Thread: [B]Most worn out razors[/B]

Thank goodness Peter is an honourable and honest fellow.

They would be declared “vintage” by some eBay sellers and posted for a crazy price.

I have a few too, most of mine I gave to Tom and Victor. Tom makes artistic wind chimes and Victor was going to try to recycle the steel.

You mean like these Mike?

Shame too because the one on the right is a Freddy FBU. Some barber got his money's worth out of that one.

Originally Posted by RezDog

I have a few too, most of mine I gave to Tom and Victor. Tom makes artistic wind chimes and Victor was going to try to recycle the steel.

For anyone looking for recycling/reuse ideas for razors well beyond rescue, a canister of old razors with 1084 or 1095 powder can make for a really nice pattern welded billet to turn into new razors or other blades. Forge welding together the spines and tails of old razors *can* be done but it is insanely tricky. I'm 1 for 4 on that approach... Much more reliable return with a canister.

Anyway, I'm afraid I can't find a picture, but I once bought a lot of razors on ebay. It was one of those estate sale kind of things where the seller knows nothing, won't send any more photos etc. It was so cheap I took a chance and got a few decent blades from it, but was excited about the possibility of one: it looked to be a big W&B FBU. The scales looked to be in great shape, so I got my hopes up. When it arrived, it was essentially a spine. I think the blade width was even with the tang at one end, and maybe 1/8" at the toe. So, essentially a mid-19th-century Sheffield toothpick. In the end I was able to salvage the washers, wedge, and scales, and the spine and tang are now part of my sgian dubh, so it worked out OK in the end.

It really is amazing what people will do to good blades.

Well, it took me some time for honing the above shown Bismarck, but got it finally shave ready. And what can I say - the shave was fantastic. Really! Had to adapt my shaving technique a little, but all in all a pleasure to use that I didn't expect.
So my statement is: Nearly nothing can destroy a real good blade. Not even a bad honer.
Good steel, well hardened is normal for old blades. But also the grind is great. Even though the edge goes through nearly all parts and different thickness of the razor, the honing line gets straight, without nicks, the razor was perfectly ground from stabilizer to the tip. No waves or unregularities that would have lead to an uneven honing line or more worse, unhoned thicker parts in the edge.
Honed a lot of the new grind razors from companies today, that looked perfect, but the grind is awful and wavy and you don't get the edge equally sharp over the whole length without regrinding the lower part towards the bevel.
So gentleman, if the look of a razor isn't everything to you, you just want a good shave - safe money and buy one of the old messed up ugly dugglings for a dollar and hone them right.

Regards Peter