Thread: Help With The Next Step

I am still new at this and could use some advise. I have rescued some vintage razors and have restored the blades, now they need rescaled and sharpened to "shave ready". Where is a good place to send these out to get an edge put on them? Also is it worth with my inexperience to try my hand at rescaling them myself or pay for it? Iam currently shaving with a straight with disposable blades and cant wait to try a vintage. Thanks for the help!

Originally Posted by Gentlemanandscholar

Where is a good place to send these out to get an edge put on them?

Your best bet would be to look in the classifieds under "member services". You can also check the members map, you may luck out and find somebody who is in your hometown.

You should definitely send them out for professional honing so that your initial shaving experience gets off to a good start. This will also give you a benchmark to determine how a properly honed razor should feel before you attempt sharping them for yourself. As far as rescaling goes . . . that depends on your abilities and the tools and materials you have at hand. No one makes a perfect set of scales on their first try, but if you use inexpensive materials for your initial attempts you can always toss your mistakes and try again. There is loads of good information on this site to get you started in the right direction. The quality of your finished product will be yours to decide. "Practice makes perfect".

Regards - Walt

Re-pinning a razor isn't hard, it just takes a little patience, the necessary hardware, and a few hand tools. Re-scaling a razor is a different matter altogether, especially if you're talking about making your own scales. I've made two sets of scales so far, and it's a lot harder to make them look right than you'd think.

I made my first few sets of scales out of acrylic - it's cheap (sometimes free if you go to your local signwriters and ask for offcuts), easy to work with (sandpaper is cheap) and looks pretty good.
Just follow the step by step instructions in the WIKI and you're set.
Send them out for professional honing though.
Hang on and enjoy the ride.

I really enjoy making scales - it's the hand-sanding that's a tedious job. I'd encourage you to have a go. Not much equipment is needed - the only power tool I use is a drill. Everything else can be done by hand - coping saw and sandpaper is about it, although you'd need a vice as well.

It greatly adds to the pleasure of shaving using a razor I bought as a bare blade and made complete. (It is the third set of scales I made though - the first two sets weren't really up to scratch!)

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ETA: Acrylic sounds good. I'll probably try that next time. Making my own 1/8" wood sheets was the hardest part.