Thread: Nice to meet yall, starting to restore razors.

Here are the 9 I have not worked on yet. 1 - 4 seem pretty straightforward. 5 and 6 have cracked scales, which is sad because I really like #5s scales. #6 is the one I am most excited about using. 7 and 8 have a strange taper to the blade, so not sure how that will work. But, I am thinking about trying at least one of them into a bread lame if I can get a nice edge on them. #9 has some bend or warp to it, so I will figure that one out last. I got all these, plus the one in the first post, five boxes, and a few other barber things for $100 shipped. Seemed like a good deal to me.

Welcome. Tons of information in the library and in the advanced search option, top of the page, right hand corner.

If you vary your search just a bit you will get more information. But if you want to know something specific, just start a new post in the Workshop forum, you will get lot of advice.

To un-pin use a single flute centering drill/countersink in a drill press. Sets run $5-10 and the smallest is 1/8” I think and perfect for drilling a pin.

Centerpunch a dimple in the center of the pinhead with a sharp punch. I made one from a small old Philips screwdriver, that I ground a sharp point and hardened the tip, works great for pins most are too thick. Then back the razor on a strip of wood with a shallow divot for the back pin to rest in and prevent from spinning.

Once you start a hole, drill it out with a sharp 16th in bit with lite taps until the head comes off, sometimes on brass the center drill will go through.

Do not punch the pin through, lift the scale off the pin. If the pin is bent, (common) and you try to punch it through you will blow out the back scale. Lift off the scale and cut the pin at the blade pin hole, with flush cutters, to remove the other side. Piece of cake.

Pinning and Un-pinning is easier than it looks, you just have to do a few or practice with popsicle stick as Jerry said. Popsicle stick are un-forgiving, pin 3 stick, then un-pin them. After you do a few you will be ready for the center ring.

So, the bad news is your Bresnick is a candidate for un-pinning, it has Cell rot, the rust pattern on the razor the tarnish on the pins and the molting on the scales are all cell rot indicators. Left unchecked it will completely eat the razor and any others near them.

The Bresnick and that scale material are notorious for cell rot.

Unpin it to save it. You also may need to remove a bit of the edge to get to good steel, a 1k will do it easily with regular honing.

Also, likely that razor did not need 220 sanding, cut off the rust with a single edge razor blade, and clean with 000 steel wool and any good metal polish. If you do need to sand, I always start with 600 and evaluate from there.

You will need a lot of sanding to bring a shine back to that blade, start with 400 work up to 1k.

Also do not strop on polishing compound, it is aluminum oxide and will leave a harsh edge. From 8k go to Chromium Oxide, Cerium, Ferrous Oxide or .50um Diamond or CBN, or 12k or a Natural.

Lots of honing info in the Honing forum or search button.

Welcome to the rabbit hole!

Some good advice already given.

I also came from a knife sharpening background and I'll warn you razors are a whole different ball game. I've been concentrating on my razor honeing for multiple months and am just starting to feel like I'm getting it (I could also just be slow to learn ).

If you can grind (pun intended?) it out, there is tons of restoration tips/tricks in the "what are you working on" thread in the workshop forum. It takes a while to get through it all, but I found it very worthwhile.

As said, lots of folks here that want to help and you'll get plenty of good advice by posting questions.

Welcome! Great bunch of fellas here that are keen to help. Enjoy your time.

Thanks Eublid,

Lots of good info there. I don't have a drill press, so I decided use the dremmel cutting wheel. That part worked well enough. But, I missed the step of cutting the pin on the back side scale. So, ummm, superglue will not work, right? I was working on #8, the 1/2" one with the wild taper. Good news, I wasn't planning on really shaving with that one. Bad news, it is not as long as normal, so buying scales may take some searching. But you were absolutely right about the rust around the pin. There was orange rust under there that was totally hidden.

I remember when I first started honing my razor that there was a little back and forth on the green chromium paste and the white jewelers stick. I went with the white because that is what my father in law uses for his leather tools. Guess that explains what I think about my face, huh? While I don't have anything to really compare to, I will say that the first shave is a bit rough sometimes. I will probably go ahead and pick up some of the green stuff as that seems to be a larger consensus.

