Thread: My first razor and my first restore

I've been wanting to try my hand this manly endeavor for sometime now but have never been willing to shell out the cash for a new one. I found one at an antique shop for 10$ and figured I would have a go at it.

The razor is a schumate's barber del luxe 9/16" round point. Looks like a hollow ground but in not sure. It's old and worn but no nicks, cracks, or chips in the blade and while there is patina there is very shallow if any pitting and none on the edge.

Here is a few shots of it before I began

That's the one thing about saving money. It usually costs you some labor.
Looks like you saved A LOT of cash and found a blade that could turn out nice. :<0)

I think this razor has great potential and is a good first pick! You might want to start out with regular polish, to see how much can be removed easily and then decide on how to continue.

Good luck and I look forward to the result!

Well Ive had a few nights to work on the razor. Bare with me as I do not have a dremel or I might be closer to that "mirror" finish but I think for good ole' sandpaper and some elbow grease it is coming along quite nicely.

I purchased two packs of wet/dry 3M sandpaper at autozone. Theg are marked with levels and I bought 3-4. The grits I ended up with were 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, and 2500. I have worked through all the grits and I'm pretty satisfied with the result. I apologize as I forgot to take pics before 1000 grit.

Here is after finishing with the 1000 grit







You can see the finish is almost satin but bery little patina remains. After 1000 it gets mundane as it takes more effort to see progress but still progress here is up to 1500 grit

And here it is after 2000 grit only 2500 to go but I can't see it getting any better without a polishing wheel.











What's left on the tang and shank is pretty stubborn. I used side to side motions and some computer paper rolled tight to act as my finger behind the paper(seemed safer ) I'm not looking for a perfect restore but what do you think so far?
Iel

That is excellently done! The few marks left would not bother me at all and learning to restore by hand is a good approach to get a feeling for restoration without the risk of damaging the blade. Now give it some time with steel polish and/or jeweler's rouge and the colour of the shine should improve a lot, I think you'll like it.

As for the Dremel, I use mine with great results, but it's also the easiest way to ruin a razor or send it flying through your shed. If you decide to buy one, make sure you read up on its use first!

Think you dit a fine job for ypur first restore. Are you use the old scales or new ones.

Use some poliscjh for make it more shine. Good luck assemble the razor

Your doing great ! If you finish with spine to edge scratches your done. Satin finish is fine.

Originally Posted by 10Pups

Your doing great ! If you finish with spine to edge scratches your done. Satin finish is fine.

So to finish I should run the Sandpaper perpendicular to the blade not parallel? Or "short-ways" if you will.