Thread: Restoring an old straight razor

It's a fantastic Boker blade, so probably best you don't try to clean it up at all. It's beyond repair. Best you send it to me to dispose of safely!

Seriously, the blade doesn't look like it needs too much attention. Start with low grit wet and dry, say, 440 grit on the tang. Then just go up the grits in steady stages up to maybe 2500 or higher. Start with the tang and you'll get an idea of which grit to use on the blade itself. Autosol polish is good. It's made in Solingen, so I suspect it's been used for razors before being used on cars. Be prepared to invest a lot of time into this project. Don't rush. It'll be worth it. It's a beauty.

What scales are you going to use?

Keep us updated with your progress and post photos.

Wayne394 I'm using the original scales (I think) I believe they are Bakelite material because the black faded to a brownish color when I was cleaning the blade after bringing it home. Pshhh. Sucks. I did make them black again however by using magic marker... Doesn't look bad but fortunately I learned Bakelite scales can be sanded to bring back the original color, so that too is an additional job for this project

Originally Posted by Charliebrian24

Wayne394 I'm using the original scales (I think) I believe they are Bakelite material because the black faded to a brownish color when I was cleaning the blade after bringing it home

Just as a point of interest, that would be "Vulcanite" And yup, as you noticed, you can get the color back with some buffing/polishing. It CAN be brittle though, so try not to squeeze it hard in the center of the scales.