Thread: how do you guys restore?

I often just give them a good deep polishing now and let them be. And I know a lot is on the condition of the razor and how deep the pitting/stains, stamping and etching is. But a few I would like to get to perfect on them like you guys do. I used to start with a rough abrasion to make quick progress of getting deeper. But those deep scratches left seem nearly impossible to get rid of. And I saw one person here say they start at a 600 and work up because then the scratches are nice and easy to remove. And I agree with that, there's hardly any scratching, but it seems like it's not even really making progress on the pitting and stains(helps set a nice foundation for a finish mind you) let alone how quickly the sandpaper wears away without much progress (the metal black kind of sanding paper not the brown wood kind, although I seem to think the wood intended paper works quite well on steel as well.). Any thing special you guys do, or is it literally just going to take me hours upon hours of hand sanding? I'm guessing days upon days of non stop sanding to be honest, and countless pieces of sandpaper. And I've done this a few times before. But just wondering if there is a better way. It gets mundane some times making so slow of progress.

I do all work by hand. If necessary I unpin the razor. First I clean the blade with CLR and a brass brush to remove rust and grime. Next I sand starting with 400 grit and WD-40. I wrap the sand paper around a wine cork. Work my way up to 2500 grit and finish with mothers polish. I remove as much pitting as possible without removing too much metal. If scales are horn I soak in neetsfoot oil. Fill any bug bites with Superglue, sand and polish. Re pin the razor and hone.

I've spent years learning to restore my razors, to deciding the shape of the scales, the material to be used, and finally, what type of polish I'd like on the blade - all key factors in determining the, "planning phase", before one gets ready for the hard part of the actual work.

And that is this, getting the razor packaged up correctly - this is key.

Ensuring that the person who is going to restore your razor, has in fact agreed to do it, and given you the proper address.

Next, a difficult and key part - getting it to the post office, and properly sent off with tracking.

And finally, awaiting it's arrival at it's destination and the, what I call, "the confirmation notice" - this phase can now be properly concluded.

Then, one simply waits for an email from "The Restorer", and a couple of days later, a spankingly awesome, wonderfully restored razor just shows up in your mailbox.

It's like ferkin' magic....but takes time to learn correctly.

Hope this helps, and I'm just passing on the great knowledge and skill that was given freely to me when I joined....good luck....

Originally Posted by Phrank

I've spent years learning to restore my razors, to deciding the shape of the scales, the material to be used, and finally, what type of polish I'd like on the blade - all key factors in determining the, "planning phase", before one gets ready for the hard part of the actual work.

And that is this, getting the razor packaged up correctly - this is key.

Ensuring that the person who is going to restore your razor, has in fact agreed to do it, and given you the proper address.

Next, a difficult and key part - getting it to the post office, and properly sent off with tracking.

And finally, awaiting it's arrival at it's destination and the, what I call, "the confirmation notice" - this phase can now be properly concluded.

Then, one simply waits for an email from "The Restorer", and a couple of days later, a spankingly awesome, wonderfully restored razor just shows up in your mailbox.

It's like ferkin' magic....but takes time to learn correctly.

Hope this helps, and I'm just passing on the great knowledge and skill that was given freely to me when I joined....good luck....

Haha my lord. Invaluable knowledge right there. And I agree, possibly the best way to do it.lol
I enjoy restoring and cleaning them up tho. I'm a very creative individual. I enjoy putting my own touch to everything and I love the idea of creating things that may be here on earth long after I am gone. Plus I'm not in the situation currently to be able to send them off. But I imagine one day in the future I'll be able to send away a few special ones to me, I have acquired over the years and would like professionally restored to their former factory (or as close to as you can get) glory.

Originally Posted by bouschie

I do all work by hand. If necessary I unpin the razor. First I clean the blade with CLR and a brass brush to remove rust and grime. Next I sand starting with 400 grit and WD-40. I wrap the sand paper around a wine cork. Work my way up to 2500 grit and finish with mothers polish. I remove as much pitting as possible without removing too much metal. If scales are horn I soak in neetsfoot oil. Fill any bug bites with Superglue, sand and polish. Re pin the razor and hone.

Good idea with the cork. And I usually just 'pinch' it with sandpaper covering both sides, and rub and rub... I learned quickly to keep even pressure on either side of hollow grounds. I single fingered one one day and broke it. Taught me real quick from that.

What do you polish the scales with? The mothers as well? I often use a Dremel with a buffing pad and Puma blade polish (was closest for me to buy) and I'm fairly impressed with it. But it often will burn and melt the scale material. I found baby oil on some toilet paper or cotton bandage works well.

I use a buffer

Originally Posted by mainaman

I use a buffer

There you have it OP, you see, that's "Advanced"...not even close to there yet....

It depends a lot on what I am working on. Full hollows razors are already so thin it is difficult to do much sanding without making them too thin. Heavy wedge will withstand a lot of sanding, but you have to be careful not to wobble the grind or you bevel line will be all wavy. It does take a long time to get the previous grits sanding scratches out. Sometimes I will sand, then go to the bench buffer, then sand some more and then back to the bench buffer and then hand polish. It takes very little contamination on your polish cloth to mess up a high gloss polish. I mostly scrape any gunk and active rust with WD-40 and a razor blade, then give it a good clean with steel wool and WD-40 and then decide what is next. I recently sent a blade out for a regrind, it seemed like the most sensible solution for that blade. Not all blades need that, in fact of all the blades that have had passed through or hang out as long term residents, this is the first one I have done that with. I have become more minimalist on most of the work I do. Sometimes on the older blades, after I get them all shiny, I then darken the steel to make them look old again, just rust free.

Alright, and yea I guess getting it reground is a good idea if you want it flawless and the material will allow for it. Good thinking. Cause I do like to try to get them looking brand spankiñ new without a single blemish. But just seems nearly impossible on alot of them. I suppose this is mostly just the condition of the razor I'm working on tho. And yea I don't even have a bench grinder yet, so I'm stuck with a little Dremel for now. Works just as good I think, just a bit more time consuming.lol I work with what I have, bû I'm sure in time I will acquire all I need to make thins more efficient. Current tool list I use for all projects, blades and scales is a normal belt sander, standard drill press, Dremel, scroll saw, although I rarely use it, palm sander, and router.. than all the hand tools of course, sand paper, peening hammer, files etc.

Oh and miter, scroll, and jig saw. But those are mostly for my furniture building.

But I'm looking forward to a lathe, table saw, bench grinders, anvil etc. In the near future

I use the Mothers on blades. Scales (bone, horn, ivory, celluloid) it does to all. Sand well finishing with high grit 1000 or higher then polish with Mother's. If you are not careful with the Dremel tool can over heat the scales or do other damage.