My First Full Restoration

Take a look at this. I know its not much but this old Hibbard Spencer was deeply pitted and rusty to the point it was black all over. I should have taken its original picture but I havent found it yet. I managed to get it this far. THe scales are the first I have ever made. The sanding went on and off for about two weeks and many sheets of paper. I then honed it with an Arkansas Oil stone to set a bevel, then 250 laps on the NOrton 4K then 500 Laps on the 8K side since Old School commented that doubling the strokes usually works for honing. I know there are some stains on the blade and there was an imperfection where I pressed on the hone, but overall it shaves as well as my pre-ordered shave ready DOVO. I also know there are some very small pits I couldnt get out close to the tang, but you have to look hard to see them. The scales are just plain old red oak with a walnut stain. LEt me know what you think as this is my first full restoration and with the purchase of my new Craftsman Drill Press and a Dremel Scroll saw I want to be a professional at this within a few years. I know form the ads and from the forums that this site demands perfection, just please help me get to that point with good criticism.


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It looks nice, what grit did you finish on the blade? And the scales are simple, i like it.

Nice job! You must have a lot of patience to take a blade from oxidized to that condition with hand sanding. :tu

Did you shape the scales freehand or did you use a pattern? I ask because the shape reminds me of some I really like - scales on the "Easy Aces" razor. Either way, they're pretty neat.

Its actually a combinaton of both. I free handed the ponted ends but on the other end I used a small Salamander scale to make the curves then just widened it by moving the template scale up and down. But I am afriad I didnt purely free hand it. I actually hope to start making sets wth bolsters at some point and may add some to this set when I have time.

I'll offer some nit picking critique seeing you asked but I'll say this. As a first restore & from your ' before' description looks like you did a great job & you were rewarded with a great shave. That's what it's all about. :rock:

The blade seems proportionately small for the scales, but it may just be the pic angle or my lousy eyes. :)

I would also round off that pointy spur you have honed on the heel. The blade is worn & the rear flange just needs a little shaping to compensate.

As far as honing goes, 500 strokes does seem excessive but hell what would I know ? I use an 8" grinder for chip removal. :roflmao

I agree the scales are large and I may switch the blade out. I think what happened is that I was so concerned about cutting too much that I made them too large. As for the burt, I will grind it off and smooth it. There is a lot of wear on this blade and it took a lot of strokes to get it to cut butter, I judy wanted it sharp. Thanks for the post and I will follow up.

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Originally Posted by treydampier

I agree the scales are large and I may switch the blade out. I think what happened is that I was so concerned about cutting too much that I made them too large. As for the burt, I will grind it off and smooth it. There is a lot of wear on this blade and it took a lot of strokes to get it to cut butter, I judy wanted it sharp. Thanks for the post and I will follow up.

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Well, it came out great. Way to go Judy! :w

The finish of the blade looks good, but needs polishing.
I use a dremel with a small felt wheel to do this, with chromium oxide polishing compound. This is sold in brick sized pieces in many hardware stores for polishing steel on a buffer wheel. It doesn't cost much.

Half an hour to an hour of careful buffing at 5000 rpm will get rid of all those faint scratch lines, and put a really deep mirror polish on the blade.

I admire your persistence! Hand sanding is not for the impatient

Have you shaved with the razor yet? What did you think?

Trey:
You asked so I am going to make a couple of comments/questions/hints

The wedge??? I can't see to well in the pic but it looks more to be a straight spacer rather then an actual wedge shape...

In the close up of the pivot end of the razor there looks to be a slight chip in the wood ???? again could just be the pic...

The deep graining in Oak is tuff to seal and pics always make it look way worse than it really is in real life... Any wood that has this type of graining really benefits from what is called glass burnishing and for razor scales nothing beats a heavy thick shot glass for smoothing up the grain before the first coat of finish... Let that dry completely 48 hours then sand again with 1500-2000 grit sandpaper leaving only the grain filled with finish, re-burnish and then you have a super smooth surface to complete the final finishing on...

