Thread: Ding on my razor! How do I fix it?

On my second self-shave ever I was switching hands and must have hesitated for a second because I dropped my razor in the sink! My first instinct was to pull both my hands back so I didn't slice myself, but none-the-less my razor clattered in the sink.

Now there is a ding on the blade toward the head on the blade. I think there may be a ding toward the shoulder too, but I'm not sure.

First question: How do I fix this??? Do I send it to Lynn to be re-honed, or is that not enough? Does it need to be restored?

Second question: I notice that in videos people don't really use the part of the blade closest to the head, and I didn't really either in my first two attempts... can I keep shaving with this razor since the body of the blade is fine? Or is that dangerous? Will I end up slicing my face off?



And, part two:

I noticed after my shave that I had visible slices on my face that never bled, and my face was REALLY raw. Did I put too much pressure on the razor as I was shaving?

Thanks guys!


Photos:

If you could take a photo and post it we could advise you better on the damage. If the edge is okay I imagine you could still use it. If not it would need to be re-honed. It sounds from the way you describe it that you may be using too much pressure. Are you stretching the skin ? That is good to do. There are shaving videos that may help as well as tutorials accessible in the Wiki on the toolbar above.

As Jimmy already stated pics would really help...

Most small dings can just be honed out, when they are larger then it becomes a restoration prodject...

Just a general rule of thumb, if the ding is contained and small enough to only be in the bevel, it can most likely be honed out, if the ding goes past the bevel, it needs a little more serious work... as in everything we do when it comes to razors YMMV


After the photo's
The toe doesn't look bad at all unless it is folded over??? can't tell from the pics... Also down by the heel about 3/4 inch up looks like the edge might be folded check that with the TNT

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

If you could take a photo and post it we could advise you better on the damage. If the edge is okay I imagine you could still use it. If not it would need to be re-honed. It sounds from the way you describe it that you may be using too much pressure. Are you stretching the skin ? That is good to do. There are shaving videos that may help as well as tutorials accessible in the Wiki on the toolbar above.

Thanks Jimmy... photos added.

And yes and no to the stretching of the skin. I started out just stretching it by flexing my face, then actually pulled the skin... but probably not as much as I should have.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

As Jimmy already stated pics would really help...

Most small dings can just be honed out, when they are larger then it becomes a restoration prodject...

Just a general rule of thumb, if the ding is contained and small enough to only be in the bevel, it can most likely be honed out, if the ding goes past the bevel, it needs a little more serious work... as in everything we do when it comes to razors YMMV

Photos have been added... and what's YMMV?

Originally Posted by MichaelRork

Photos have been added... and what's YMMV?

Your Millage May Vary = your experience with the same may differ

TNT = Thumb Nail Test (just in case )

YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary

I only saw the tip. that doesn't look like a ding but more like a bent blade. Definitely send this out to a pro. My method of assesing damage is that I gently pinch the blade edge between my fingers and run my pinch the length of the blade. If you feel anything but smooth you have issues.

If I interpret the pictures correctly and the tip is bent with some possible wavies in the edge near the heel, my solution would be to grind off the bent tip and hone out any wrinkles in the edge. You'd end up with a slightly shorter blade, but one which would certainly be serviceable again.

If you try it yourself and use a bench or pedestal grinder, keep the blade cool. Hold it near the tip and dip it in cool water as soon as you feel warmth in the steel. Rotate the blade to approximate the original curve, or create a spike, or make a french curve. Finish up with wet/dry sandpaper wrapped around a small wood block or grade school style pink eraser to get rid of the rough grind marks. At least, that's what I'd try - that or a stabilized belt sander which will run cooler than the grinder and likely will have some finer grit belts available for getting down to a finer finish.

Mind you now, this is a carpenter's approach to healing an edge. It's what I do to chisels, and scissors, and such. Razors I don't grind except for once when I was a kid and ground a very well rusted wedge (Christensen, I think) into my favorite whittling knife.

good luck,

I am not one of the go to sources on blade repair here – but – from a casual look, I’d say you have a bend in the toe of your blade. If it were mine I’d reestablish the entire round profile the toe, especially on the edge side of the blade. Grind out the entire bend, but make it appear to flow into the round of the toe – make it look like it is on purpose. You will end up with a much more rounded toe, but lots of blades are actually like that. Does not look like it would be too time or risk intensive on a low mesh diamond stone, just take your time, most of the reshaping will be where the steel is pretty thin. I would also say you need definite re-honing down at the heel end, but just work it into the reshaping you are doing on the toe, looks like it would all flow together nicely. This is all assuming you have gumption and the sharpening stones to do it. If not, I don’t think it would be a bad call to send it to Lynn or one of the established restoration guys. You still have a perfectly good blade there. (This is assuming it is one of the quality blades made of steel that will actually hone up OK.)

If you are getting slices on your face you are pushing on the blade, and/or pulling the blade sideways as you perform your stroke. Time will fix that as you learn to apply no skinward pressure to the blade Skin stretching will not hurt either. If you are flexing your face, I used to get zapped when learning because I performed the flex (or cheek puff or whatever) while my blade was still in contact with or too close to my face. Seems like a no brainer to not do that kind of thing, but it is a common newbie issue. If the rest of your face is REALLY raw you have the blade at too much of an angle to your skin – you are scraping across (and possibly digging into) your face verses just barely gliding over the top of it. Start out your stroke with the blade flat on your face. Just barely raise the spine a tiny bit at a time and you should shave without scraping. This will usually be MUCH LESS than the 30 degree angle generally quoted as the “ideal” angle. Just my opinion but it works for me.

It just needs to be re-honed, no big deal.