Thread: Sanding the spine?

I'm in the process of sanding an F. Reynolds "The celebrated hollow ground" For Barbers use, but the spine has some rather deep pitting, is it safe to sand the spine or should this be left alone?

The razor will have some pitting left on the blade itself as I decided to keep the etching on the blade.

btw, I've tried to get some pics of the pitting, but it didn't work out

It's up to you whether you want to sand it or not. When doing a complete restoration we sand the spine, yes. It won't ruin your razor or anything. Just be careful of where the sandpaper is so you don't leave sanding scratches where you don't want them. Check out Bruno's handsanding how-to in the restoration FAQ at the top of the Workshop threads.

Thank's Alex,

I've managed to get this pic of the area I'm talking about, not sure if spines is the correct word for the area circeld.

It's hard to tell if that is the spine or some severe spine wear. Either way, it won't ruin the razor IMO to sand it. I'd do it. lol

Thanks again, and it's off to the workbench again

I could be wrong, but it kinda looks like the hone were on the spine has a little rust on the flat... try a few passes on the hone to see if some of the rust goes away... if some goes away then don't bother sanding too much in that area... it will go away after the restore and you start honing.