Thread: What are you working on?

I haven't been posting here for a while, but since I am working continously with razors, here is an example of working on a razor I got from a customer for cleaning/restoration and honing.
This was the condition when the razor arrived:



One scale was broken out, so new scales were necessary.



Here is a look at the razor after "Pliesten" and polishing:



Decided with the customer to choose black, "living" horn scales for the new appearance.

Finally honing on the vintage honing machine, in Solingen called "Hexe" with finishing on yellow-green thuringian honing discs.
That's how it actually look like:



Regards Peter

That is absolutely beautiful, Peter!

So I finished the restore on the WB wedge circa 1830-1850.


The scales were pretty rough. You couldn't even see that it had a domed collar on the one side. It was weird. There was the polished tin colors at the wedge which wasn't even a wedge. It was all horn cut away to make a slot.

But there was a brass pin that held the collars and then there was
an iron pin underneath the collar.

Trying to drive it out the end cracked off of one of the scales. I repaired with CA and horn dust.

I wanted to leave this one looking old but in better shape so I didn't sand the horn too much so it would still show the grain. I tried hair dye but it did very little to the color and I didn't want to sand it enough to take it back to blond plus I had repairs to cover. I decided to try Rit fabric dye which worked fabulously.

The tail was a little rough so I reshaped it a little.


To Be Continued...

...so after sanding the rust and cleaning up the pits the blade improved quite a bit. I sanded up to 5000 and got it to a mirror shine you could yank a nose hair in the reflection of.

Since the collars were either plated or, more likely polished ferrous metal I didn't get a couple back to mirror polish but, as already stated, I wanted it to look authentic to its age but still restored. I think all in all it came out pretty well.
Before



After

Looking good Paul, now it’s off to the hones!

Yep, I didn't mention in there that the first thing I did was do a rough bevel set. It wasn't perfect and I wasn't really trying to get it shaved ready but it would shave. The edge was a little chippy and I was going to do a fair amount of sanding anyway so I killed it.

Okay, I don't know what happened there. half the pics didn't post correctly but I think it's fixed now. If it will stay that way that is.

Peter, have you ever tried to use bluing or similar to blacken the etch again? It looks like it is all still there and if you could get it black again it would really pop.
Those scales are fantastic. I love the multi colour horn.

Well with bruning it is very hard to retrace the exact lines of the original etching.
The colored etchings in blue or red color are done with special color. But you have to be an artist under the microscope to do this really perfect. Also in Solingen there are only very few experts left now. For very fine work they use only one hair of a brush for painting. Unbelievable how precise the lines are drawn when you examine good vintage etching.
Regard Peter

Cold bluing works after a fashion with this type of deep etching but I would not try it on an etching like Peter's razor has with all that frosted area.

Bob