Gday from W.A

Hi all, thanks for letting me in and confirming I’m not a robot🤙🏼Im from Perth, Western Australia. Ive just started restoring old knives when I get the S&@ts with actually trying to make them. always wanted to have a go at a vintage cutthroat. I managed to score a T.R Cadman&sons with Bengall Imperial hand engraved on the blade itself for $30AUD from a lovely old welsh lady. Any tips on what to use to give it a nice polish? Funny enough I don’t think it needs a sharpen at all, even though the lovely old lady I bought it off said she hadn’t shaved her husband with it for 20 years ‘because the old bugger kicked the bucket’ 😆 I’ve got most polish types and bench polishing wheels and a trusty dremel. Any tips appreciated. Pics will be added once this clears with the forum. Cheers, Adam

Do a bunch of reading before you even attempt honing it. The fundamentals for creating and polishing an edge are the same as knives but the refinement you want to achieve is completely different.

DO NOT TRY ANY MECHANICAL TOOLS TO SHARPEN A RAZOR! They are very delicate.

What kind of kit do you have for hones? Most of us set bevels with 1k hones, then polish up to 8k+. Some use hones for the entire progression, some use pastes. I’ll dig around for a couple of honing threads and link them for you.

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Originally Posted by Nomad21

Hi all, thanks for letting me in and confirming I’m not a robot🤙🏼Im from Perth, Western Australia. Ive just started restoring old knives when I get the S&@ts with actually trying to make them. always wanted to have a go at a vintage cutthroat. I managed to score a T.R Cadman&sons with Bengall Imperial hand engraved on the blade itself for $30AUD from a lovely old welsh lady. Any tips on what to use to give it a nice polish? Funny enough I don’t think it needs a sharpen at all, even though the lovely old lady I bought it off said she hadn’t shaved her husband with it for 20 years ‘because the old bugger kicked the bucket’ 😆 I’ve got most polish types and bench polishing wheels and a trusty dremel. Any tips appreciated. Pics will be added once this clears with the forum. Cheers, Adam

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Please hold off on even attempting to work on that razor! One of our Senior Mods is in Sydney and he's quite knowledgeable about not only honing but restoration. Give him a PM!

Here's the link to him here at SRP:
https://sharprazorpalace.com/members/onimaru55.html

Here’s part 1 of a series of videos from one of the members here. Glen goes through setting a bevel and all the way through to finishing.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p2E9sovmb0Y

Definitely follow cuda’s advice and contact onimaru, having one on one mentoring is extremely valuable.

Welcome aboard. Polishing with a dremel or wheels can destroy a razor in seconds if done wrong. Being so thin they csn easily snap or over heat. If just patina then autosol from supercheap will do well with a rag. There's only a couple active members in Perth but if you want PM me and we can chat. Have a full hones setup and do restoration as well. Mainly just for myself but have helped a few guys out along the way.

Welcome to SRP Adam!!!!

As you've seen, there's some great Gents here to help you along the way. Take their advise, they have the experience you need to move forward in shaving as well as restoration.

Check out the LIBRARY it is full of great information.

Enjoy and have fun!!!!

Welcome to the forum. Any pictures of your razor?
We have a handful of members here from your neck of the woods.

Welcome to Srp. Take the advice above to heart. If you want to clean it up do it by hard with polish and a rag. Although if it has any etching on the blade you could loose it with polish. Be sure to post up a few pics so we can help point you in the right direction. Then send it out for honing. A true hand honed razor will be sharp beyond belief. That is what is needed to shave.

After rereading your post, I realize I didn’t reply to your question and jumped straight to honing.

Most of us start with hand sanding. Starting with an appropriate grit for the amount of pitting on a given blade, I assume with you knife restorations you have a pretty good reference as a starting starting point. I usually work through to about 1500-2000 grit wet-dry sand paper while using various backers to match the contours of the razor. I finish each step in the progression with sanding perpendicular to the edge, it helps to see any spots where you haven’t sanded sufficiently enough to completely erase the last grits scratches. When I finish with my last grit in the progression I take care to make sure my sanding lines are as straight as I can get them then head to the buffer. I like using 3”-4” wheels makes for an easier time not overheating the blade and catches are less violent if you make a mistake, it also helps from rounding of the sharp details of the razor. Polishing is your choice.

Some guys use greaseless but it takes a very experienced operator to keep from blowing the lines of a razor. A blade, to me, that has rounded corners where they should be crisp is a huge turn off for me and why I feel much more comfortable taking the time to sand by hand.

Scales are a whole different matter and, in my opinion, are what sets apart the men from the boys concerning restores.

Many pages have been written about restorations from start to finish. Here (srp) are very open to people starting threads or resurrecting old ones for information or help regarding all things shaving (I’ve noticed with some knife forums it’s looked down upon), that being said, using the search function helps but is also very difficult to use.

The library has a good few details on how to start and what to do, though there are many ways to skin a cat. Definitely post a few pictures of your intended restore and we will do what we can to help get you going.

Good luck, the rabbit hole is expansive and deep.

Hello Adam and welcome to SRP.
Enjoy the forum.

Pete <:-}

Welcome. :)

Great to have you here. Welcome.

Hello, welcome aboard. Don't Harry, the first lesson of straight shaving is "relax, take your time"