Thread: Restoring an old Friedrich Herder 30

I bought this Friedrich Herder razor some time ago. I have another identical one in perfect condition which is an absolute fantastic shaver. So I thought you couldn’t go wrong having a second one.
The razor was in bad condition when it arrived - a lot of rust that had let to some deep pitting on parts of the blade. The blade measures 15/16.



The razor was restored following the traditional way of grinding and polishing straight razors. I used old polishing wheels of wood surrounded by leather or wheels of felt. The surface of the wheels was coated by different grades of old Naxos emery that was glued with bone glue to the wheels.
Because of the deep pitting I had to use relatively course emery in the beginning and then changing to finer emery, finally blue polishing with Naxos 5/0 and mirror polishing with a special paste according to an ancient formulation I got from an old grinder.



I think I will skip the old black synthetic scales and make some new horn scales. What do you think?