About the 220 grit, I guess I am still trying to get my head wrapped around how much pitting and patina to remove and how much to leave. Ironically, I meant to start with my 320 today (before seeing your post) but misread it and used 220 grit. I will play with starting higher and going down if needed.

Hey JellyJar,

You're right about the advise I'm getting. It is amazing how generous people are with their time and advise. For me, I found honing straight razors to be relatively easy compared to knives. Just lay it down and slide. No having to find and hold pesky angles. Not to say I am not still learning and improving.

By the way, do ever just get a knife that you can't sharpen? My girlfriend has a pocket knife that is just with my whetstones that I work on every time I pull them out and just have never gotten it to shave. It's a Moore Maker, so not like a cheap knife, we just don't get along.

Anyway, it will certainly take me a few years to get through the 19K posts in the "what are you working on thread", but I did already ask a question there .

Thanks for the help yall. Here are some photos of #8 that I worked on tonight. The after photos didn't come out, but it is a R. H. Hegener from Minneapolis. Says Reliance and has a little boat on the other side. I'll get some better photos before honing it to see if I need to reshape the heel on that one, too. Seems close by my eyes.

Originally Posted by markbignosekelly

Welcome! Great bunch of fellas here that are keen to help. Enjoy your time.

Thanks Mark. Yall respond so quick I am getting responses while typing .

“I'll get some better photos before honing it to see if I need to reshape the heel on that one, too. Seems close by my eyes.”


Yes, it needs heel re-shaping. Look at the wear marks over the stabilizer where it was last honed. He was honing on the stabilizer and it kept the heel off the stone, so he added more pressure and ground the toe.

So now the toe is narrower in width than the heel that has been kept off the stone.

The goal is to end the corner of the edge well in front of the stabilizer so you can hone without touching the stabilizer. It only takes a few swipes with a diamond plate, diamond file or low grit stone. The metal is very thin there.

Mark a radius with a coin and sharpie that is pleasing to the eye but ends about a ¼ to 1/8th inch from the stabilizer, then cut to the ink.

You should really think about a drill press if you plan on any serious restoration work and want to save scales. Also, the first post in the Workshop forum is chocked full of great how too and where to buy information.

Hello and welcome to SRP.
Enjoy your time on the forum.

Pete <:-}

Thanks Euclid,

I was trying to figure out how they got the blade that shape. But yeah, running it up on the stabilizer would do it. I gave them the benefit of doubt and figured they wanted it that shape.

I wasn't planning on getting that serious about restoring blades. I thought I was just going to be sanding some metal to pretty and then honing to sharp. Besides, unless I can find a way to get rid of them, I might clean up 20 before the committee really starts in on it. The last plan was to clean these up, then chuck them in salt water so I have to clean them again, lol.

I did look at those little drill presses you put your dremmel tool in and they cost about 6 sets of scales. Probably not that great, but a drill press would have one purpose and take up too much space.

Hi Pete, good the meet you.

Originally Posted by planeden

Hey JellyJar,

You're right about the advise I'm getting. It is amazing how generous people are with their time and advise. For me, I found honing straight razors to be relatively easy compared to knives. Just lay it down and slide. No having to find and hold pesky angles. Not to say I am not still learning and improving.

By the way, do ever just get a knife that you can't sharpen? My girlfriend has a pocket knife that is just with my whetstones that I work on every time I pull them out and just have never gotten it to shave. It's a Moore Maker, so not like a cheap knife, we just don't get along.

You're right about having the honing angle built in being easier. My problem was (still is sometimes) too much pressure. It still surprises me how little it takes to flex the edge off the hone.

Yeah, I've had a few problem children with knives. I'm not very familiar with that brand, so not sure what steel they use. I can usually play with a lower or higher bevel angle to get them to behave. The real stubborn ones get a guide clamped onto the spine so I can be more consistent and control the angle better.