Thread: newbie attempt at restoring a dubl duck

I read about straight razors awhile ago, because its what I used to get shaved with at barber shops i used to go to a few years ago and it was the best shave ever. Im a recent college grad so suffice to say I dont have the funds yet to go all out into straight shaving, I've been shaving with safety razors for the better part of a decade because I had my very first shave when I was a pre-teen with my grandpa's old safety razor. I was at a market yesterday and I saw this antique knives dealer, he basically setup a few benches out of his truck and mustve had hundreds of knives. I asked him if he had any straight razors, he gave me a weird smile went to his truck and got a little blue case. He had about 15-20 razors in all, mostly broken and cracked except for 4. I didnt really have any cash on me because I just woke up and went to the market so I could only buy one, it was a dubl duck styledge. I did some searching online and realized its a 3/8th blade.. quite small and light. In hindsight I should've bought this other solingen rusty blade that he had, it was more of a 5/8th, but the DD cost me $10 and looked to be in better shape.

Ive never been in the world of straight razors before but I read around SRP yesterday and decided to make a little project out of this styledge. I was wondering if anyone can tell me more about the styledge itself, I found quite a bit of info on DD brand itself but not so much on the styledge. The blade was caked in some sort of brown grease, I dont know if that was beneficial or not but it was pretty easy to remove. Then I went at it with 80grit paper for about an hour and the following pics are where I am at currently. Im hoping someone can basically tell me where to go next. I read some guides posted on SRP regarding restoration.. I just need a little help on which grit should I be thinking abt next etc etc. I think the edge of the blade is pretty rough too, but it'll be a project in the works I cant just go out and get new honing stones, strop etc yet. still got plenty of student loans to take care of, you know? thanks for any help in advance

as for where to go next, this might give you some pointers:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...ing-howto.html
be careful as that is a hollow ground small blade that will be easy to break...


-Rob

The styleedge was really designed to be used for trim work more than a true go to razor. Barbers used them a lot to do sideburns and back of necks when doing haircuts. Also for getting into hard to reach places for shaves. However any DD is a great razor and those models don't come up all that often even on Eboy..

If you go the sanding route its just a matter of going to higher and higher grits until you get to the finest paper out there. Read the primers on this method. As far as the edge goes it's going to take a lot of work honing to get those chips out. Not a job for a novice unless you view this razor as a knock around practice piece.