Thread: Another "When is it worn out" question

I know the answer....... YMMV

Originally Posted by onimaru55

I know the answer....... YMMV

Exactly as with so many other things.

Bob

You could hone without tape and would just end up with a wider bevel. It may also make a thinner weaker edge.

I would tape the bevel with two layers of tape and paint the whole bevel with a sharpie. Do a few laps on a stone and look at the width of the new bevel. Add or use less tape to get the bevel you are looking for, 1/16 - 1/8 inch. Once you have a new bevel set and honed it may be years before you need to hone again.

Paint just the edge with the sharpie by it running on the edge, with the edge straight up. This will paint a 1/6 of an inch on both sides of the edge. Strop on nylon or plain leather to make sure you are stropping all the way to the edge. You should hit the edge with a hanging strop without tape on the spine.

What we have to remember is many of these razors sold for a dollar or two and were fairly disposable, if they lasted a couple or 10 years that was good enough. That thinking and barber hones that were pretty aggressive leads to what we see today.

So how far do we go to restore? It’s like most things, like cars and motorcycles. Guys are “restoring” cars where they are replacing frames and 90% of the sheet metal because there are fewer and fewer of them. Really rebuilding stuff that a few years ago were just scrap.

Personally I do not buy anything like that, hone ware is the first thing I look at. But if you have it and it has personal value… go for it. It is just time, really it can be honed until it will not hold an edge any longer.

It is surprising how fewer razors you see in the wild, compared to just a couple of years ago. And have you seen the price of vintage brushes?

Originally Posted by Euclid440

You could hone without tape and would just end up with a wider bevel. It may also make a thinner weaker edge.

I would tape the bevel with two layers of tape and paint the whole bevel with a sharpie. Do a few laps on a stone and look at the width of the new bevel. Add or use less tape to get the bevel you are looking for, 1/16 - 1/8 inch. Once you have a new bevel set and honed it may be years before you need to hone again.

Paint just the edge with the sharpie by it running on the edge, with the edge straight up. This will paint a 1/6 of an inch on both sides of the edge. Strop on nylon or plain leather to make sure you are stropping all the way to the edge. You should hit the edge with a hanging strop without tape on the spine.

What we have to remember is many of these razors sold for a dollar or two and were fairly disposable, if they lasted a couple or 10 years that was good enough. That thinking and barber hones that were pretty aggressive leads to what we see today.

So how far do we go to restore? It’s like most things, like cars and motorcycles. Guys are “restoring” cars where they are replacing frames and 90% of the sheet metal because there are fewer and fewer of them. Really rebuilding stuff that a few years ago were just scrap.

Personally I do not buy anything like that, hone ware is the first thing I look at. But if you have it and it has personal value… go for it. It is just time, really it can be honed until it will not hold an edge any longer.

It is surprising how fewer razors you see in the wild, compared to just a couple of years ago. And have you seen the price of vintage brushes?

As with several others above, very helpful to my understanding the difference between well-used and spent.