Thread: Basic tools for restoration?

Hi Guys

I'm new to this, and have access to plenty of old beaten up blades
and wonder what the basic tools for restoration should be?

I would high recommend getting the Bill Ellis Restoration CD for razor restoration

You definitely want to get a dremmel for polishing with MAAS or Flitz

If your blades need beacoup de work you will need plenty of sand paper all the way from 120grit to 2500 grit.

Definitely some gloves.

For tightening scales a jewelers hammer or a smaller rounded hammer.

With restoration I would say it breaks down into these phases:

Blade restoration
Scale restoration
Scale replacement
Honing the refurbed blade

For Blade restoration you pick one of the following methods or combine them in a way that you think will work:

Hand sanding (most labor intensive but cheap and low tech)
for this you will need:
Hand protection
Sand paper (progressive grits from >120 all the way to 2000)
Optionally but highly recommended is a sanding block
learn more here

Tumbler method (slightly less labor intensive, longer process)
you will still need to sand a blade that has pitting and rust to 400 grit.
since this is the most labor intensive part of hand sanding, this method is really just a way of automating the last part of the sanding process.
you will need:
Hand protection
sandpaper
a tumbler
tumbling media
a sanding block OR a dremel tool
learn more here

Dremel sanding (slightly faster sanding, a little different finish, more potential to screw up)
for this you will need:
Hand protection
Eye protection
a dremel tool
optional but recommended is the flex shaft attachment
sand paper or bristle disks
polishing wheels for the dremel
learn more here

I use a combo of dremel and hand sanding to get the job done. As always YMMV

The end of the line is polishing and I would agree with Amyn on that. You could hand rub with Maas or Flitz but it would take longer to get the dremel type results I think.

Effort is in direct proportion to the condition of the blade. The more rust and pitting, the more effort. Hand sanding a blade can take 10 or more hours and Bruno's hand sanding guide says it best:
"As soon as all the damage is gone you are ready to go up in grit. Don't go up sooner because low grit is the fastest way to remove damage. Don't even think about sanding away left over pits with 400 grit paper, no matter how fed up you are with low grit sanding."

The other aspects of restoration also require varying degrees of equipment and I have not attempted them yet. I will be making scales this weekend though so I might have some advice on monday.

All of this really can be found in the sticky at the top of this thread though and I only post because I know that I like getting direct responses to my questions. Good Luck and post pics!

Thanks Amyn for the info on the Bill Ellis Restoration CD and
sicboater for the tool info!

It certainly is available in stickies, but that was very well presented sicboater, thank you!

+1 on what Amyn said also. I haven't had time to watch my Bill Ellis cd yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

I agree, I should have looked a little closer. Just bought a house, two small girls, so it is all quite hectic at the mo.
Perfect time to restore straight razors ;-)

+1 sicboater
Very, very, well written post!!!!!

...All I had to do was arrange the information that I learned on this Forum. Most of that info comes from some of the people thanking me in this thread!

By the way bruce, no one has asked yet but I was wondering:

Just how many is Plenty?

Originally Posted by sicboater

Just how many is Plenty?

Ask your spouse. If you don't have one, you'll never know

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

Just how many is Plenty?

Ask your spouse. If you don't have one, you'll never know

Wasn't the name "Plenty O'Toole"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plenty_O'Toole