Regrinding Blues

In three photos I hope to show the progression of a $38.00 razor, originally a 8/8 W&B FBU. It was reground when I bought it, had massive honewear and some bug bites on the horn. Still I felt an obligation, probably like many of us, to own a chopper and this one was within my pay grade. The 2nd pic will show the razor after I cleaned it up a bit. SomeAttachment 180638Attachment 180639Attachment 180640 members were helpful in offering their views on dealing with the problems of the blade and several members were against removing metal preferring to do complex honing techniques to make the blade shave ready. The problem for me is I am in the cult of the small bevels. I knew I could have put a shaving edge on the razor but to my eyes it would have been unacceptable because of the bevel thing. If the razor would have been original (without some regrinding long ago) I would have not sent it out to a professional in order to get the look I wanted for the razor. Nathan Zowada did an amazing job on the blade and it is a fine shaver. Still, the whole experience has made me decide to stay away from any razor that has been reground, ever. I started the clock again on this razor just as someone might have done 100 years, ago but I am not without some regret at altering the history of this blade.

Turned out very nice, Enjoy! Is there a cult that im not aware of that people like huge uneven bevels?

Thanks....well, not a cult maybe, but on the Bay, I have seen razors restored by a professional that had an axe sized bevel....in fact I saw several of his razors with the same type of bevel.....he called himself a restorationist so maybe that is the name of the cult.I hope he is not a member here if so, my apology.

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Originally Posted by Martin103

Turned out very nice, Enjoy! Is there a cult that im not aware of that people like huge uneven bevels?

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I can sympathize with your regret, I would have left it at pic#2. It looked and would have performed awesomely at that stage. Of course that is only my opinion
Still a great blade that will give a lifetime of service, congrats!
Mike

Six of One, Half Dozen of another..

I am not one to abide spine wear myself, don't like it, so of course I think the razor is in better shape now :) that being said you could have gone either way with this razor as the old spine wear was actually very even..

It is after all your razor and your face so it is ultimately your decision :tu

I agree, it is you razor and it did come out nice.

The more I collect older razors, the more I just give them a good cleaning repair the scales, hone them up and put them in rotation.

Patina is the new black.

"The more I collect older razors, the more I just give them a good cleaning repair the scales, hone them up and put them in rotation".

I tend to agree.
I appreciate the undisturbed proof of age.

The end result looks good and you have what you wanted. That said I would have just used the appropriate number of layers of tape if even necessary and honed her up.

Bob

I personally don't like any excessive hone or edge wear, patina, pitting or devil's spit on any razor, no matter the history or age. If you're going to use the razor and actually shave with it on a daily basis I would have done the exact same thing. In the end it's all personal preference. I just happen to be in the 'perfect condition' cult.

The hone wear on one side was even. There was significant difference between the two sides.

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

Six of One, Half Dozen of another..

I am not one to abide spine wear myself, don't like it, so of course I think the razor is in better shape now :) that being said you could have gone either way with this razor as the old spine wear was actually very even..

It is after all your razor and your face so it is ultimately your decision :tu

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Again, if this razor had not already been reground, a different path may have been taken.

Curious, Bill. What indicates it had been previously reground? TBH, I don't see it?

You know I definitely could be wrong but there was no inscription on the blade and it seems that every FBU I have seen on the Forum has had something on the face of the blade. If you don't see it....oops.

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

Curious, Bill. What indicates it had been previously reground? TBH, I don't see it?

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Crap, I can just see you putting together about 6 pictures of W&B FBU with plain faced blades now.

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

Curious, Bill. What indicates it had been previously reground? TBH, I don't see it?

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Previously reground or not I like the way it came out. I am also in the camp of make it look great if it's it's going to be used. To each his own but, have no regrets. There are plenty of old used blades out there waiting for new owners to decide :<0)

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Originally Posted by WW243

Crap, I can just see you putting together about 6 pictures of W&B FBU with plain faced blades now.

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HA! Well, they made wedges and hollows. To the best of my knowledge, the hollow ground ones have double-stabilizers and etching on the blade such as the top one. Wedge grinds have a single stabilizer and no blade etch, such as the bottom one.

Attachment 180666

Then, there are ones reground long ago from wedges to varying degrees. They usually have a double stabilizer made by whoever reground it .
You can usually tell the regrind's double stabilizer from the factory one above.

looks great & came up a real treat

must admit I loved the original, not sure what was wrong with the bevels, I think this cult of the unseen bevel must be a OCD thing I definatetly haven't got LOL

its like a face lift on a 100 year old pin up model, it will just never look the same & not really required JMHO

that baby would have been neetsfoot soaked, lightly poished & honed as is for me,
must admit but my 8/8 W&B has nearly no hone wear luckily so never been in that position to choose & definately don't have the skills yet to do it either.

either way, how much blade if any did you lose with the regrind is it still 8/8, as it looks narrower than the original in the heel & toe area or was reshaped also slightly?

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Originally Posted by Maximilian

,,,,,,,,,,,,. I just happen to be in the 'perfect condition' cult.

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You're the cult leader,,,,,,,,,,,,, :rofl2:

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Originally Posted by Substance

either way, how much blade if any did you lose with the regrind is it still 8/8, as it looks narrower than the original in the heel & toe area or was reshaped also slightly?

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I was wondering same. Sorta looks like an eighth was lost in the pics. Anyway, you have a brand-new razor from what was underneath the old hunk of wedge. It looks sweet! How does it shave?

Shape stayed the same mostly, it went from 8/8 to 15/16ths....I tried to sharpen the razor when I cleaned it up with many layers of tape, so many that it actually did not feel like honing at all, felt like something different.

