Thread: Shorten a French razor? - what pitfalls await

Ok so here is the story so far, working on restoring a French razor 5/8" full hollow i got off the bay.
Not sure of makers name though the word Paris is fairly clear on it.
I managed to get the blade looking nice enough and made some basic blue acrylic scales for it with a smoked perspex wedge.
All appeared OK at this point, I even got a nice shape on the wedge and everything felt nice and tight.
So now I got to honing the razor, a look under the 30X loupe showed a couple of nicks in the edge.
After about 30 mins of honing (on a 400 Naniwa Super Stone) I have the edge close to bevel set but a problem with the nicks keeps occurring - I get them almost out and they seem to appear again.
Another check with the loupe and I see there is what seems to be pitting along the edge at the Toe end, it extends about an inch along the blade
Another hour of trying to remove the pits on a Naniwa 400 hone has not helped remove these pits
The pitting now seems to be in just one area and extends more than 1/8" up the blade about half inch from the toe

This razor now seems beyond normal honing techniques to repair and get an edge on.
I have thought of cutting off the section near the toe of the razor and attempt to make a "Shortie" razor out of it
As this razor cost very little to buy, I have thought it may be worth a try.
I have a Dremel tool with a cut off wheel to use but not sure what is the best means of doing this
Is this worth the effort or is it too risky to do?
All advice and tips are welcome, good or not so good.

Hi Ricky,
would you be able to post a picture of the razor showing where the nicks are located? If they're right up at the toe end they might not be a problem - as far as producing a good shaver is concerned. It does sound like you've got the Devil's spit though: that is, rust pits that just keep recurring the more you hone into the blade.

Try to move on to the 1000 grit and see if that can remove the small nicks. Could be the 400 is too coarse for this particular razor. Just a thought.

If you decide to cut off part of the razor, here's what I do: wrap the razor in a wet rag, preferably clamp it onto your workbench, then cut at max rpm and press the cutting wheel lightly in the wet rag while you do that. It catches the sparks, cools the cutting wheel slightly and helped me prevent overheating the razor. The little piece that is cut off will turn blue in a jiffy, that is okay as long as the blade does not. I always cut for a second, then let it cool for two.

I did this successfully on a number of razors Kind of wet cutting with a Dremel. It also improves vision, without all the sparks flying around.

Only advice be very very careful with any razor and a Dremel ! Always protective eye wear!! Did it once, won't do it again.

I did this just the other day over here http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...-reynolds.html

-I used a sharpie to mark where I wanted to cut.
-Make sure your sharpie marks meet eachother at a point on the edge. I even marked that edge point with the sharpie
-I used the cutoff wheel at slow to next-to-slow setting. I worked back and forth on one side and then the other, frequently switching sides. Very little pressure. Scored my cut with a small starting groove.
-I had ice water to cool the blade, but only used it to rinse away the shavings. My finger remained close to the area where I was working the cut off wheel to monitor the temp. It really didn't even get warm. I was done with my cut in 7 minutes tops. The most time was spent on the shoulder, obviously.

-Later, grinding to shape took a little longer as I was just relaxing, enjoying doing it. I made the most of the 1st time experience while grinding.

FIRST AND FOREMOST: WEAR A FULL FACESHIELD(just in case) *not* just eyewear.

@ Maladroit
I have some pics on the camera I can put up - just need to get the camera from SWMBO, she has put it somewhere and I don't know where til she gets home. The fault is definitely Devils Spit and is about half inch away from the Toe end. Other pits just keep re-appearing after I nearly have them cleared. There seem to be no other pits appearing elsewhere on the edge that I can see with the loupe.

@ Laurens
I cannot see how 1000 grit wet and dry will remove the devils spit, can you enlighten me on the theory of this (always willing to learn). If I go ahead and cut the razor shorter I will clamp the toe end in a mini vice (2" and clamp the rest of the razor in a larger vice (6") to reduce risk of flying pieces causing injury. The work area will be a bit tight but some trial and error has shown I can access the cutting area with almost no obstruction if I clamp the main section of the razor about a third of the way along the tang (in the 6" vice). I can still monitor the temp with a finger on the spine near the cutting point.

@Johnus
Agreed protective eyewear is a must for any job like this, Dremel will be set at 5000 rpm to start off and I will see how things progress from there. I'm thinking slowly and carefully is the way to go.

@Siguy
Good point on using the Sharpie to mark the cut out on both sides, hadn't thought about that part I'm thinking of a particular shape at the toe end identical to the finger notch under the Tang on the other end. Many things will determine if this is possible - like my level of patience, skill, and the razor itself.

Thanks for all the input guys, really appreciate your time.
Rick

I meant that the 400 grit hone may be causing new nicks to appear at the edge, because it is making such deep scratches that leave the remaining metal too thin, causing it to crumble. The 1000 grit scratches will be much shallower and perhaps that will prevent the formation of new nicks. I didn't mean sanding the blade, just honing.

Did you wack the heel yet??

You won't know if it's possible until you try. Fortunately, this mod didn't require an engineering whitepaper when I did it.

What did you do to the blade and why? Was there a lot of pitting? What kind of scales are on it? It may be cell rot on the blade and or the 400 is too coarse, as said. Photos baby, Photos.

When we hone we create stria, lands and grooves, at 400 grit deep groves and ragged edge. And If you have been honing on a 400 for an hour and half…

I have noticed on some blades bringing a bevel togeather at 400 or 600 may cause this problem and only many laps on the 1k removes the 4/600 stria, ragged edge and weakened steel.

I no longer completely bevel set with low grit stones, just get close, leave a thin sliver of steel on the edge and complete the bevel set at 1K.

I hope you have taped the spine, as you may be exacerbating the problem with a worn spine and a now too steep of an angle to maintain an edge.

@Euclid440 and Laurens
This blade was purchased off ebay as a possible restorer.
The original scales were badly damaged and a major clean up was done to the blade and new scales made up
When I first checked it there were some small chips in the edge which are now mostly honed out
The Devils Spit keeps appearing and is deeper than the surface of the blade edge as I continue honing.
I have used tape on the spine to help reduce further issues (initial spine wear was actually minimal)
I will try honing on my 1K Naniwa and see if that will improve the issues
Thanks for your valuable input on this issue