Thread: Straightening slightly bent blade

Hi, I have received a few old straights that have slightly bent blades. I have read the wiki suggestions on how to fix razors. I was wondering if put a razor inside a very heavy book and leaving it in for about a month under heavy pressure would help straighten out the razor. Any one have any ideas about this. Or any suggestions on straightening the blade without risking breaking the blade or untempering them.

-David

If it were me I'd probably send it to one of the restorers in the classifieds. Depending on a) how bad it's bent and b) how important it is, ie if you're wanting to shave with it or just want to start restoring razors yourself. Also I bet pictures would help the guys who actually know how to fix this issues asses the damage, IMO.

it's a very slight bend, which is a slight inconvenience when honing, however not a problem for shaving and stropping. It's not as important except when I am honing the razor...which is probably going to be once a year. I put it on the corti and got it pretty sharp this time...However, It would be nice to get this razor straight since it's a mint dubl duck except for this slight bend in the razor

No, the book won't work. I don't think there is anything that would. If you really want to try something may be a vise along the spine, but you have got to be really careful, wear protection for safety, and there is a risk that the razor will just shatter. Even if you straighten up the spine, the edge may not get much improvement either.

I'd just leave it as is. My absolute best shaver has a slight warp in it. While tricky to hone, it takes a great edge and shaves well. Use some marker on the bevel and pay attention to your stroke to make sure you are removing the marker all the way across the edge. I also find it helpful to imagine that your stone only consists of the 1/2"-1" closest to the side of the hone. By focusing on that little area of the hone, you can make sure the edge makes contact throughout the entire stroke.

It would have to be annealed (softened) straightened and then re tempered for hardness. Hardly worth it. Learn to hone a warped blade or have someone who knows how do it for you.

It's not uncommon to see warped razors. They are as a rule too hard to bend so the book idea can't work. They were ground that way or got that way during the heat treatment. The edge area can bend from a blow but even trying to straighten that kind of damage will usually result in breakage. You can't even anneal & re heat treat as the razor is already at its thinnest & will warp even worse.
You may be able to bend the tang on softer HRC razors but unless you can assess the hardness you may get a snapping sound there too .

Just use rolling X passes on the hone and take care when closing it so you dont nick a scale and enjoy the shave. I have a couple old blades that have a slight warp to them and they still shave very nice. You just have to take care when honing. It is better than a half length double duck or a pretty set of scales with no blade at all.