Thread: Great Grandfathers Blade Quick Restore

Hi All,

Xavier here from Vic Australia.

I've just recently gotten into straight razor shaving and i love it!

I started off with a chipped old Acme from Sweden i found in an op shop. Did a little bit of looking and found that the tradition was still live and well and decided i wanted to be a part of it!

My first new, shave ready buy was a Giesen & Forsthoff. (Pictured Below)


After doing a bit of research I've found that the consensus is that these newer blades are no good. I must say my first shave was quite nice but a little rough. After getting a bit better i have now considered this to be down to poor stropping technique. I was mad however and put it on the hone - A Spyderco Fine hone. I also later read that these were not a very reputable hone! Haha Head first indeed.

This blade is now dull as butter knife and i am very disappointed as i did fall somewhat in love with it on first sight. I will get it back, I have also noticed however it has a bit of a frown that i want to get out of it.

Anyhow, I now have a few blades from different op shops and this is where it gets weird, I found a 6/8 Ward Bros - Cadman and Sons Bengall from Sheffield, still quite nice though needs some serious love. I then asked my grandmother if she had my Grandfathers old shaving brush as mine is currently a cheap no description "real bristle" brush.

Her answer was "No i gave it away a few years ago...but i did just happen to find his fathers cut throat razor in a box the other day"!!!!!!!!!

Even Better!!! And low and behold it is a Cadman & Sons Bengall 5/8" from Sheffield! Now thats probably not too amazing to most of you here that know that Cadman &Sons sent a hell of a lot of these razors out to Australia but it was cool none the less. Both are pictured below.



Great Grandfathers is the Black Scaled 5/8.

What a beautiful razor, and still thumb nail sharp out of the original box too. I want to use this razor. So last night i bought a cheap Dremil, i know i know, a disgrace to buy the cheap Chinese version but i have already dropped around $500 on assorted bits and pieces!! I previously bought a complete Norton set up 250/1, 4/8, lapping stone and prep stone. Plus a paddle strop with my G&F and then a cheapish $35, Haryani Cow hide strop which is actually quite nice.

Unfortunately I didnt get any close up pre-surgery photos of my Bengall but i will for the rest of my razors from now on i promise.

So far i have just given it a hand rub down with AutoSol, wire brush on the cheap dremil in between the tang grip ribbing, then a buff with AutoSol with the cheap Dremil, making sure it didnt get too hot. I washed the entire thing with Poraso shave soap and a tooth brush. Pics below.



There are still a few scratches that the buffing didn't remove and will most likely need some sandpapering, but as i want to use this i am willing to forgo some scratches to keep as much metal and strength on the blade as possible. The scales i also buffed but would like a bit shinier. I think maybe some very high grit sand paper? Any recommendations would be appreciated.

I then spent a good 4 hours honing. Taking it through the 4 to the 8k and then onto my Spyderco Fine. The Spyderco still confuses me a little and i have seen on here some very mixed reactions.

In the end I went from 8k to the SC Fine, then back to the 8k followed by my green pasted strop followed by normal stropping. I have managed to get just under the heel to HHT sharp and the rest just under that. It definitely needs more work but i shaved with it this morning and found for the first time it to feel better than my factory sharp disposable Jaguar Straight Razor.

It was such a fantastic shave! It was the first time i had absolutely no rash, burning or irritation at all! I finally felt what everyone on here talks about!!

What an awesome feeling to use a blade most likely almost a hundred years old that my Great grandfather used and for it to be better than my brand new G&F and a factor sharpened disposable blade.

I'll keep working on my G&F as i really do want it to be shave ready but for now the old school wins again. I'll post the other blades i'm restoring to with proper photos this time.

Now back to the hone!

I would not say new blades are no good, there are many mfgs of new razors that are great. I own 1 new, a Dovo, the rest are vintage.

Beautiful razors, thank you for sharing them.

That Bengall looks great

Great job on the Bengall, looks very nice.

Nice nice and more nice. You'll never find one as good as your great grandpa's no matter what brand it is.

4 HOURS To Hone It?

@Chugach68 - Sorry i should have been more specific, apparently the new G&F's are not very good compared to their vintage counterparts.

@Chevhead - It felt like 4 hours! Maybe a bit less but as i said i am a newbie to it all so i was also doing a bit of experimenting and practice.

The Bengall blade has a slight wave in it, you can see the heavier hone wear on the head/spine in the first picture. This meant i had to be adaptive with the honing trying to keep a constant pressure along the blade to create a uniform edge on the reverse side of the blade while being a touch lighter on the side with the wave pointing up. Not easy when your just starting out.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated though!

Originally Posted by Xlaw

@Chevhead - It felt like 4 hours! Maybe a bit less but as i said i am a newbie to it all so i was also doing a bit of experimenting and practice.

The Bengall blade has a slight wave in it, you can see the heavier hone wear on the head/spine in the first picture. This meant i had to be adaptive with the honing trying to keep a constant pressure along the blade to create a uniform edge on the reverse side of the blade while being a touch lighter on the side with the wave pointing up. Not easy when your just starting out.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated though!

I am by no means an expert honemeister.
The advice I would give is watch some of the videos on here and practice on some razors you don't mind messing up on!
No use messing up a NEW razor or an 8/8 FBU...lol