Thread: Roasted Duck

I got a distempered W&B once. The discoloration, a kind of rainbow pattern, polished of well, but the blade would never cut.

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it says he has a 7 day return policy when i supersized the pic i could see the discoloration a little but if you cant return it shine it up and mount it in a display case

Originally Posted by jszabo

it says he has a 7 day return policy when i supersized the pic i could see the discoloration a little but if you cant return it shine it up and mount it in a display case

Sheesh, that's what I get for not reading all the small print.. he *does* have a 7 day return policy, thanks for pointing that out!

Yeah, in the second picture (if you look at the super sized version) you can see just a touch of the heat discoloratioon at the heel. It looks like someone took a propane torch, aimed it at the heel, facing forward, and heated the bejesus out of the blade. The heel took the brunt of the heat; it looks nasty, but the rest is discolored, too.

I don't think I'm gonna bust this guys chops about it, though. It's kind of an interesting blade. It'll make a good addition to the collection, even thought it's never gonna be a shaver.

Is it not possible to re-temper a blade? I know it probably isn't easy but I'm sure in theory it can be done.
I suppose it risk cracking the blade on a hollow ground

Just as a follow up, it was as suspected: the blade had been heated to such a degree that the temper was destroyed. It absolutely refused to take an edge.

That's the last time I'll bid on a razor that doesn't have high resolution photos of the blade. Lesson learned.

Just curious, it's not the original goldwash is it, or does look like that bluish heated metal color? In any case, I got burned on Ebay. The items stated "AS IS", NO RETURNS. I still got my money back. You can dispute it. Even after I told the seller I'd give them negative feedback, she still wouldn't budge. Paypal and Ebay are good that way. I stated that is was unusable, which it was. Mine had a nice size rust spot on the sharp edge of the blade, so bad that if it was cleaned off, I'd have to breadknife in a huge way. The description stated that the blade had minor rust and was in "Great Condition"...Good luck to you...

Originally Posted by nickyspaghetti

Is it not possible to re-temper a blade? I know it probably isn't easy but I'm sure in theory it can be done.
I suppose it risk cracking the blade on a hollow ground

It would likely crack. They're heat treated before grinding down to size.

it might go well with a little plum sauce maybe.

Originally Posted by zib

Just curious, it's not the original goldwash is it, or does look like that bluish heated metal color? In any case, I got burned on Ebay. The items stated "AS IS", NO RETURNS. I still got my money back. You can dispute it. Even after I told the seller I'd give them negative feedback, she still wouldn't budge. Paypal and Ebay are good that way. I stated that is was unusable, which it was. Mine had a nice size rust spot on the sharp edge of the blade, so bad that if it was cleaned off, I'd have to breadknife in a huge way. The description stated that the blade had minor rust and was in "Great Condition"...Good luck to you...

I tried to take some pictures of it, but I just couldn't get the detail needed. But if you saw the blade in person, you woulda said, "Yup, someone took a propane torch to it. Pointed it at the heel and aimed it forward."

Originally Posted by loueedacat

it might go well with a little plum sauce maybe.

Mmmm... Roasted duck 'n plum sauce... tasty!

Originally Posted by FloorPizza

I tried to take some pictures of it, but I just couldn't get the detail needed. But if you saw the blade in person, you woulda said, "Yup, someone took a propane torch to it. Pointed it at the heel and aimed it forward."



Mmmm... Roasted duck 'n plum sauce... tasty!

An attempt to heat treat the blade again would probably do it in but it's already shot. If it was mine, I'd try to heat treat it and temper it again. I wouldn't get my hopes up, but I have been able to successfully apply new heat treats to old blades before. it's just a low percentage operation and the ducks tend to have a very thin blade that makes it that much more risky. Wedges are the most likely to be successfully heat treated again and extra hollow ground razors the least likely to make it through the heat treatment process.

With a very slow and very even heating to critical temperature and a gentle interrupted oil quench it might have a chance but the odds are stacked against you.