Thread: Cleaning

Where do I start? do I need to disassemble sand and polish or is there some kind of solvent I should use first? also can it be done with out taking the scales off?

Thanks in advance.
John

It’s likely that your best approach is not always the easiest. It looks like you should take the scales off, scrape it with a single edge razor blade, then give it a good scrubbing with 0000 steel wool and WD-40. Then post some very clear close ups, and the next steps will be more apparent. Maybe set the bevel after to see if you have good steel to proceed with sanding and polishing. You could be super lucky and just step to polishing. It’s really hard to tell with that much crud and those pictures.

I went at it with some blue wenol metal polish on a paper towel and was kind of amazed how much it cleaned. But I think I am going to send it off to be restored an honed. I am not very goo at taking pictures. but here are the results.

Blades are difficult to take pictures of. It actually looks pretty good. I would say it’s worth sending out.

I'll second that, Rez. Seems the cleaner they get, the harder it gets to photo them.

I agree. Take apart, and a light restore should be on call.
There's always tons of gunk in the pivot.

Nice looking blade and good luck.

If you want to keep it original and are comfortable removing scales and can hone then go for it, would be a nice project but if your not then weigh the cost of restoration to what you paid and it’s worth.

You can do a lot under the scales near the pivot with unwaxed dental floss and WD-40 graduating to a metal polish like 3M Marine Metal Polish. That stuff on a rag will do just short of miracles with a blade in that kind of condition, at least from what it looks like in the pictures. Also for between the scales I often squirt some WD-40 and let it sit for a few minutes then use lava soap and a fingernail brush to scrub it out. Some really foul looking crud will come out of there a lot of times. On the pictures, there are some really good threads on photographing somewhere here. I'll see if I can find a link and repost.
Also, check out the what are you working on thread in the workshop forum. Tons of good information there. Outback is a master on restoration of this type as are many others who post there.

Try browsing through the threads here. This should help you with picture taking.
https://sharprazorpalace.com/photo-college/

Being you are new to SRP (at least your at the right place) I bet you don't know how to hone. This is a decent-looking razor. I don't feel it's anything special but a good razor that you could give new life and learn to use. You have done a basic cleaning so you can see what is what. The heal is going to need a little reshaping and you will never get all the rust out of the pivot without unpinning and repinning. So if you want to take on this challenge, go for it. We have all the info you need to do it. Then send it out for honing so you can start to enjoy it and learn to use it.

IMO, Being as new to this as you are I'd contact one of the members here (send out a PM) and send it to him for fixing up because at this point you need to know if it will take an edge before spending any more time on it. So a bevel set needs to be done. From there, you can decide if you want to go all out on it or just make it a fine "user grade" razor.

This is the problem with new guys buying old razors without knowing what you are buying or getting into. We have all done it. Hey, you got to start somewhere. It's easy to pickup razors for a low cost then find out what you bought is junk and not worth fixing. WORTH is another thing. Its worth is what you are willing to pay for it. I have razors I feel are worth hundreds and others not worth the time it took to hone them. But I still took them apart and restored them for the challenge as I wanted to learn to collect and restore. I'd recommend sending it out at this point unless you want to learn to remove pins and take a chance on the steel holding an edge. You could do a great job of cleaning and repinning then send it out. This is your choice, the next step. But weigh the costs of fixing it up by contacting someone who does this. You might find the cost of the job is not a big deal. OR jump in and get to removing pins. you're going to need pinning material, tools, time, hones, time, and time. Ha. But it can be fun. So think about what you want out of this way of shaving/hobby. Collecting and learning to restore, or just having a few nice razors and a great shave!