Thread: What Is Your Restoration/Mod Philosophy For Vintage Razors?

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Ahhhhhh see it is a rather self fulfilling statement...
To have true "Patina" the steel must have been lovingly cared for, not tossed inside a box wet, and left for years.. So in general if the razor has real Patina it normally doesn't need much in the way of Restoration
(There are exceptions to most every rule in razordom)

I knew the black rust was bad, but I didn't realize some of the faint, smooth stuff was doing so much damage under the surface. Thanks for the tip. I take care of my knives, so it hasn't been an issue for me until now.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

What Is Your Restoration/Mod Philosophy For Vintage Razors ?

7 years ago I'd attempt restoring something off the Titanic. But I've done very few restorations the last couple of years.

I'd say my philosophy has become more ruthless. With today's costs for buying & then restoring, my belief is that the razor must be 99.9% able to shave & be maintained at the end of the process.

Most of the stuff I see people buying especially with heavy "patina" doesn't fall into that category .

Are you saying that a lot of them need grinding to the point of making the razor unusable? I guess it wouldn't be difficult for a SR to get that bad with such thinly ground blades.

Originally Posted by JP5

Are you saying that a lot of them need grinding to the point of making the razor unusable? I guess it wouldn't be difficult for a SR to get that bad with such thinly ground blades.

Pretty much. I can remember restoring an old wedge with "patina" that was pure rust & while i could get it sharp enough to shave, it was far from what I accept today as a good shave. The steel was compromised right the way thru & I simply won't take the risk with something like that these days.

You learn a lot working on those sorts of blades but you pay "school fees ".

A razor with nice patina is as rare as a 5 legged dog. I have seen it but don't own one. And this type of finish is something you don't mess with. It will polish out in a heart beat. Some of the etches will do the same thing some won't. Some are etched deeper than others and on old wedges they stamped it in. I had an Imperial razor with a beautiful etch that came off with Blue Magic. Wiped right off. I avoid etch like the plague now and consider gone before it arrives in the mail box. There are guys here who take the time and have the know how to save some of them but not if it has been cleaned by the seller with steel wool or something. Glen said it best,, "The pitting is always a little deeper than the etch."

Each blade is different so saying this will happen or that is impossible. Pictures are a help but they don't show how deep the damage is. But yes you can ruin a blade trying to get pits out. There is a fine line between saving some and destroying them. You just have to proceed with caution and stop before you go to far.

Regrinding is a different topic of it's own. Sometimes that is necessary to save a blade. Sometimes it's hopeless.

This is a pet-peeve of mine! Having worked my entire life in the automotive field, cars have always been a passion of mine and my view is the same for both cars and razors.

If you buy a 57 Chevy 2 door in rough shape a spend the time finding original panels to replace completely rusted out ones, reupholster the interior to as close to OEM as possible, rebuild the engine to stock condition or hi performance that was available for that time period, THAT is a Restoration.

If you buy the same vehicle and chop out the rusted fender wells and flair them to accept 20" rims and tires, put Recaro buckets seats in it, and drop in a fuel injected engine from later model, THAT is a Custom!

Same should go for old razors. Original scales or as close as possible to something from the period. I don't know what kind of finish period blades had but somehow I don't think they were the super mirror finish a lot of people do. Kind of like the satin finishes people like Wolfpack34, Sharpton and Gssixgun does them too. I imagine it would be more like an original looking, off the grinder type finish that would have been done in the day.

Now please don't get me wrong!! If a highly polished finish is your thing and you find it appealing, more power to ya. And slapping glow-in-the-dark acrylic scales on them is fine if that's your thing BUT, it's a custom restore, NOT a restoration!!!

Originally Posted by NewellVW

This is a pet-peeve of mine! Having worked my entire life in the automotive field, cars have always been a passion of mine and my view is the same for both cars and razors.

If you buy a 57 Chevy 2 door in rough shape a spend the time finding original panels to replace completely rusted out ones, reupholster the interior to as close to OEM as possible, rebuild the engine to stock condition or hi performance that was available for that time period, THAT is a Restoration.

If you buy the same vehicle and chop out the rusted fender wells and flair them to accept 20" rims and tires, put Recaro buckets seats in it, and drop in a fuel injected engine from later model, THAT is a Custom!

