Thread: A diary of a restoration...

OK, this is one of my first restoration attempts. It's a heavy-grind 6/8 marked "Military" on the shank. It's rusted around the pivot and stained all over the place. I'm planning to work on it this week and post updated photos as I progress through. I just got Bill's CD, too, so this should be interesting.

First thing I plan to do is drill out the pin. I wrap electrical tape around the scales to protect them, since I'll be reusing them, and start with a very small bit. I'll go really slowly with that in my hand-held drill to scratch the brass and start a hole, then I'll go to a bigger bit that chews off the head of the pin. Then the whole thing pops apart. I've done several razors this way without cracking or scratching a scale. It just takes patience and a few minutes of extra time.

I really like the pattern on the razor's spine. I'm hoping to preserve that as much as possible.

Later,
Josh

eeewwww...

that is one neglected razor!

Break out the 400grit

I'm hoping 120 will do the job on this one Depending on how deep the pitting is, it may even need a re-grind.

You're both right--this is one nasty razor. I picked it because a.) it's junk, so I won't care if I ruin it, and b.) I wanted to show how big of a difference the restoration process makes.

I started working on it last night. Of course, I spoke too soon on the "never damaged a scale" thing. I drilled the pin without any problems, but it wouldn't come out. I had to pry the scales apart near the pivot, and when the pin finally let go I snapped the scale at the butt pin. Fortunately I have a set of scales that will fit--they're actually from a matching razor--so we'll pretend this whole thing never happened.

I used a wire brush wheel on my Dremel, set to 2 or 3, to clean off the rust. Next time I'll wear a mask, since I ended up blowing some rust dust out of my nose... Yuck. Rust also stinks, I found out.

I'm attaching photos of the razor after this cleaning.

Then I strapped on my 160-grit flap wheels and worked for about 20 minutes on the tang, shank and spine. There's no way this pitting is coming out--it's the deepest I've seen. I'll settle for just cleaning it out and polishing the flat parts.

I should be getting more flap wheels from Widget Supply today. My current one I paid $6.95 for at Home Depot--highway robbery, but I was impatient.

That's all for now.

Josh

The pitting damage is extensive, but now that the active corrosion has been cleaned up, it looks like you could at least make a beginner sale piece for it or make it beautiful but really thin out the tang and lose the logo.

I think I'll make it a beginner piece and sell it for around $25. It's not worth the hours it would take with the flap wheels. Maybe if I had Bill's Burr King...

Josh