Thread: Is it worth trying to save this razor?

Did the seller mention the degree of pitting in his description? If not you may be able to get eBay to get you a refund. If you did not pay too much you can try to hone it and see it the pitting affects the edge. You will not know until you try. Good luck.

Originally Posted by bouschie

Did the seller mention the degree of pitting in his description? If not you may be able to get eBay to get you a refund. If you did not pay too much you can try to hone it and see it the pitting affects the edge. You will not know until you try. Good luck.

I didn't pay much, but I think it was too much for what I got.

I'll try to hone it, since I was going to get a hone anyway, but even if I can get an edge on it, it'll be more expensive to restore than it's value. The scales are warped as well, and the pins are loose.

I've not had any problem once i honed/ground past surface pitting at the edge. I have one or two with pitting, maybe more

Learn on it. Don't fret too much, you are going to "waste" some money in this game.

If you feel seller was dishonest/misleading, by all means "open a case" and request a partial refund, or full. But if full, you'll need to send it back and lose the second half of your learning experience.

A lot of sellers don't have ANY clue about straight razors. An example is all the various dimensions they'll give you, when we only want the ONE.

What was it about that razor that made you make an offer?

If you are buying on EBay expect this to happen. I only buy from sellers who post good clear photos and ask questions if there is any doubt. Even then, something’s are not as represented.

On the other hand, I have got some smok’en great deals that were much better than I expected for what I paid.

EBay is a crape shoot as you cannot hold and examine the item until it arrives in the mail. Pitting and hone wear are two things I scourer photos for, if there is any doubt I pass… there is always another one coming on line soon.

All in all I am ahead of the game.

That razor does seem to have some deep pitting, it is not a razor I would have purchased. I would return it and buy better razors.

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

The only part that matters for shaving is the tiny bit
that holds the bevel. less than 1/16 of an inch.

The pits in the hollow ground region are only interesting
if you cannot keep the blade clean enough to be sanitary.

Blades that are old and shiny tend to be trouble because
someone chose to not use it. Often it was ill tempered,
badly ground, would not hold an edge, too hard for old
school hones... no way to know except hone it well and
give it the old shave test.

There's no pitting on the actual bevel, but won't it reach the pitting in a few years? I'm not sure of the rate at which the blade width is reduced over time, as I only have a barber's hone for touchups, but I don't imagine this razor has many years left. Relative to some of the other vintages I've seen.

The razor is a Riteha, from Solingen, so the steel should be of a decent quality.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

What was it about that razor that made you make an offer?

If you are buying on EBay expect this to happen. I only buy from sellers who post good clear photos and ask questions if there is any doubt. Even then, something’s are not as represented.

That razor does seem to have some deep pitting, it is not a razor I would have purchased. I would return it and buy better razors.

I mainly bought the razor because it was cheap and it had some flaws, and so I thought it would be a good start towards learning to restore razors. But in the images, I only saw the rust, and some pitting near the spine. I didn't know that there was also some on the edge.



^^ Damn. I made the mistake of trying to clean up the razor before honing it.

Ok makes sense now.

So hone the edge and see if there is any pitting on the edge. You may only hone the edge once and if you maintain it properly and never have to re-hone it again. Even if you touch it up or re-hone you will not remove much of the blade width.

As said tape the spine and hone it on a 1K and look at the edge under magnification looking for pitting, you may want to put it on a 4k after to get a better look at the edge.

If good then invest time in restoring, if that is the look you are after. I have several old blades with some patina and some pitting on the blade that will never get near the edge. Try polishing the blade with 000 steel wool and metal polish. You will clean the blade and retain the patina. Then polish with paper towels and metal polish, I like MAAS for final polish.

It may turn out to be a great shaver. This morning I shaved with an old French razor, it has some patina, a little pitting and original scales… and is still a great shaver.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

... You may only hone the edge once and if you maintain it properly and never have to re-hone it again. Even if you touch it up or re-hone you will not remove much of the blade width...

It's all good advice, but that little bit could use repeating a few times. I know half the stuff I've honed and left a bevel "imperfect" in order to get to a shaving edge, may never _need_ to be rehoned except for damage or bevel "bettering".

Of course not everyone agrees, and there can be a great deal of "touching up" done on dozens of different hones and pastes...