Thread: First restoration: 17/16" Wade and Butcher

I've been using my Grandfather's safety razor that was issued to him by the U.S. Army during WW2. Plagued by shaving issues prior, it was a godsend and really gave me an interest in the art of shaving. I recently decided to step up my game and get a straight razor - but I wanted to get one that I could restore and that would last forever so that I could hand it down to my children and grandchildren. So far I am pleased with the progress I've made, but I'm unsure of how to tackle the line of very tiny pits along the razor edge. Admittedly, since it was my first restore I was quite timid when sanding near the edge. What would you gents advise I do? I don't mind some major pits (for example, the pit near the spine and makers mark), but the line of tiny pits along the edge bothers me. I've tried to minimize the amount of metal loss, so I started with 600 grit sandpaper and moved up to 800, then 1000, started doing both dry and then wet at 1200, 1500, 2000, and then 3000. After that, I used white jewelers rouge followed by green with my (braces for the cringes) dremel tool in a vice. I have the aforementioned sandpapers, a dremel, and all colors of jewelers rouges.

Here are the images:

Taken with my DSLR: http://imgur.com/a/drING

Smartphone with jewler's loupe held up to the lens: http://imgur.com/a/qmFDk

If you click the gear wheel in the top right of the image you can see the full resolution files.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Regards,
Jordan

Welcome to the forum. You picked a nice blade to restore. What do you have in mind for the scales?

Nice to be here! I have been lurking for a while, trying to absorb as much knowledge as possible. I was debating on either preban ivory or a burlwood... Probably going with Amboyan Burl, if I can find some suitable blanks.

The pits along the edge don't look too bad from the pics I see. They don't look deep enough to affect the cutting edge, but only honing will tell for sure.
Are you going to hone it?
Great job so far.
Love the idea of Amboyna Burl.

Originally Posted by souschefdude

The pits along the edge don't look too bad from the pics I see. They don't look deep enough to affect the cutting edge, but only honing will tell for sure.
Are you going to hone it?
Great job so far.
Love the idea of Amboyna Burl.

They aren't deep at all, but the uniformity and density makes it obvious that I didn't do a good enough job near the edge. I want to work them out of the blade purely from an aesthetic standpoint. Not sure if I should start with sandpaper (if so, what grit?) or if a black rouge would be enough. I'll probably send it off to be honed for now, since I do not own any honing gear. Still looking for the blanks for the scales, but I do think the Amboyna Burl would be gorgeous.

J

Great job that blade looks great. Look forward to seeing the finished product.

Originally Posted by jordanp

They aren't deep at all, but the uniformity and density makes it obvious that I didn't do a good enough job near the edge. I want to work them out of the blade purely from an aesthetic standpoint. Not sure if I should start with sandpaper (if so, what grit?) or if a black rouge would be enough. I'll probably send it off to be honed for now, since I do not own any honing gear. Still looking for the blanks for the scales, but I do think the Amboyna Burl would be gorgeous.

J

Personally I prefer sandpaper. There's benefits and drawbacks to either method.
600 grit should be about as low as you have to go, that is a big heavy blade, so 400 wouldn't be out of the question either.
I have made a cork drum sander that allows me to take a blade from 600 grit on up to 2000 in progression in about an hour. Check out my previous thread about restoration for a Member to see a pic. It is very simple, a cork on a drill bit with double sticky back duct tape that you tape the sandpaper too. Use in a variable drill. Caution: Always ensure the rotation is from the spine to the edge!

Thanks Webbie, I appreciate it!

Souschefdude, that's actually not a bad idea! I tried the folded sponge method, where you use a folded sponge with sandpaper over the fold, but found that doing it by hand gave me more consistent results. Do you think I should start the entire blade over at 600, or just the pits near the edge? Thanks!

Originally Posted by jordanp

Thanks Webbie, I appreciate it!

Souschefdude, that's actually not a bad idea! I tried the folded sponge method, where you use a folded sponge with sandpaper over the fold, but found that doing it by hand gave me more consistent results. Do you think I should start the entire blade over at 600, or just the pits near the edge? Thanks!

I would start over on the whole blade. Spot removing here and there will leave the blade looking beat up. You want consistency across the whole blade. Any spot removal will result in waviness, and your eyes will see it, and it will drive you nuts.
Go light on the pressure, and go across the whole face of the blade evenly.

Sounds good. This time I will start with 400 grit and do two passes each way, then proceed as I did before. Any suggestions you would make to my previous process? I outlined it more in the links to the photo albums. Will pay more attention to the edge area this time.

Originally Posted by souschefdude

I would start over on the whole blade. Spot removing here and there will leave the blade looking beat up. You want consistency across the whole blade. Any spot removal will result in waviness, and your eyes will see it, and it will drive you nuts.
Go light on the pressure, and go across the whole face of the blade evenly.