Advice on a misshapen blade

Someone did not treat this Greaves very well and it's now under new ownership and that is going to change. What would you fellas recommend regarding evening out the blade? Would smoothing out towards the heel be best making it sort of a smile as I tried to simulate in the photos, or taking off some meat towards the middle of the blade and losing more width, so it lines up more with the heel. I'm sure that originally this blade was considerably wider but now is only ~4/8 so I would obviously like to keep as much steel as possible.

Some of both.

My first thought is that that razor is not worth the time/effort to try to "fix" it. If I really wanted to use it (because, personally, I would just set it aside), I would just hone from the toe to as far back on the heel as I could easily and that would be that. But if you really want to fix it, I would suggest very carefully grinding down around the stabalizers and putting a little work into honing the heel in order to figure out what you are really dealing with.

I would try breadknifing the edge to get it even. Then reset the bevel and hone. Can't hurt.

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Originally Posted by holli4pirating

My first thought is that that razor is not worth the time/effort to try to "fix" it. If I really wanted to use it (because, personally, I would just set it aside), I would just hone from the toe to as far back on the heel as I could easily and that would be that. But if you really want to fix it, I would suggest very carefully grinding down around the stabalizers and putting a little work into honing the heel in order to figure out what you are really dealing with.

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Yes, my first thought was that it is not worth the effort to fix also.

Bob

I would agree that it is strictly not worth the effort, but most of this or for that matter any hobby is "not worth the effort" in the strictest sense.

On the other hand, a tremendous amount can be learned about repairs and razor geometry by taking on such a project and there is nothing to lose except time. Even a total failure may not be considered wasted time because of the experience gained. I really don't see a down side since the OP obviously has enough interest in the project to post about it.

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Originally Posted by bluesman7

I would agree that it is strictly not worth the effort, but most of this or for that matter any hobby is "not worth the effort" in the strictest sense.

On the other hand, a tremendous amount can be learned about repairs and razor geometry by taking on such a project and there is nothing to lose except time. Even a total failure may not be considered wasted time because of the experience gained. I really don't see a down side since the OP obviously has enough interest in the project to post about it.

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Well put bluesman.

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Originally Posted by holli4pirating

My first thought is that that razor is not worth the time/effort to try to "fix" it.

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That would be my assessment as well.
There are many good reasons to save this razor: figuring out how to do it, getting some experience in honing / restoration, because you love doing it etc. But the razor itself is really nothing special, and you are not going to increase the value a lot over what you have in it.

Time and effort is not worth the razor. You can of course be used to gain experience.

Trace the razor with a sharpie onto a piece of cardboard and play with the shape until you get a profile you like.

I would make it smile, removing as little metal as possible and make the width of the toe match the heel. Then cut out the shape and trace it onto the razor with colored sharpie and grind to the line with a diamond plate.

As said, at worst, you will learn a lot… at best, you have a shaver…

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Originally Posted by bouschie

I would try breadknifing the edge to get it even. Then reset the bevel and hone. Can't hurt.

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This seems to be the go to answer for many whenever ther is a geometry issue and I really don't understand why. That blade wants to smile! I'm with some others that if I had that razor I personally wouldn't work on it, but that doesn't mean it's not worth doing for someone else. I would look at the overall shape of the blade and how much steel you have at either end and reshape it accordingly. Id try to preserve some smile without taking too much off of the heel(there's really not much there to take off).

I would say it really depends on the width of the spine. If it is as wide as I think it is (my rough estimate would be around 4mm), I doubt you will be able to get a good edge on this due to the extremely high honing angle caused by the disparity between spine width and blade width. So I do not think it is a good candidate for honing practice.

When I get razors like this I re-purpose the scales, purpose depending on state of the state of them: if they are in decent shape I'll fix them up (or reshape them) and use them as scales, otherwise become wedge material.

Unusable blades (which is how I would classify this one) I use for trying out surface finishes, forced patina, etc. or get them sharp up to a degree and use them as scrapers.