Same should go for old razors. Original scales or as close as possible to something from the period. I don't know what kind of finish period blades had but somehow I don't think they were the super mirror finish a lot of people do. Kind of like the satin finishes people like Wolfpack34, Sharpton and Gssixgun does them too. I imagine it would be more like an original looking, off the grinder type finish that would have been done in the day.

Now please don't get me wrong!! If a highly polished finish is your thing and you find it appealing, more power to ya. And slapping glow-in-the-dark acrylic scales on them is fine if that's your thing BUT, it's a custom restore, NOT a restoration!!!

What exactly are you referring to? People referring to custom restorations as restorations?

Originally Posted by JP5

I know with vintage cars you have the people that want completely original, Rat Rods, period accurate restorations, and modern restoration/mods. I'm wondering how a lot of you SR users/collectors approach the restoration of your 'new' vintage straight razor.

For example, what do you do if:

-blade has heavy patina, but no rusting or pitting
-the scales are damaged or cracked/chipped at pivot, but functional
-similar material for replacement scales or personal preference
-etching is still intact, but very faint
-completely remove pitting, or just what comes out with light hand sanding

pics are welcome!

Thanks

As far as razors go, I'm a staunch conservative. I have only once made customised scales (they looked okay, not bad at all) and I ended up taking them off the razor (a rescued Genco 6/8 full hollow), as it felt silly - it was a customisation and while they flattered the razor, they did not suit it, in my opinion:


I fixed up its original black plastic scales and used those instead.

That said, I do re-purpose scales if the originals are cheap (happens occasionally), flimsy (a few times) or just plain ugly (once, on a really, really nice razor). I have a pair that came in plain, banged up dark bakelite which I am considering rescaling in bone and dark horn, following the original scales in terms of geometry. But I have repaired, cleaned up and reused banged up old scales plenty. I made a pair in wood once. Even though they looked fine, it gave me cold chills. Apart from dark ebony, I would never consider wooden scales. Even if, for some reason, I end up not using the original scales, I will go for period correct. Always. If I think it looks silly, I will figure out something else.

If there is patina, I try to leave it unharmed. I have a E.G. Gustafsson that had a patina which really filled out the grind marks very nicely. It has some minor residual pitting as well, but I liked the patina more than I hated the pitting, so I used micro mesh 8000 and 12000 and left it at that. The grind marks were also of that nature that it would be hard to get any sort of even finish on it other than that:



In short, I feel that a razor is allowed to show its age, also because getting it to factory new is likely have a negative impact on the original geometry (thing rounding originally sharp lines, shoulders, tangs, etc.). I try to re-use original parts as much as possible and if that proves impossible I keep it period correct. This means that I will repair and re-use original scales (I usually don't re-purpose outside washers as they have already been peened, giving me sub-par results when I re-use them - this may be because of my heavy handed pinning as well, though).

If there is heavy pitting and a good chance that most of it will come out, I will try to do so. However, this is hardly ever the case. I rather preserve the original geometry of a razor than chase a blemish free surface, so I will usually stop at some point when I feel the optimal balance between the two has been reached. In this case I give the pitted razor a citric acid-vinegar soak for about 30-60 minutes and polish off the resulting surface rust and discolouring. If possible, I try to approach the original finish as much as possible. Mostly this means a mirror polish on the tang and spine with a hazy finish on the blade, but I have an oldie (mid 1800's I think) that came with an original mirror finish all over that had some rust covering it; I cleaned off the worst of the rust and polished it back up to a mirror finish, which was, to be, the best balance between original geometry and finish, and clean look.

If there is an etching, I will carefully try to work around it and clean it up as much as it allows for without being ruined.

Most customisations, especially overly polished blades and scales that are not period correct, with qualities such as multiple pins, unbalanced geometry (thick towards the wedge, too thin towards the pivot - much like Hart scales) or in plain Klingon-style (or as I like to call them "Tribal tattoo scales"), in heavily figured wood or acrylic make me throw up in my mouth a little bit every time I see them. This goes for new "customs" as well, but they bother me less as they never were anything else, so "whatevah".

So yeah, you could say I have a bit of conservative approach when it comes to straight razors . We're all free to do as we want to our own razors, but we are also allowed our opinions. And mine is, admittedly, rather unforgiving. But I try not to rub it in people's faces too much

Simply put, I would definitely aim for my razors to be as close to original as possible.
If that means less than stellar or new looks, so be it.
Keeping it original is more important to me than new looks.