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Old Boker cleanup from rough to...less rough, hopefully a shaver
I don't have a single Boker in my collection, and have always wanted to have one. I ran across one on eBay that checked off a lot of boxes for features I like - 6/8ths, french point, single shoulder/shoulderless, and the trademark branding style looked pre-War. Problem is, it was in rough shape, with a lot of rust and pitting, especially at the edge. The seller took some very honest photos of the condition (which I really appreciated) which I've mixed in below. The "omote" side was pretty rough, but the "uma" side actually wasn't half bad, so I thought I'd take a shot with it.
I don't have the hands or skills (or patience) for a real restoration, I may send it off for that. I just wanted to stop the rot on this one, clean it up nice and try to make it a shaver. I was pleasantly surprised that the blade grind is bit on the heavier side as I like them on a 6/8ths, almost half-hollow-ish. So I started hand working with Mother's Mag Polish and microfiber cloths, cleaning up as much of the damage as I could.
After a lot of tape and bevel work on the 1K Chosera I got to good steel, and it took a really nice edge. We'll see if it holds, or if I bit off more than I could chew on this one. What do y'all think, looking at the original, do you think the pitting at the edge is too much to recover from? I got clear of it on most of the edge, but couldn't get clear all of it at the heel without removing a lot more steel than I already did. I'll shave with it in the morning and find out how it goes.
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