Thread: newbie here... and several razors in need of care

Hi, i'm new here and new to straight razor shaving. I bought my first one a month ago and I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Recently I found these razors between my granpa's personal belongings. They have not been used for at least 23 years since he passed away in 1985...

Knowing anything about razor repair, I'd like to know if they can be restored - and if it's worth it... any advice is welcome.

Here is my opinion...
The top one looks very restorable....
The center one looks OK that edge worries me just a touch.... but I bet those scales will look great if they are solid (I'm a huge cracked ice fan)
The bottom one I can't tell if it is that size of a razor or if it has been honed to that size of a razor????

Hope that helps

Yup. I agree with Glen.

I also agree with Glen. In addition, may I ask if the third one has a curve in the actual blade as the picture kind of shows? If so I suspect it has been honed to death.

Thank you everyone.

Yes the last one has a curved blade, and yes after a closer look I realized it must have been honed to death.
Judging from the shape of the toe I would say that the first one too has a long history of honings... but maybe i'm wrong here.

So now I have at least one razor that I know can be restored, but I don't even know where to start. Even if I bought that dvd about restoration I saw here somewhere, and start learning, I bet that work can't be done with just some sandpaper and hones, right?

I was thinking if there could be someone here interested in that project, but maybe i'm asking too much here.

Originally Posted by Gudrband

Thank you everyone.

Yes the last one has a curved blade, and yes after a closer look I realized it must have been honed to death.
Judging from the shape of the toe I would say that the first one too has a long history of honings... but maybe i'm wrong here.

So now I have at least one razor that I know can be restored, but I don't even know where to start. Even if I bought that dvd about restoration I saw here somewhere, and start learning, I bet that work can't be done with just some sandpaper and hones, right?

I was thinking if there could be someone here interested in that project, but maybe i'm asking too much here.

Actually you'd be surprised how much can be achieved with just sand paper and a quality hone.

I'd suggest you practice on the third one in your trio and it's almost dead and less of a loss if you really destroy (unlikely) the blade.

The one big tip I can give you is to be patient, dont rush. oh and dont be dissapointed if your first try is less than you expect.

Lynn wasnt born honning razors (thought sometimes we may wonder )

Don't scrap that last one - It's a Henckles .
It would make a nice little trimmer with some work on the heel.
My photoshop skills aren't great but something like this should work

There are some good sized chips in the edge of that first one. They can be honed out but it will take some elbow grease to get them worked out. It looks like it has a decorative spine like an ERN. No real rust just ageing, a good buffing with a compound progression would clean it up. Middle one, you could clean it up but I doubt you would get all the pitting or staining out. There is only so much you can do to a hollow ground razor, and its edge is beat up pretty good. The Henckels, what number is on the tang? I have an old never been honed 3/8 Henckels round point that looks like that. My tang is numbered 75, J.A. Henckels Soligen Zwillingswerk. There is some honing ware on it but it may not be as bad as you think. Here is a photo of my razor, I transplanted it into some bloodwood scales.

Originally Posted by cannonfodder

The Henckels, what number is on the tang? I have an old never been honed 3/8 Henckels round point that looks like that. My tang is numbered 75

Nice... Mine has number 72 1/2 on the tang. I searched for it on ebay, it seems number 72 1/2 is (and mine must have been originally) a 6/8?


Btw, I just bought a coarser stone (naniwa 1000, I already have a norton 4k/8k and a coticule), now I'll get to work and see what I manage to do...