Not an easy Ba(r)tman(n)

Got this Bartmann for a few Euro not long ago.
Has a lot of bad pitting caused by the celluloid scales.

Attachment 232004Attachment 232005

Looking through a loup wiith 20x magnification I thought the pitting was not that deep and should be easily polished out with fine emery.
So I started polishing with soft felt wheels glued with fine Naxos emery. After half an hour working, the pitting has not really disappeared as I hoped.

Attachment 232006

So I changed to wood wheels glued with a bit coarser emery. After another hour of work, I still wasn't satisfied, so changed again to one step coarser grade emery.
The hollow part was not the problem any more but I had to be very careful polishing the area of the belly to the edge.

Attachment 232007

Finally nearly all of the pitting had been gone, just very few small shadows seen with backlight in the area between belly and edge.

The razor had been thin grinded before, so finally handpolishing of that area to prevent to get too thin and risk fissures.

Attachment 232008

Final result after remounting and honing.

Attachment 232009

The razor is now singing as soon as you touch the blade. Fantastic! Looking forward to a hopefully great shave this evening.

Nice save,,,,,,,,,,,,,,:tu

Very, Very Nice Work! :bow:

Any chance of showing your set up? Inquiring minds would like to see it! :tu

Love the step by steps in in your pics.
Great job!!!

:chapeau

Awesome work but I wonder WHY would you put it back in those scales that caused it to rust like that?

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Originally Posted by Chevhead

Awesome work but I wonder WHY would you put it back in those scales that caused it to rust like that?

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Thinking the same thing. Am I missing something here??

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Originally Posted by Chevhead

Awesome work but I wonder WHY would you put it back in those scales that caused it to rust like that?

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Well yes, simple answer. I like these orignal scales with the Bartmann logo.
I have maybe two dozent razors in these kind of celluloid scales and don't have any problems. I use a neutralising oil that I put on the razor and also applicate from time to time on the inner surface of the scales. Together with dry storage and frequent using of the razors that helped so far to prevent them from pitting (again).

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Originally Posted by cudarunner

Very, Very Nice Work! :bow:

Any chance of showing your set up? Inquiring minds would like to see it! :tu

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This is a view in my hollow grinding workshop.

Attachment 232011

Polishing is done on the rack on the right, in the middle is the water hollow grinding rack and left my large knife and axe grinder.

The polishing was done with felt and wood wheels in 4 different diameters. Diametre 200mm for the part belly to edge, D 120 for the inner part of the belly and D60 and D30 for the hollow part. Polishing agent -original Naxos emery 5/0, 3/0 and 4s glued to the polishing wheels as well as applicated in mixture with oil on the wheels.

WOW!!! GREAT set up/ workshop! Very pro!

So when do you open up your own straight razor company? I imagine this is only a portion of your shop. I wish I had more room to set up a "smallish" shop.

Where do you get Naxos Emery from? Or is all Emery the same?

Keep a close eye on that blade and isolate it from your other razors in case the rust was caused by cell rot. If it does start to appear again unpin the razor, throw those scales away and start looking or making a set of scales for it. If that is an inlay on those scales you can transfer it to the new scales.

Love the looks of the blade & scale combination. Nice save and hope it wasn't cell rot.

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Originally Posted by Willisf

WOW!!! GREAT set up/ workshop! Very pro!

Where do you get Naxos Emery from? Or is all Emery the same?

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Yeah that's a poblem nowadays. It is more easy to find a labelled 10'' Escher than to come by old Naxos emery.
Fortunately I know about 5 old grinders from Solingen and rest of Germany that I frequently meet a few times during a year to discuss and learn. So -also furtunately- I had the chance to acquire some old stock emery from them....
Of course you can use modern artificial polishing powders as well. But I like to go the ancient ways and try the old formulations given by the old masters. And they are given in old emery grades.

It is somehow the same thing as with using old natural stones for honing or modern artificial hones. You can get nearly the same results with using the modern stuff. But using the old methods and material, the whole thing gets another dimension......

Hard to believe that is the same blade. Nice work.

Very nicely done!

I've picked up the very same bartmann looking razor last year for only a couple bucks as well, some cell rot and pitting, but not super bad;
I hand sanded mine a bit and it ended up looking like in your third picture, I was happy with that and CBA to clean it up more; kudos to you though!
In all honesty, I immediately threw out my scales and I still have to re-scale that blade, I should get to it!

All the good stuff is in the "old country" and I live in the "new country"......

:shrug:

Great work as always, Peter....people like you keep the "old ways" still alive!

:tu:chapeau

Great save on that blade.

Wow, great work and a beautiful razor! Thanks for sharing.

Btw, besides the good looks, how does it shave?

I have the very same model nr, I have yet to hone it, but I expect it to be a good shaver

Got an absolute phantastic shave today! Sharp and smooth and really a pure pleasure to shave with.
Seems like the polishing took away so much material, that the razor gained a maximum flexibility but without getting unstable in the blade somehow.
So as far as I can say from only the first shave, this razor has the potential to close gap between my two favorite straights for the last months - which were a EPBD Tridur as the sharpest - and a No8Do from the famous Palmera maker Ferd. Herberz as the smoothest blade.

Great setup, great job!