Thread: Can this be restored?

Maybe It can be grounded down to a smaller razor?

That's an option, but the problem with that is that you would end up with a narrower blade (i.e. spine to edge) which would throw the angle of the edge off because the spine would remain more or less the same width. I'm not explaining myself well here...

Think of a triangle, and the back of the spine as the short side of the triangle. If you shorten the distance between it and the point of the triangle, the angle at the point will increase. Take that too far and it won't be a good shaver.

Another drawback would be cost. If you are getting into changing the blade's basic shape in a drastic way, the amount of work involved increases, and therefore so would your cost. It wouldn't take too long before the cost of such work would increase beyond the value of the blade. However as it's your blade, you're the only one who can place that value on it.

For what it's worth, my advice would be not to think of altering the blade's geometry unless you have no option.

I understand and thanks for the advice better just to see if it can be ground out.

Put some tap on that goldwash or say bye bye to it. Also, keep any metal polish away from it too. Metal polish will devour goldwash.

Originally Posted by overgripped

Have you restored any razors yet? I would say start in with the sandpaper and see where it goes. Can it be salvaged? I have perused this forum long enough to say that Yes, you can turn that piece of steel into a mean shaving machine (I've seen a whole lot uglier end up looking down right covetable). Exactly what it will look like or what you will have to go through to get it there, I can not say. I would forget the buyers remorse and get to sanding.

Good luck on your journey. Cheers~

Good advice here. I've had a whole lot uglier turn out to be really fine shavers. My favorites as a matter of fact. Start the process, use care, and post pics!

You simply cannot replace metal that has been destroyed by rust.
There is no way of determining how deep the rust pockets are without removing metal.
The more metal removed, the closer the bevel gets to the engraving.

If it were mine, I'd give it a good going over with 0000 steel wool and metal polish and see how it looks, then try and set the bevel.

+1 to taping the goldwash, too - don't want to lose it unless you have to.

I've had worse looking blades turn out OK

Thanks to all of your replies - as usual I have learned a lot!