Thread: Scratches Galore: Advice needed

I have purchased a old Bartmann "High Class" razor on Ebay. The tang says "Manganese Steel".
What the ebay pictures didn't show, was that one of the previous owners attempted "a sanding session" to that beautiful razor. Yesterday, I have polished it with "000" (ultrafine) steel wool and some metal polish called "Peek". Can't find any Maas in the local stores around here, but Peek works just fine.

The razor would have been in great condition, hadn't it been for those ugly sanding marks. I'm looking for some advice on how I should continue with this thing. I have done restoration of rusted razors before. Handsanding them up to 600 grit and than polishing with a dremel and some polishing compound. For me, the results were good enough for an antique old wegde and an even older frameback, but not quite as perfect as this fine piece of art asks for.

I wonder if I could polish those scratches out locally, without touching the rest of the blade. I've read good things about home made polishing compound from Chromium oxide (of which I have a nearly full bottle).
Or would this blade be the ideal candidate to go into a case tumbler?
I would welcome any suggestions from all of you, more experienced restorers.

Pictures attached,

Thanks for looking,

Bart.

I would stick it in the tumbler but you may want to cut a small piece of tape just enough to cover the etch.
Or you could use high grit w/d paper and do the back, but still cover the etch before doing the face and check the tape often.

Maybe more experienced restorers will give better advice... i have seen some great restores in blades with etch.

I feel your pain… No fun removing scratches from etched blades.

If you want to remove those scratches, you'll need to resurface the blade.
Hand-sanding takes forever, so you might want to consider using your dremel. After that, you can use radial bristle discs to polish it up to mirror.
2 comments on the etching:
1) You can try covering it up with electrical tape but it usually doesn't do such a great job with power tools, so hand-sanding is a better alternative for your blade.
2) I usually either live with the imperfections (if they're minor enough) or resurface the whole blade, etching and all.

If you are going to use the dremel be super careful with around the edge, heel and tip. Think very carefully about how the wheel spins and whether it will rotate away from the edge or into it. I broke my bartmann that is almost identical to yours when the felt wheel caught the edge and ripped it up at my face.

Other than that, give it a go. I have no idea if it will work. Worst case scenario (other than the blade blowing up in your face ) you'll be right back at the beginning.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/showt...light=homemade

Mark

This blade looks to me that somebody tried a Dremel on it already. I use a magnetic jig to hold my blades when I'm working on them. If I was restoring this blade I would use a hard felt wide wheel and simichrome to level the blade surface and smooth out the marks. I would the use my buffing lathe to bring all up to the desired finish.

I also whole heartedly agree with mark. Make sure the rotation of the Dremel will not catch the edge.

Thanks for the advice given so far.
Kenrup, if you talk about a "hard felt wide wheel", do you mean a stationary polishing wheel, or an attachment for the dremel?
I'm also interested in that "magnetic jig" your talking about. Could you elaborate on that a bit more?

I agree that it looks like someone tried to dremelsand it already. Looks a lot like the results you get from sanding with those small rotary sandpaper cylinders that attach to a dremel. I believe they are approx. 300 grit. Do you guys think I should hand sand to a higher grit, before polishing?
The problem with hand sanding is, that is is going to be impossible to prevent the sanded area becoming larger, and I still would first like trying only to deal with the problem locally. Would a fine, yet fairly aggressive abrasive like chromium oxide be able to remove those scratches (within a reasonable time frame)?

Thanks again,

Bart.

Is this the Bartmann that was listed for sale on Ebay fairly recently and had/has multi-colored marble like scales mainly browns, yellows, etc?

I think I bid on the razor you have and if it IS the razor I'm thinking of, you paid a healthy price for it. I don't recall the seller's description, but I'd be peeved if I bought it and later found that it had the issues you speak of.


Chris L

Originally Posted by Chrisl

Is this the Bartmann that was listed for sale on Ebay fairly recently and had/has multi-colored marble like scales mainly browns, yellows, etc?

I think I bid on the razor you have and if it IS the razor I'm thinking of, you paid a healthy price for it. I don't recall the seller's description, but I'd be peeved if I bought it and later found that it had the issues you speak of.


Chris L

I think you are referring to this one:
http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/old-german-B...QQcmdZViewItem

I bid on that one, but did not win it.
A few weeks later, another one turned up:
http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/ws/eBayISAPI...m=260237445976
If you look very close at the pictures you can see some evidence from the scratches, but of course, knowing that it are scratches, makes it easier to recognize them as such. I would have probably bid less, knowing what I know now.

Originally Posted by Bart

I think you are referring to this one:
http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/old-german-BARTMANN-SOLINGEN-STRAIGHT-RAZOR_W0QQitemZ310039891716QQihZ021QQcategoryZ3599 0QQcmdZViewItem

I bid on that one, but did not win it.
A few week later, another one turned up:
http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&it em=260237445976
If you look very close at the pictures you can see some evidence from the scratches, but of course, knowing that it are scratches, makes it easier to recognize them as such. I would have probably have bid less, knowing what I know now.

You're right, Bart, I was thinking of the first one you provided a link to.

Chris L

When using the Dremel, make sure it's rotating away from the edge. If you want a mirror finish, you'll have to go at least as high as 2000 grit.. For that you have 2 options..
1) Jason (Toxik) has a great tutorial on how to make your own sanding drums. (Thanks Jason )
2) You can get radial bristle discs. The 3/4" ones should fit a Dremel mandrel without any problems.