Thread: Advice on cleaning scales - The Royal Guard’s Razor

This was the first straight razor I purchased almost 50 years ago. I got it at a flea market in London and have given up trying to determine its origin.

It has been a good shaver for me and it has got better as I learned more about honing over the years.

Now that I feel confident about unpinning and repinning scales, I would like to try to spruce it up. I have no idea what the scale material is or how to best approach cleaning it up.

If it’s possible, I would also like to enhance the etching to make it more visible.

All suggestions would be appreciated.

The scales look like bone. Be careful, old bone can be very brittle. It cleans up nicely soaking in Simple Green, Awsome or Bleach depending on the look you are going after. Simple Green is the least aggressive and diluted would clean up the scales and leave some of the aged patina of old bone.

I like the look of old bone, you can lightly sand with 600-1k and buff on a buffer or with a good metal polish by hand and still retain some aged patina. If you go too far and still want patina, coffee or tea staining can reproduce it.

Sand the etched face lightly with 1k or judicially around the etch, (you can tape off the etch with electric or scotch tape to protect) but try to not sand heavily or buff over the etch. Your etch looks pretty deep.

600 will remove a lot of light scratches and you can get a nice bright shine after 1 or 2k, with metal polish or with a buffing wheel. I have had luck with a Dremel with a flex shaft and small Cratex hard felt polishing domed points. You can buy knock off Cratex inexpensively.

If you do use a Dremel, do use a flex shaft $15, for infinitely more control and safety and remove the edge with a diamond plate 2-3 swipes and tape the edge with electrical tape. If you catch the edge with a spinning Dremel Cratex or felt mop it will go flying or at least chip the edge. Be careful and watch your direction so the bit is always rotating away from the edge, not into it. Dremel’s are very dangerous.

If buying a Dremel, buy variable speed and go cordless, batteries last a long time an no cord knocking stuff off the bench is a game changer.

Once polished to the degree you wish, the etch can be darkened with Cold Gun Blue painted on, the more careful you apply the less clean up you will have to do. Then sand over the etch with the highest grit paper you have. I like 1um lapping film with a hard wine cork backer, to remove the blue from the blade and leave only the etch.

You can make a backer to the exact contours of the blade, by laying a piece of 220 sandpaper on the blade, grit up and sand a wine cork to the blade shape. Then use that as your sanding backer.

Love that French tip and blade grind.

Thank you Euclid440. This is a blade I want to pass on.

Your advice is very detailed and valuable.

I really like your suggestion about shaping the wine cork to the contour of the blade. Ingenious and simple.