Thread: Some rather basic questions...

I have a number of old razors which belonged to my father (and some possibly to his father too) and want to restore them. I am a fairly accomplished amateur woodworker and well used to to grinding and honing chisel and plane blades and have a good set of Arkansas stones of different grades.

I have already honed the best looking one - a Hunter Bros razor from a hundred or more years ago - but to remove all the chips in the blade I had to do quite a bit of honing, first on a diamond stone then up through the Arkansas grades finishing off with a good strop. This has left the honing area quite wide and in spite of some hand polishing the hollows still have some pitting. It occurs to me that I should grind then polish the hollows, but to do this properly it seems to me that I need a wheel of precisely the right diameter to reproduce the hollow accurately and none of my grinders can accommodate such a large wheel. My workshop is small and I dont want to buy and instal kit I will rarely use. Suggestions?

Another of the razors has only a single hollow. Should the flat side be honed flat, like a plane blade or carpenter's chisel, or should it be given a very slight bevel, like a carver's gouge? In its current state it has a slight bevel. The razor has a British Government broadarrow mark stamped onto it which suggests it was a military issue. My grandfather was too old to fight in the first world war so it was probably my father's from the second world war during which he served in the Royal Marines.

Sanding the blade by hand would probably be the best option in my opinion http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...ing-howto.html.
There is a lot of other good info in the sticky thread at the top of the workshop forum.
The blade with the flat side sounds like a microtome, they are used for slicing thin specimens in the fedical industry.
Grant

Originally Posted by baldy

Sanding the blade by hand would probably be the best option in my opinion [url]http://straightrazorpalace.com/workshop/17007-handsanding-howto.html[url]

I second this. Some really fantastic results can be achieved through this method. I restore blades solely with working up through the spectrum of sandpaper grits. Best of luck with your projects!

Sharpening a razor is a bit different than sharpening tools and knives. I think you should get an inexpensive vintage razor to learn to hone with. Heirloom pieces are best left until you learn, as they can never be replaced. Do the restoration work but wait and hone those later. I too hand sand for the most part. I do have buffing wheels and all the compounds but like the care that can be taken with hand sanding. Using the buffer it is super easy to ruin the subtle lines of the razor. There are a few here that are very good at it, but it takes a lot of practice. The microtome razor can be used for shaving easily enough, the just wasn't their first purpose.

Posting some clear photos of the razors and your kit would help in advising you.

But yes, do stop until you learn more, you may be damaging family heirloom razors.

Steel can never be put back on.

Here are my razors (not a great pic - I will try to get a better shot). From the top:

- brand new carbon steel 5/8" Theirs Issard
- strange razor? with 5/8" blade which is flat on one side and hollow on the other in single piece bakelite? handle. "N B S S Empire Made" on tang, very lightly stamped or etched. This had been stored with some anti-rust paper so is in quite good condition.
- "Hunter & Son Sheffield Hand Forged" 6/8" in horn scales. I have rehoned this. Some rust and pitting but not too bad.
- miniature razor with 1 1/2" long 4/8" blade, ebony or bakelite scales, marked "PLEEZALL" on one side and "No 85" on the other. Quite bad rust and pitting.

The little one would appear to be a corn razor and must have belonged to one of my grandparents. Here is an image of the same type of razor with its original box which I found on the net:

It does look like you have removed quite a bit of steel from the spine and bevel, way too aggressive grits.

What Grit stones are you using?

Do read the restoration section in the Library and recommended threads and at least tape the spine if you do any more honing.

They all do appear to need some restoration, but can be made to shave.

They have much more value as family heirlooms than collector razors.

You can never put steel back on.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

It does look like you have removed quite a bit of steel from the spine and bevel, way too aggressive grits.

What Grit stones are you using?

Do read the restoration section in the Library and recommended threads and at least tape the spine if you do any more honing.

They all do appear to need some restoration, but can be made to shave.

They have much more value as family heirlooms than collector razors.

You can never put steel back on.

Which razor are your referring to? If it is the Hunter & Son I agree that I took off quite a bit from the spine and bevel but this was necessary to remove the bad chips from the blade. In fact the job is not quite done as the edge is still not quite clean. Given the geometry of the blade I can see no alternative to this rather aggressive honing which I did with a diamond honing stone followed by polishes with various grades of Arkansas stones. I now want to reduce the widths of the honing surfaces on both the edge and the spine. It this were a plane blade I would so so by regrinding the hollow.

Not true . you can work on the bevel and take out the chips and then hone. When you hone you can tape the spine so it never looks like you been there. You really should hold off and read. You got me crying already :<0)

They are your razors and you can mess them up if you want. I think there are better razors out there to learn with. If you want to shave with those send them out. If you want to learn to hone buy other ones. These are heirloom razors.