Roasted Duck

Well, you buy enough stuff off of ebay, and it's bound to happen sometime: you get burned. Or in this case, your razor does.

I stumbled on what appeared to be a Dubl Duck in good condition. Check it out here: TinyURL.com - eBay Auction - DUBL DUCK PEARLDUCK SATINEDGE STRAIGHT RAZOR GERMANY

It finally showed up yesterday. What you can't see in those ebay pictures, is the fact that the blade has been exposed to such extreme heat, it has heat discoloration covering the entire blade. I think someone heated it up in an attempt to straighten the blade. They failed that, too.

So now I'm left with a roasted duck: discolored, twisted blade that has probably had it's temper destroyed by the heat.

I wonder if it's even worth wasting the time on honing it.

Also, I have no idea what to do about giving the seller feedback. Opinions?

That is really unfortunate, it would have been a nice find. The seller does not say anything about the razor's condition, so I'm not really sure that any negative comments are deserved.

are you sure that is heat damage? you would not be the first person to have a warped duck as for the temper you really will not know until you hone that puppy...

of course better pictures would be nice as well :)

If the blade is twiated and discolored I'd say its a wallhanger not a razor. Dull it off if you have to so it's safe and polish it so its pretty. Then mark it so your decendants won't sell it on as a shaver and han it up. I wouldn't waste the effort to try to hone it.

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Originally Posted by syslight

are you sure that is heat damage? you would not be the first person to have a warped duck as for the temper you really will not know until you hone that puppy...

of course better pictures would be nice as well :)

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Yeah. Once you've seen metal discolored by heat, you never forget what it looks like. I've tried taking pictures of it, but I just can't seem to get the heat discoloration to show up well. Which makes me think I'll take it easy on the seller, since I can't get pictures to show it any better than his.

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Originally Posted by Wildtim

If the blade is twiated and discolored I'd say its a wallhanger not a razor. Dull it off if you have to so it's safe and polish it so its pretty. Then mark it so your decendants won't sell it on as a shaver and han it up. I wouldn't waste the effort to try to hone it.

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Good idea. The heat discoloration should look kinda cool once it's all shiny, actually.

click on the contact seller link and send him a message that you would like to return it and state the reason. most sellers will accept returns, especially if it is useless for the the intended purpose or as a collectors item .
If not you can file a "not as described" item claim and through eBay/PatPal system and get your money back (when PayPal tells you to send it back to the seller).
After that, if the seller is NICE enough, you may leave good feedback, none at all or real free to leave a bad one if the seller is a s**inker.

The system works

Sorry for your msfortune pizza. I remember that auction and was a willing participant also. Price got higher than I was willing to go with the recent razors I had purchased. I guess if nothing else it gives me relief in knowing sometimes it's okay to lose an auction.

You did well for under $30. I wouldn't give negative feedback. Most people can't even comprehend that you were thinking of actually using the thing. I'm not sure what you mean that your not sure it is worth trying to hone it, but if I'm reading what your implying I'd be glad to take a shot at it for you.

I love it when people who have sold over a thousand items claim that they are still selling things that belonged to their grandfather! Given that the seller went to the trouble of declaring that all items are being sold in an as found condition, I doubt you'll have much luck returning it, but it's worth a shot.

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Originally Posted by AFDavis11

You did well for under $30. I wouldn't give negative feedback. Most people can't even comprehend that you were thinking of actually using the thing. I'm not sure what you mean that your not sure it is worth trying to hone it, but if I'm reading what your implying I'd be glad to take a shot at it for you.

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The blade is pretty warped, and I think the heat has screwed up the blade's temper. I think I'm going to sand and polish it up, just to see how it looks with the heat discoloration.

Ah well, there's more ducks out there to be had. :)

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

X

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 :gl:

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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 :gl:

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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...

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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

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

it might go well with a little plum sauce maybe.

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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...

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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."

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Originally Posted by loueedacat

it might go well with a little plum sauce maybe.

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

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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! :)

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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.

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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...

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What Zib said, if you paid with Paypal file a dispute and then escalate it to a claim. They tend to side with buyers IME. :gl:

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Originally Posted by PapaBull

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.

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I think the critical thing here is to heat it slowly and gently, bringing it up to temperature, and maybe taking it a bit easy on the quenching, maybe a bit hotter oil than normal or something. Better to have a slightly tempered razor that shaves but requires more honing than a completely shot razor...