Thread: Filarmonica worth restoring?

Hey all,

Its been a while since I was last on here, so its good to be back. I recently picked up a Filarmonica 14 Doble Temple at the local flea market. It has seen better days but for the price I figured I had nothing to loose. I was wondering if it would be worth having it restored? Id like to keep the etching and gold wash but I know there is about a 0% chance that that would be possible. Would loosing the etch and gold devalue it much in case I decide to sell it?

let me know what you think.

Chris

I've had a couple of Filly's I bought from Spanish eBay that were worse looking and turned out beautifully....as long as there isn't a crack in the blade, you should be able to get it shaving again no problem IMO.

In terms of the goldwash, I have one that had a similar issue, and by polishing around the goldwash, the person who restored the blade saved it, although it could have gone either way, it turned out quite nice - here it is, colours looks different on the two razors due to lighting, but the scales are​ green:

Before:



After:

definitely worth restoring. As said above as long as no cracks and the hone wear isn't absolutely ridiculous then you can pretty much restore anything. I had a WB that was covered in that nasty black rust and all I need was some sand paper and metal polish and days worth of determination and it came out great.

Edit: Of course if that was my razor I wouldn't really do anything at all just clean it and remove some of the gunk and then hone it up and shave. I like my vintage razors to look vintage. I think it leaves some character to them.

2nd edit: To try to save the gold wash if you are planning on polishing up the blade, try some electrical tape over then wash. You can put a strip of tape over the blade and press it on firmly then remove it and you should be able to see a mirror image of the engraving. Then you can take an exacto knife and cut along the engraving and then stick it back on and sand as normal. If the gold wash does end up coming off you can always redo it. There are kits for doing it yourself or if you are like me you can find a jeweler who does gold washing and show them a before picture of what it is supposed to look like.

There are some pretty big scratches on the front that go right into the etch, those will not come all the way out without loosing the etch. It you mask the etch it should be easy enough to get that one cleaned up. All the scuz and scratches don't look particularly dramatic. It looks like it has some hone wear, I would be curious as to what the actual measurements are on that blade. It should make a pretty decent shaver. As far as values with or without the etch, no comment.

Most definitely restore. You will love the shave.

Thanks for the thoughts and info so far everyone. There are no cracks that I can see but i probably wont know till its cleaned up. Im ok with some scratches remaining but would just like them less noticeable. The scratches on the etching/gold wash, I dont mind.

Phrank: Do you remember who you had restore your philly? I would be plenty happy if it turned out as good as yours.

RezDog: Are these the dimensions your looking for?

I would probably use blue painters tape if you are going the masking route with the gold wash.
Other than that, i definitely say restore that blade to shave ready.

I am going to guess that Phrank used val at the gentleman's den.

Originally Posted by edhewitt

I am going to guess that Phrank used val at the gentleman's den.

He's stepped up and started doing some of his own work too.

Originally Posted by edhewitt

I am going to guess that Phrank used val at the gentleman's den.

Looks like you hit the nail on the head. Just looked at The gentleman's den facebook and saw his razor.