Thread: What Do You Have In The Mail Right Now?

Hi, I'm Paul and I have HAD.

It will be nice to have a pair though.

The Keen Kutter Hone landed in the mailbox today. This thing is in excellent condition, no gouges, surface still amazingly flat, no major chips, maybe no chips at all and just rough edges from the mold used to form it. Should clean up very nicely.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Hi, I'm Paul and I have HAD.

It will be nice to have a pair though.

Looks like it will clean up exceptionally well. There doesn’t appear to be much hone wear at all. Is the discoloration at the edge patina or black rust?

It looks like it might be rust but I can't tell for sure til I see it in person. The pics aren't very high resolution. It has a nice smile and seems to be well maintained.

I would scrub it with a toothbrush. A dab of barkeeper's friend.
Smear vaseline. Wipe off after a while.
Looks good.


I got a pile of scales to-day.
A pair of bone and a pair of streaked horn. Made specifically to fit some NOS Herder 49 blades.
Then there are 2 sets of picbone. One dyed and one natural. Should be fun finding a couple of blades for those!
Makes a fella who makes no scales happy!

I haven’t tried to make scales myself yet, and have bought premade bone and horn scales that are advertised to fit my razors.

Some are just a bit long or too thick. Some have included material to make a wedge and others came prepinned at the wedge end, but with a spacer rather than a true wedge.

I will have to modify them to properly fit my blades and was wondering if you have any suggestions for doing that without using power tools.

I am keen to match blades to scales. The pinhole spacing is one aspect. Cannot move those with exception of some black horn which can be filled and not seen.
Then there is the actual shape. If your blade pokes through the bottom, toss them into the scale pile and try on another.
I have cut some at the top pin-hole and reshaped the top. Done same at the bottom to fit shorter blades. Wedges trimmed on the inside to make room.
Some razors defy any scales to fit. Going through my rather large pile of scales and not finding something to fit or swap is unusual.
Yet it happens. I like most scales to be like most nice factory ones. Thin and not bulky. Looking like they belong on the blade.
I contend it takes some skill to make what I would like to see. Either I am lazy or lack the skills. Likely both!

Belt sander belts:
Aluminum oxide, 150, 220 & 400


Graded blue micron finishing, 600 & 800


Hopefully this should give me more flexibility for regrinding. All I have now are 100 aluminum oxide that I inherited with the sander from my Dad.
Also this should help with finishing the Herder blanks I bought that are pre HT

I spoke with Sergej sometime last year about making me a custom 8/8 rattler grind based on an old Sheffield Fredrick Reynolds, well this is how the story goes, he tried to make the razor for me several times only to fail, after about the fourth attempt he told me he couldn't do it and the rattler grind was too difficult, so that's where we left it, I wished Sergej good luck and told him I will keep in contact, well today out of the blue I received a wonderful gift from Latvia from Sergej a beautiful 8/8 rattler grind, the noticeable difference being how light the razor feels in hand, it's a pretty hollow grind as well, I gave it a shave today and it performed as you would expect from a RigaRazor.

Congrats - Sergej is a one of a kind master grinder - his razors are absolutely top of the line.

I have 4 of his razors, each a custom grind, and each time I've used one of his razors it's hard to tell the difference between an original Wade and Butcher and one of his razors, or, as he likes to put it, "based on Wade & Butcher, but better!" lol

And that will settle my razor choice for today - a Riga Razor, now to decide which one.....congrats!