Thread: Restoration of 5 razors

I started working on the third razor, an Alfred Williams Sheffield wedge. I feared most for the black spot in the centre that shows at both sides:




But it turned out reasonably nice Some of the pitting is really deep and there's even a little chunk out of the tang that only noticed when I started scraping off the rust. I did what I could and it now looks like this:



The black spot turned out to be mostly superficial, so I think this razor may yet be made to shave! Scale making will happen soon.

Yesterday I started out with making scales. The plates I cut were way too thick, so I decided to try and thin them down with the band saw, after which they were too thin. Trouble didn't end there, the razor just would not center, it was quite bad:


Put off, I got upstairs and ate a pile of pancakes. Today, I unpinned the wedge end, sanded and fitted quite a few times with little luck. I thought the blade was straight, but I decided to check the tang just once more, only this time by pressing it down on the pivot hole, not 1 cm away from it, and found this:



I decided to cheat and use one bearing washer on the inside and I'm happy to say it worked well! If you look closely, you can see it, but it's a minor thing.

Having received new washers in different sizes and being elated about the looks of the domed washers, I decided to try stacked domed washers. Well... it could have been better. I hope BiscuitCookie likes them, if not, I'll do the pinning over. They are buffed to shiny, though

Bubinga scales, honey horn wedge, stacked domed brass washers with brass pins. Honing is Shapton GS 1-4-8-16K and 0.5 micron diamonds and she's up for duty tomorrow morning.

The last picture shows why it wouldn't center. Looks like it either ground from one side or hammered from one side.

Started some work on the last two, scraped off surface rust and did a quick buff with metal polish. Lots of patina on these two and lots of play between the blades and the scales.

Before:




After:



Out of curiosity, I just put them on the 1K and found they both take a clean bevel. If you want, I can hone them up and see if they will shave after all! Note: I will need to grind down the protuding heel on the M.I. Germany.

I don't mind the heel being ground down if they can still get a good edge. Good luck.

I have finally got a good edge on the Alfred Williams. Narrow wedges are the hardest razors for me to hone. It took 4 tries before I turned an okay edge into a good edge, though admittedly not as great as the first two razors. Perhaps that's because I don't like shaving with narrow blades, I prefer wider ones.

The last two have been honed and are waiting for a shave test tomorrow morning.
The scales have been lightly sanded and oiled as per request and I tightened the pins. They don't open and close so well, because the scales are not very flexible, but at least the razors are not floppy when stropping and shaving. I have not removed the patina, for one because it would require unpinning and thereby destroying the original pins, as well as sanding down the etched letters, and because I think the history on these razors shows much better with the original scales and patina. Just my opinion of course, they are not my razors

@BiscuitCookie: do you have experience with straight razor shaving? You'll be needing a leather strop, brush and soap. There's the Beginner's guide to straight razor shaving - Straight Razor Place Library and I'll be happy to help you out with any questions.

I ordered some a strop set just before I sent my razors to you (Balsa wood and 1 spare strop). Brush and soap I already have because I use a DE razor.

Good to hear I will send all razors stropped and ready to shave. If a razor does a good job the first shave, but a poor one when you've stropped for your second shave, you know the problem is with the stropping. You shouldn't need the balsa strop the first couple of shaves. I recommend watching a few videos and practising with a butter knife.