Thread: I bought 2 vintage blades

I picked up 2 vintage blades yesterday from an antique dealers .

The first is a Crown . This one feels like a really nice piece of steel and would benefit from a full restoration.
It has a frown but being a hollow grind should be too much work to straighten up.

The scales and wedge are clumsy so they must go .

The second is a Taylors . Its a shame its tapered and the hone wear matches that . I might straighten it up and remove the hone ware lines or just leave it as it , although saying that, the experience of straightening a blade would be good for me.

I know I have 2 great shavers there . Cheap price too...

Nice finds buddy. I've never seen a crown like that.
I'm thinking the Taylor was made that way, the etching and edge run parallel to each other.

Its still funny to me, that now your looking into other steel besides Sheffield, since our talk.
Have you any American steel yet?

Originally Posted by outback

Nice finds buddy. I've never seen a crown like that.
I'm thinking the Taylor was made that way, the etching and edge run parallel to each other.

Its still funny to me, that now your looking into other steel besides Sheffield, since our talk.
Have you any American steel yet?

I would like some USA steel but im more eager for some Swedish and japan steel first.
The vintage German stuff is quality

If you notice the Taylors , the bevel is fat near the toe and super thin near the heel ...
I'd like to go back in time and hand out electrical tape

Originally Posted by JOB15

I would like some USA steel but im more eager for some Swedish and japan steel first.
The vintage German stuff is quality

If you notice the Taylors , the bevel is fat near the toe and super thin near the heel ...
I'd like to go back in time and hand out electrical tape

You and me both. I have a few Swedish blades, PITA to hone (hard) but beautiful shavers once their set. And one Japanese blade that shaves a real treat.

Can't say I have found huge differences in steel quality between Swedish, German, English, French and American razors. They all have honed up well for me and shave well as a consequence. Over here the American made razors can be a bit of a bargain possibly due to the fact the foreign made seems to sometimes carry a bit of a cache to it.

Bob

Nothing wrong with the hone wear on the Taylors, purely aesthetic as is the taper. Hone it as is without any tape, at least initially, and it will undoubtedly hone up quite fine and the light taper won't affect the shave. Straightening the edge by removing metal at the heel will only cause further issues that need to be addressed. Removing metal at the heel on a blade ground with a stabilizer like this you will likely end up with the stabilizer then needing to be reground due to the stabilizer riding the hones and raising the heel off the hone. Continued honing to re-establish the bevel all the way across the newly straightened edge without regrinding the stabilizer more often than not results in excessive wear on the top and bottom of the stabilizer which in my opinion looks worse than the original light taper and wear biased toward the toe.

Originally Posted by BobH

Can't say I have found huge differences in steel quality between Swedish, German, English, French and American razors. They all have honed up well for me and shave well as a consequence. Over here the American made razors can be a bit of a bargain possibly due to the fact the foreign made seems to sometimes carry a bit of a cache to it.

Bob

Shhh........[emoji56]