Thread: New SR with small problem

I've seen several blades with major heel work done, looks like you may be able to go from top of crack back to the shoulder area and round it off at heel and at shoulder and only loose, what, a 1/2 inch of blade ? seen many done like that, and if it doesn't work out, well you still have the scales. Good luck, that would still make a nice razor. Good brand razor also.

Blugill is spot on! Save the scales. The blade's not worth it.

Yeah I'm gonna keep the scales and transplant them to another SR.

I say regrind the heel, if you mess up the blade, you're no worse off than not using it. You never know, you may like the regrind......I do

I'm going to make an alternative suggestion AT YOUR OWN PERIL. I have honed several cracked blades that shave just fine and none have ever cut me. My thinking is that if the blade does not distort enough to scratch my strop, then it is not going to scratch/cut my face, and this test has always worked for me.

Now, we're not talking about my face, we're risking yours here. It is quite likely that you are not as cheap as I am and it is likely that your shaving soap pucks last you less than 5 years so you are welcome to completely disregard my opinion in favor of the sanctity of your integumentary system.

If nothing else, you can hone it up just for the practice. Then strop it and see what happens. If you see ANY scratches on your strop, then scrap it for salvage. If you don't, then you can decide what to do. You've gotta ask yourself one question, "Did I see one scratch, or none?" Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya?

Difficult problem.

The crack is in a difficult position.
It isolates a big part of the edge from the
transverse stabiliser in the heel. Over time
honing will open a problem region at the
crack that can get in the way and even permit
the crack to grow. If you grind out the heel
from the crack back to the jimps you will be better
but the lack of effective transverse stabiliser could
make the blade difficult to hone and shave with.
But not impossible in all cases.

I would hone it watching the crack and if it causes the
edge to hone badly I would grind the heel back. If
after doing that the blade does not hone well I would
pull the scales dull it and make a cheese knife.

Steel that cracks like this can be a reflection of hardness.
That brittle degree of hardness is prized or cursed.
Hone gently because of the absence of the stabiliser
and also because hard steel tends to micro chip. That
hardness chip connection may be why the original owner
tossed it cross the room and cracked it in the first place.
Modern man made fine finish hones do well on hard steel, IMO.
A modern hone and a light touch may conquer all the
hardness problems with the steel.

I have a fixit DD that has exactly this same risk and
problem. I think my break is closer to the heel than
yours is but not by much. There is a big chunk of
missing steel.... Time will tell.

Regarding the steels quality i know how the blade cracked i bought this from a local flea market that i frequent and one of the stalls is a knife sharpener, he uses diamond rods and a vice clamp to sharpen blades. I watched him demonstrate how he hones razors it was cringe worthy he would bend and flex the edge with each circular pass he made. I know that he tried to sharpen this razor, I've decided that im gonna scrap the blade use the scales for a new razor and enjoy my new creation