Thread: Sacrilege...and other wanton acts of harm to our gems!!

Hey all. This is my very first SRP post. And after pouring over this incredibly informative forum (and a bunch of other sites to a MUCH lesser degree) for some 3 days, I, a 56 yr old newb, just ordered a Boker "Edelweiss" from SRD after briefly speaking w/ Don. No doubt as the call ended I left that very courteous gentleman rolling his eyes a wee bit as I had disclosed to him my plans to subject my lovely new first blade to a slow filing and buffing process which will, after numerous sittings, leave her (Constance, of course!) w/ smallish jimps on the top and bottom of her shank, (possibly) w/ the same on the top of her tang, and last, but certainly not least, w/ a brazen smooth polished-end deadly spike point.

Don did, of course, point out that I would be voiding all warranties as soon as I so much as scratched the metal w/ the first pass of my triangle file on her shank. That came as no surprise though (did I mention that I am 56 - lol), and that the value of my customized beauty would in all likelihood be something akin to that of an equal weight of scrap metal - again, no surprises there.

W/ luck, Connie will arrive on Saturday and I will enjoy our first of many shaves at that time following the very educational and confidence inspiring SRP first-shave training guide very closely. And just in case you are wondering why I am going down this modification route, I sport a goatee that has several hard to get at areas hence the spike point and as for the jimps...well, if I'm going to customize her nose I may as well add to my ability to hang on to her as the latter is certainly the lesser of the two evils. And yes, I know the "other" brand has an out-of-the-box spike point, but I am taking everyone's sound advise and buying the lass that I think will trip my trigger the most for the buck.

I will post pics of my lovely this weekend prior to my rude assault upon her form and will post completed project pics of her as well. Maybe even a few "work-in-process" shots to document the vile treatment to which I will be subjecting her to over the next few weeks.

I would like to invite any and all of my fellow Dr. Frankensteins to post pics in this thread of any similar, or other, "improvements" you may have made to your lovely steel mistresses as I would be very interested in seeing your ideas and artistry.

Welcome to SRP dartagnan. Glad to have you aboard.

After you have customized your Boker, I'm certain that SRP members would love to see some photos to feed our RAD.

Take care--and smooth shaving.

Welcome to SRP. Have fun with that project, but you may want to order another….just in case….

(hope you don't mind my humor)

Have you tried something like that on a not new/nice razor first just to see if it's what you really want it to be in practice?

Somebody get the Tequila ! ! !.......

I blame Don for this blasphemy... Boker makes a perfectly good "arbolito" which comes with a spanish point which would work just fine on the goatee, not sure if it is jimped though.

normally i would not personalize a razor so... but if it was needed to save a razor then like many other i would. just remember to keep the blade cool while you are grinding the toe. good luck!

enjoy,
jim

Practice on an ebay special first. Please?

5 Bux says it never happens

Originally Posted by ryanjewell

Have you tried something like that on a not new/nice razor first just to see if it's what you really want it to be in practice?

+1. The tang will be hardened to the same hardness as the blade.
At 60 HRc, filing with a triangular file is going to be difficult. In fact, the file will skate and slide so much that filing only in the desired place will be a challenge.

Hi, guys. Many thanks for the hellos and the input.

Originally Posted by driver/examiner

Somebody get the Tequila ! ! !.......

lol, probably not a bad idea, Driver.

Originally Posted by syslight

I blame Don for this blasphemy... Boker makes a perfectly good "arbolito" which comes with a spanish point which would work just fine on the goatee, not sure if it is jimped though.

normally i would not personalize a razor so... but if it was needed to save a razor then like many other i would. just remember to keep the blade cool while you are grinding the toe. good luck!

enjoy,
jim

Jim, the "Arbolito" is a bit fancy f/ my taste. As f/ grinding, I was planning to do everything slowly over a few weeks using just files so as not to risk screwing up the temper. I learned long ago that working slowly in small incremental phases and never rushing this type of project produces the best end result.

Originally Posted by Yochatman

Practice on an ebay special first. Please?

Yoch, good advice which I may certainly take!

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

5 Bux says it never happens

Pix, yesterday I would have firmly replied, "YES IT WILL!!" After looking at how lovely she looks in her pics a couple more times and taking Bruno's comments into serious consideration...well let's just say that today I am dithering a bit. Bottom line - I will have to see how well I can detail my goatee's hard to reach spots with it as is. If I think it may work "as is" once I get some actual shaving experience, that will stay my hand of course. So only if I feel I need to. But after all - form does follow function.

Originally Posted by Bruno

+1. The tang will be hardened to the same hardness as the blade.
At 60 HRc, filing with a triangular file is going to be difficult. In fact, the file will skate and slide so much that filing only in the desired place will be a challenge.

Bruno, excellent logic and thanks for making me give more thought to the actual hardness of blade steel. If I elect to proceed w/ the mods, I will likely take Yoch's advice and practice on a beater first.