Thread: The Drawer of Shame

Ok, I know everyone has them. That place where you put you razors you are ashamed of or the ones you worked on but just couldn't get to shave ready condition. I bet even Lynn has some. So you know, they say confession is good for the soul so the Monsignor Duke of Dukes is ready to give all of you absolution so everyone line up now one at a time, no shoving, and confess your razors of shame.

Ok I'll start, there was the Rogers I couldn't hone and sent to Bruno and he was able to hone (or so he says). Also the time I was polishing a Beau Brummel at the dinette table with a dremmel and my son walked into my arm and the dremmel slipped and I put a one inch chip in a beautiful razor.

Wow see what I mean? I feel wonderful now after confessing that.

Now its your turn and I won't even expect you to kneel and kiss my ring.

Only have one in the drawer at the moment. It was an ebite purchase that was in worse shape than expected. It will sit there till I feel I have the skills it takes to really tear into it...

A couple of Masters razors (as if one wasn't enough!) which I plan to chop vegetables with someday and an old Henry Hill which I plan to clean up and restore as soon as I get the tools.
Ernest

Ok, ok I confess I have a few. I have 2 ebay specials I bought without looking for hone wear. Then there is a cheap Chinese straight and a Pakistani straight razor. I bought them before I found this website. Ok, somebody else take their turn so I don't look so bad............lol.
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Del

Yep guilty as charged I have one Kamisori 150 and 1 Gold Bug from e-bay which despite my best efforts (and choice of words ) refuses to give me a shave that does not feel like I am using barbed wire on my face and if no result is reached soon its off to e-bay for resale

I have 2.
One is a wedge - very old. It says sheffield on it, but no maker. The blade etching used to say 'the princes own' and the scales are bone. I have tried everything, it was the first razor I tried to hone, and I have got it close, but not close enough. Now it is just there to taunt me every couple of weeks.
The other is a german razor, Wadsworth I think, with imitation tortioseshell scales. I had high hopes for it at first, but I don't know if the steel is rubbish or if the spine is too worn, but I haven't got it slightly close to shaveable.

Nick

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Ok I'll start, there was the Rogers I couldn't hone and sent to Bruno and he was able to hone (or so he says).

I'll have you know that that Rodgers is still my favorite shaver.
The frameback design makes the edge 'cleavery like a wedge' without giving it the weight of a wedge. And when I was finished with it, it was not smiling but grinning.
I have not touched it up once since then, and it is still HHT sharp after stropping.

But yes I have one as well.
An Otto Busch Solingen Weltmeister 11/16 full hollow.
It was my first razor, and I thought of selling it, but I won't since it was my first one and my wife (then gf) paid part of it.

No matter what I try (and I have tried a lot) I cannot get it to shave properly. sometimes I get close, but halfway through the shave it starts pulling something fierce again and I put it back in the box.

I suspect that the edge is too brittle for being a full hollow.
I think that the only chance for success is using the blue.
However, I always seem to have a number of other people's razors waiting to get honed, and then there are my own restoration projects...
So it will be in that box for some time.

I have a bunch of ebay specials floating around and for sure a few hidden somewhere. I have tried to hone as many as possible that would shave and gave a ton away over the years.

I always run into hard razors to hone, many of which I would love to throw in a drawer somewhere. Especially the ones that people have ground frowns into or have really uneven honing and grinding and ones ground down an eighth of an inch or more, or those where people have used sandpaper on them. Talk about ya never know when one will take an edge.

The fun part is always that you never know which razor is gonna be stubborn on you. I worked on a ground down SS Dovo every night for a month one time. I try not to do all the honing in one setting so I don't just wear a razor down out of frustration. I do a little each night, shave test and if not there, go at it the next night and so on.

Any body who thinks honing is an exact science, considering all the different feeling metals out there and all the varieties of honing that has been done to a razor and even the final grinding on some of the new ones and that every razor can be honed first time out is a way better man than me.

It's an addiction I tell ya......an addiction.......

Have fun,

Lynn

I have one on the way. I saw a nice looking Fox razor on ebay. I looked closely at the pictures and put in a modes bid that I figured wouldn't hold up. A few days later I actually took the time to read the description - there's a crack in the blade

Lessons learned...

Jordan

I'll just say this:

THIS thread is USELESS without pictures!

And on that note, I show my drawer of shame:


I should add that I do plan on getting to these sometime in the future...