How to start a restoration

Hello everyone,

I was looking around at eBay, for a cheap used straight razor but everything was over my budget (student so you know what I mean). Then I found the Boker & Co (at www.marktplaats.nl) so I placed a bid. The man who sold the razor accepted it and said he also had another razor C. widow and I could have both of them for 10 euro. Now I've got them but I know nothing of restoring a razor. My guess is taking off the scales (to completely clean the blade but how can I save the imprint on the blade? The scales of the Boker are bent how can this be fixed or do I need to make new ones? So what to do and what tools to use? And does anyone know something about the other razor C. widow I like the scales but that’s all I know about the razor. The other one is a Boker & co King cutter The last question (yes I know I ask a lot) Does anyone know where in Holland to buy the pins to re-pin the razor?


Guus (who is feeling very lucky)

There is a thread in this forum about fixing bent scales. You definitely want to take the razors apart for proper restoration. New pins can be purchased from classic shaving. They are five pairs per set (there appears to be much confusion about this). Most people start with Maas polish on the blade, either by hand or Dremel. You can also use high-grit wet/dry sandpaper (sold at auto body or paint shops). Look for 1000-grit and up. Go carefully around etching, as it can be damaged. Take it slow and only be as aggressive as necessary. You might have to accept some spots to preserve the etching. Good luck.

Guus, you should be feeling lucky for me not calling the polizei on you as you stole those razors for 10EUR. Boker makes exceptional shavers and that spine work on the Widow looks pimp. Here's what I would do if i were you...
1) Take off the scales and disinfect the razors (this may be harmful to the finish, so you might as well do it before you start working on it)
2) Your photos aren't highly detailed but the Widow will need some major refinishing work, while you may be able to get away with just cleaning the tang on the Boker. There is an article on making a photo "studio" out of a 30x45x60cm box, some paper towels and a desk lamp posted on the site. Do a search on it.
3) You might be able to straighten the scales by dipping them in hot water until they soften and hand-molding them back into shape.
Now, I think your best bet would be to re-scale the razors... You have a couple of options..
1) The cheapest one would be to get resin scales from Gary (traveller). They look very nice and they should give decades of maintenence free service.
2) The other option would be to send the razors to Joe Chandler for a full resto. That would include refinishing, rescaling and honing (that way you will also know what a shave-ready blade is like)
3) Shaun (gratewhitehuntr) is making horn scales if you're into that
4) Jason (Toxik) is a bit cheaper than Joe, does amazing work with both restoring metal finishes and with wooden/carbon fiber scales. Like Joe, he can also hone them for you but Joe's reputation in that department is rivalled only by Lynn and Randy.
5) Just order DOVO scales from Solingen

I think I'm going to re-use the scales of the widow and with the Boker try if I can straighten it out. If not I'm first going to try making my own wooden scales, I want to do as much as possible by my self because I already have great shavers and I like making and restoring things (why let someone else have all the fun?). And thanks for the trick with hot water I will definitely try this.

Guus

I like your attitude. All but one in my rotation were restoration projects. Now the hot water trick didn't turn out so hot for me, so I had to rescale the razor (had some scales taken off a badly pitted Torrey lying around), but it's worth a shot. There are lots of good posts on making wooden scales on this board, so you should have zero issues. Speaking of which, I'll have to get going on those as soon as the weather is too cold for riding my bike and too warm for riding my snowboard; got quite a few on the project bench :D

Bill Ellis made a DVD about restoring straights, you may want to get that one.