Thread: Gun show find

Originally Posted by HarleyFXST

Please resist the urge to modify a piece of history.

Most collectors would say exactly this about our practice of honing and shaving with these razors.

Originally Posted by DFriedl

Most collectors would say exactly this about our practice of honing and shaving with these razors.

That is sort of what I figured.

I do not have any concern so long as the result is a renewed life for the razor and a happy owner that is proud of it.

I work with cars and I know some SERIOUS collectors and it saddens me to see these beautiful cars sit idle...I could only appreciate them screaming down the road on on a track as they were designed to do. In the end, it is up to the owner to enjoy it as he/she pleases. Along those lines, I see a lot of classic cars being lowered and fitted with huge modern wheels...

A similar topic comes up often on knife forums. Some guy will buy a knife and then proceed to destroy it with hammers, vice, and stones in the name of testing its limits. It is not my cup of tea, but it is also not my blade

I like both. I've owned hot rod razors, new utilitarian models, and pristine classics. What I don't like is to see a collector’s piece that is being allowed to rust and decay because restoring it would diminish its value. Even priceless works of art are cleaned and restored by museums around with world with no loss of significance or value when done properly.

Originally Posted by DFriedl

I like both. I've owned hot rod razors, new utilitarian models, and pristine classics. What I don't like is to see a collector’s piece that is being allowed to rust and decay because restoring it would diminish its value. Even priceless works of art are cleaned and restored by museums around with world with no loss of significance or value when done properly.

I really like this sentiment...but I am not so sure I could define my likes and whims so well.

As an example of one that should not have been "cleaned up" LOL:
http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/...t-spanish-town
...but your caveat of "when done properly" trumps that example

There are perhaps examples that I think would be a shame to do anything with beyond place in a de-humidified display and look at occasionally. These would be rare specimens that are of supreme historical significance (and a suitable example eludes me).

As a fictional example...if such a razor exists with provenance to demonstrate that Benjamin Franklin shaved with it?

However, the ones that I find for 10 bucks at a gun show with a razor from one continent in a box from another...I think it is safe to transform them into something I enjoy more.

I am all over the board with these topics...my final answer is "it depends" and that is subject to change

The difference between restoring and modifying just to change is lost on you. As long as you disclose the changes and who performed them, if you ever sell it,no harm.

Originally Posted by HarleyFXST

The difference between restoring and modifying just to change is lost on you. As long as you disclose the changes and who performed them, if you ever sell it,no harm.

I respectfully suggest that you are prejudging that I am "modifying just to change" without really understanding my motivations. Thanks for your contributions/opinions.

I further suggest that work (on an razor with no maker's mark) that is good enough that one feels compelled to disclose the name of the person that worked on it, probably adds value to the piece. Regardless, the quality and extent of work is unknown/undecided at this point, and this piece will not be offered for sale.

I am under no delusions that MY work will add value to any piece to anyone other than ME. I am merely stating that the work speaks for itself (good or bad). No one disclosed the name of the person or company that MADE this razor, so why should anyone care who worked on it?...perhaps such subtleties really are lost on me?

If I knew how, I would put jimps on the top of the spine/tang on several of my razors. I love double-jimped razors and I am only at 6 out of 10 in my favorites collection. I just have to find 4 more that are jimped that shave as well as the others so I can replace them. Or maybe I should just send them to you unit! They are going to be appreciated by me for their shaving not for their aesthetics. Plus, these aren't going to win any beauty contests, they just shave splendidly!

Oh, and one of them is a henckels!

Well...I took it home last night and went to the work bench with it.

I started by working backwards through the polishing grits until I achieved the depth of removal I wanted (to get rid of some of the previous rust and spots), then went back up the grits to get a shiny but not mirror finish (I might do that at some point, but not last night apparently).

Through my handling of the blade I came to a few realizations...first it seems sort of cheap in spite of the scales which seem nicer than that nasty rubber stuff I seem to encounter most of the time. The tang seems to have been simply cut out and all the edges are somewhat sharp (there is not relieving or radiusing to smooth things out). Oddly, this seems to work well on this piece as it offers traction to my digits and allows me to flip the blade easily even with wet or greasy phalanges.

I opted to not jimp or file work this piece (yet...and I probably won't ever). I just cleaned it up and "restored" it.

Then I went to honing it...and boy did it behave oddly. On the 1200 it became obvious that there was some warping issues. I finally honed a workable bevel onto it and proceeded up the scale, and tried a new method for kicks (the Zowanda method, I believe it is called). I may try that again in the future as it seemed to work really well.

Sorry there are no photos...I will take some tonight and share.

I would love to know more about this thing...It seems odd that there is no name on it. I wonder is someone ground off the makers mark trying to clean up rust...though it seems like previous efforts were from what appears to be the work of someone with no experience and a hand full of fine steel wool (so I would think they would not have been able to remove even a very shallow stamp, and if they used more aggressive means...I's be able to spot it as they were poor at hiding their tracks).

I am happy to have learned a few things from this piece!

Gotta tell you....warms my heart to read of you shopping for a couple of your favorite things in one place. Gotta love gun shows, some fantastic finds there.

It doesn't look cheap to me. Those crisp lines on the tang are harder to get than rounding everything over.

I don't know how old it is, but I wouldn't be surprised if the reason for the crispness was age, as a lot of the early razors that were hollow ground boasted about the grind a lot more than later razors.

I think it's just a crisp old razor, not a cheap one.