Thread: First Ebay Purchased Razor & Subsequent Restoration Attempt

I purchased my first razor from ebay recently. It's a vintage Genco, and although I knew it wasn't shave ready, I thought I was purchasing something that would require minimum effort before I could shave with it. I was very wrong. Deciphering ebay photos is not easy, and I've learned a good bit about what ebay ads to avoid. When the description and photo just don't say enough, don't risk it. A poor photo can obscure details just as easily as a good photo can reveal them. Here is the razor I purchased, and if this photo was the one used in the ebay ad, I would have passed it by.

I expected a razor that might need some slight honing, what I got was a razor with a good bit of pitting along the length of the blade. Although this is not what I was expecting, I did have a 1K 4K and 8K stones. Maybe this would be a "First Restoration".

I'm fairly satisfied with the final result. I started by cleaning up the surface of the razor as best I could. Probably a bit unconventional, but I used an old sock that I had rubbed some FeOx paste on. I used that to sort of buff out as much of the surface oxidation that I could get. The two pits that remained are a bit deeper than was practical for me to get. The result of using the FeOx paste like this, was a near mirror finish of the blade. Is there any negative side affect from using the paste like this? Next the bevel was set with a 1K King stone. Actually, at this point, I actually was getting a bit frustrated, so my son actually set the bevel, and did a pyramid honing using the 4K and 8K. From their I did a nylon webbing strop coated with CrOx for 10 passes followed by 20 passes on FeOx. I repeated this three times. That got this razor from the pitted edge to cutting through hanging hair with ease. Awesome!

The shave with this razor was just as close as my Dovo, but not as comfortable. The feel of the razor is much different than the feel of my Dovo. The blade is narrower than a 6/8 like the Dovo, and much lighter. The sound it gives passing through hair is much higher pitched. I think the lightness of the razor requires a slightly different touch when shaving with it, and that may have been why the comfort level was not on par with the Dovo. Or it could have been inexperience at getting it shave ready. I may do another pyramid honing with the 4K and 8K to see if that improves the shave, but all in all, I'm fairly pleased with the results. Still need to dial it in a bit, but for a first attempt, I think it's not too shabby. Any tips or pointers are most welcome.