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Originally Posted by Substance

looks great & came up a real treat

must admit I loved the original, not sure what was wrong with the bevels, I think this cult of the unseen bevel must be a OCD thing I definatetly haven't got LOL

its like a face lift on a 100 year old pin up model, it will just never look the same & not really required JMHO

that baby would have been neetsfoot soaked, lightly poished & honed as is for me,
must admit but my 8/8 W&B has nearly no hone wear luckily so never been in that position to choose & definately don't have the skills yet to do it either.

either way, how much blade if any did you lose with the regrind is it still 8/8, as it looks narrower than the original in the heel & toe area or was reshaped also slightly?

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Tom,
You know, it shaves a lot like my other razors, it is just way heavier and I payed for not recognizing this fact on the first shave. And you don't have to wipe the lather on the sponge (my style) nearly as often as with my narrower razors. Other than those two observations it is kind of fun, and feels great in the hand. Counterintuitively feels like a precision instrument.

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Originally Posted by WW243

I honed it up with many layers of tape, so many that it actually did not feel like honing at all, felt like something different.

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I know your feeling, I have a wedge I honed with 5 layers didn't feel right honing it,
it does shave ok but the angles feel off when I shave with it, so now I have it back in the honing line up & going to take it back to my standard 1 layer of tape, so no more small bevel for sure on it then.

Yeah. 5 layers is too much, IMO. After 3, things get iffy! :D

2 layers is perfectly acceptable and going to 1 may take a year on the hone :<0) I start with 3 sometimes on big wedges but no more. If your that thin at the spine and thick at the bevel maybe start thinking regrind. I tried taking one to a true wedge once. That was the dumbest idea I ever had.

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Originally Posted by Substance

I know your feeling, I have a wedge I honed with 5 layers didn't feel right honing it,
it does shave ok but the angles feel off when I save with it, so now I have it back in the honing line up & going to take it back to my standard 1 layer of tape, so no more small bevel for sure on it then.

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Here's big one that was reground a long time ago. 7/8 plus a bit.
http://i658.photobucket.com/albums/u...Butcher003.jpg
Pretty close to a modern full hollow now. Shaves very nicely.

Just a question to all,
how can you tell if a blade has been reground especially old blades
I have an old W&B 8/8 thats probably half hollow that looks like a factory grind to me
Attachment 180725

and a very thin belly ground hollow 6/8 W&B the most Hollow ground W&B I have seen but all looks the same
Attachment 180724

fair enough bad grinding that doesn't look factory can be spotted but if it is all even & matches the tang grind lines,
how would you tell if this is original or reground 100 years ago ???

IMHO, the central reason the old Barber's razors were huge was so they could be reground when the spine wear got excessive. Regrinding was a fact of life in the heyday of the straight.

As for how you can tell, that's hard to pass on easily.

There's a whole constellation of things to look for, and some of it is just knowing what any given style of blade looked like.

There's also the fact that the grinding wheel was used in a lot of different ways over time. Initially, it was mostly to clean off rust and remove the hone-wear race track down the blade. Later it was used to turn old wedges into more modern hollows.

In general though, get a powerful magnifying glass and look at the blade. Really examine it. You're looking for regular scratches that go from spine to edge. If it's a shoulderless grind, check all along it to see if the character of the grind marks changes. Some razors were given a crocus polish (mirror), others a glaze, which has visible scratch marks that look almost indistinguishable from after-market grinding.

It's also worth noting that at least some of the old Sheffield companies would take back their razors and regrind them for a small fee and the return postage, and I'd bet money you'd be hard pressed to ever tell the difference between that and an original finish.

The last little bit of uncertainty is that these were hand-made items, made by people who often worked three jobs to make sure their families didn't starve. They were polished by children. They were almost never perfect out of the factory.

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Originally Posted by Maximilian

I personally don't like any excessive hone or edge wear, patina, pitting or devil's spit on any razor, no matter the history or age. If you're going to use the razor and actually shave with it on a daily basis I would have done the exact same thing. In the end it's all personal preference. I just happen to be in the 'perfect condition' cult.

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+1.

You can romanticize about it all that you want, at the end of the day a badly worn razor is a badly worn razor. If you buy an old-timer car, noone is going to be lyrical about it if it is falling apart from rust and one of the cilinders ain't firing. And noone is going to say they felt it should remain looking like crap instead of being professionally restored.

The final result is stunning. Enjoy it and stop talking yourself into the gotta have it original. Cause you know what? Its getting harder and harder to find those NOS farm finds. Every year that goes by, makes it harder.

Affirmative Amigo, not only are the farms disappearing but my discretionary income is tanking like a mofo.

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Originally Posted by Tarkus

The final result is stunning. Enjoy it and stop talking yourself into the gotta have it original. Cause you know what? Its getting harder and harder to find those NOS farm finds. Every year that goes by, makes it harder.

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Originally Posted by WW243

Affirmative Amigo, not only are the farms disappearing but my discretionary income is tanking like a mofo.

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Preaching to the choir my friend.
Har

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Originally Posted by Tarkus

Preaching to the choir my friend.
Har

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Yeah....Tellin' Noah about the flood! :roflmao HAR!

That regrind looks very nice!

Slight necropost on this one but as far as this blade, as mentioned, the shave is both fun and efficient but the one thing I have to get used to is that the shank is so wide compared to what I am used to, I feel a little clumsy stropping. I have slowed down and have to reposition my fingers more often.

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

Yeah....Tellin' Noah about the flood! :roflmao HAR!

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At least Noah's wife ( Joan of Ark) took all her pets with them so they had someting to eat on the journey.

I did hear that they took a street magician called Jesus, too, but half the crew were gluten intolerant and the rest got sick of fishes in a week or two.

Good job he could walk on water...

Regards,
Neil

You read it here first and its all true, honest...