BTW the pins look really good great job there, and the blade came out really nice, as Bruno said you could take it to mirror or leave it this way as a working blade...


Just so ya know everyone's first scales are almost always a little large, it is just safer that way.... easier to remove some, harder to add that wood back..

Great work :rock:

looks good i have not started to restore yet but hope to start soon i hope my first restore comes out looking that good :)

I am sorry for the misunderstanding. THe blade is a hollow ground. What I meant was the scales I used for templates were off of a small Salamander wedge blade. THe blade ia a straight Spencer and I figure its a 1/2 hollow ground at least to me. I am going to the nearest hardware store tomorrow to do what Bruno said. I have some Riobi Emery Buffing compound to start with and use my batter powered Dremel to polish it out. THanks a lot for the comments!

I have shaved with it and it does great! I am about to buy a new coticule as soon as I find one I like to use as a finshing hone. THen it could possibly be better
Thanks for the input!

Hey Trey- I agree with all of the aforementioned stuff and Glen's finish suggestion would work well with this set of scales.

One more suggestion that i have: The pins at the spacer. This is a tricky thing. I know that anything can be personal preference, but I think you could do better on the pin placement with regard to the shape of the end. They seem a little skewed and not in a good line with the shape of the end/scales. You need to always measure MULTIPLE times before you make the move if you know what I mean. Also, it is once again a personal thing, but on a blade this small-ish I think that a single centered pin would look better. Not that it is even crowded or anything, but I think it would give it a smoother look with a nice artistic line. These are all things to consider and that will improve with practice once you get your own knack for it.

I agree, but I had not used a drill press before. Because of this I placed the holes a little out of line. The scales are big, but the next ones I make will be better.

Did you say you will polish with a battery powered Dremel? It can be frustrating when the battery dies before you are satisfied with the finish.
If you will be doing this kind of thing frequently, i suggest you get a line powered dremel... and make sure it can go sloooow... like 5000 RPM.
Also you may find hand sanding the blade up to 2000 grit w/d sandpaper before the dremel and CRO2 makes polishing go quicker.

Yes, and it wil run as low as 1000rpms. I will run an hour or so between charges because it has a lithium battery. Its as powerful as the corded, but it does have to recharge after running about an hour or so. I also have already used the 2000grit paper and it does help.Thanks for the suggestions though and I will remember them in the future.

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Originally Posted by smythe

Did you say you will polish with a battery powered Dremel? It can be frustrating when the battery dies before you are satisfied with the finish.
If you will be doing this kind of thing frequently, i suggest you get a line powered dremel... and make sure it can go sloooow... like 5000 RPM.
Also you may find hand sanding the blade up to 2000 grit w/d sandpaper before the dremel and CRO2 makes polishing go quicker.

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Which Dremel model runs at 1000 rpms? I didn't know any of them ran at less than 5K.

The dremel I use is the only battery powered one I know of and I bought mine at Home Depot. On the power dial it goes from 0-10. I made a mistake though because I just read that the settings form 1-10 goes from 5,000 to 35,000 rpms, I assumed the dial meant 1x10^3 RPMS. I used the lowest settingd to polish though and the finish was much improved with just the riobi polishing compound.

Does anyone know where I can by plastic spacers for these razors because they could be made much smoother than the wood spacer, because I had as much trouble making the spacer as I did anything else. I think a black spacer would still look classy maybe and be more durable than the wood. Any comments or ideas on this will be appreciated because I am debating also cutting some bone scales for my next project. As for this one, its going to my 87 year old grandfather after I have a Jeweler engrave his initials on it. I am going to change my blog tomorrow because I think it would be worth more to him than anyone on the site. My next project is an old H. Boker French Point that if it turns out as I wish, may be something everyone can see if I am improving.

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Originally Posted by treydampier

Does anyone know where I can by plastic spacers for these razors because they could be made much smoother than the wood spacer

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I have been using light switch covers. That hard material really shines up nice and is easy to work with. The basic colors are perfect also, black beige and white.

Making wedges/spacers

Bill's Straight Razor Info: Making Wedges