use.

I'll stop the razor on a coticule if it's possible to set a bevel without pitting marks.

[gssixgun]

The razor is worth the effort to try and get a shaving edge

[Pithor]

Looks like celluloid rot to me. I don't know how that might influence the blades ability to take an edge (it might), but please tell me those are not the original scales. If so, get them off as soon as possible, salvage the inlay and bolsters (acetone is your friend) and throw them out (the scales, of course, not the inlay and bolsters).

As for honing, try to get a clean bevel.

[Jimbo]

I agree - that rust pattern that suddenly stops 5mm from the top just screams cell rot. As Pithor said, if you still have those scales on it get rid of them immediately as a first step.

Whether it can be honed or not remains to be seen. As Glen said, it's worth a try. My heart says you could find some good steel there somewhere, but my head is saying that's a lot of pitting and you might have to really take back a lot of steel.

Good luck.

James.

[thebigspendur]

yea, I'd bet large that's cell rot.

Whether it can be saved depends on the depth of the corrosion. Start honing and see what happens.