restoration challenge or call me crazy

I got this one with the idea I could salvage it. But I now don't have the time to do it. So hear is the challenge. I will send this to who ever thinks this can be made into a presentable shaver. Once it is made into a presentable shaver it will be given to the monthly SRP give away. So is anyone up to the challenge or tell me I am crazy?
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:thinking: Tim

Oh good Lord. #3 looks like the previous owner gnawed on it like a pencil.
I am convinced it cannot be made flawless again, there's simply too much metal to remove. If it were a wedge I'd say maybe, but as such the best one could do is scoop out the rust from the craters and slap some nice scales on it.

I think it could be made presentable and shaveable. There are a lot of scares on that. The smaller ones probably could be removed with patience and time. The larger ones. Hell I'd incorporate something in the scales to tie the two together.

Perfection is nice but a flaw is often the most beautiful thing.

For scales I probably use a burl type wood like is used for pipes like Nording etc. Use the scalloped edge for the bottom of the scales.

I am a newb and have no equipment to do it, but would love to try. Thats a pretty razor.:gl:

My experiance (very limited) tells from the photos that you posted shows deep pitting if not all the way through at the edge. By the time you are done grinding and sanding you will have a paper thin blade, this I know from experiance. I got a razor that I thought had some minor pitting so I proceeded to "clean it up" what I did was open up a can of worms, I ended up loosing the blade. I don't think this one is worth it but I've been known to be wrong before. Just my opinion.

Dan

Ouch, pics No.3 and 5 put the fear in me. Not for me!:D

Pitting on the “off” side can be removed (that part of the spine seems thick enough) as well as the “pock marks” on the front side tip… and if too deep to risk changing the geometry of the blade can be left alone to give her some character and instead, the surface scratches on the blade polished off to matte or mirror finish... (don't want moisture getting into the holes then a drop of CA will fill them up then smooth to the razors concave with fine w/d sandpaper).
The “hole” through the edge near the point can be ground out (breadknifed).
Pitting in the worked spine can be “smoothed” with a Dremel sanding drum... if no Dremel then paper wrapped around an old "C" size battery or some other cylindrical dowel and hand sand.
Remove the scales to clean up rust in the pivot area.
Scales appear to be solid and don’t seem to need much but soap, water and a good polish.

She is in bad shape but the steel at the edge is good and the scales are usable… a tall order but very doable.

Of course, you never know exactly what you have... till you have it in hand.

Hmmmmm that is a challenge alright...
and no I am not volunteering.....
I will offer one piece of advice to whoever steps to the plate on this one....

The edge !!!!
Before you take all the time and effort to pretty it up, you need to break down the edge, and reset a bevel, then check that steel under magnification to make sure you have clean solid steel... There is no sense in doing hours and hours of work before you are sure that the edge isn't swiss cheese under there....

Good idea Tim !!!!

I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that if anyone can do it Bruno can!
I'm not volunteering Bruno of course, he can do that for himself if he wants!

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mark :tu

But looking at the razor, I doubt that all the pitting can be removed. It would mean significantly weakening the spine. And the pitting in the middle between edge and spine might well mean that you end up sanding through the blade. It's a hollow ground, so there is almost no meat on the blade wo work with.

The toe is also pretty busted, but the shaped spine means that you cannot simply cut the point off the razor. You'd have to cut almost 1 inch off the blade to make the spine decorations end properly.
I am not saying it is impossible to restore this blade.

But I am fairly certain that it is impossible to remove ALL pitting and still have a functional blade left.
And it is a bit pointless imo to put in all the effort and still have a damaged blade.
So I am going to pass on this opportunity.

The edge also needs to be reworked significantly, so I would instead offer this as a honing challenge, and use it as a pass-around blade for newbies. It is probably still a good shaver with enough work on the edge.

Well Singlewedge seems optimistic, so I am going to send it to him and see what he can do with it.
I like his attitude. :D
I would also like to thank everyone for thier input. This was just a spur of the moment hair brain idea.

Thanks
Tim :gaah:

It arrived Saturday. I received it Monday when I got to work.

First to GS's question about the edge. It is good under magnification. Still sharp. Could probably shave with it. There is that one hole that will have to be dealt with and thanks to this weekends debacle with a dremel tool I now know how to do that.:rant:

Oldblades did some cleanup. I will need to unpin to clean the scales and get at the rust on the tang etc.. Other than that I looked at the pits and gouges under magnification. It does not appear that the pits are deep, the gouges look ike some one melted the metal off.

I am confident that I can give the pits a run for there money. THey are close enough to the spine so If I need to get aggressive I can. I am not going to get that agressive but I think there is enough metal there to with stand some sanding.

:jedi: I will win, or give it my darndest best attempt.

I say send it to Big Bubba, if he can make this one look like he did...http://straightrazorpalace.com/235549-post1.html

yours should be a piece of cake.

My first 2 hrs of hand sanding wet and dry. Gave me so good results.

I am concentrating my efforts at this point on pics 6 and 9 where all the damage is.

After 2 hours of wet sanding at 220 using Sil Ox paper alot of the smaller pits are disappearing.

There seems to be a protective coat on the metal that is inhibiting progress. I will go to the store and get some 100 grit perhaps 60 grit and see it that works. Start at 100 and see if I get good results. I really don't want to go any lower.

I am going to give it another 2 hours tomorrow night and then post a pic.

The pins are really thick. I read the wiki and did what it said but it seems to have flattened the brass together. Any suggestions.:shrug:

Flatted the brass? are you trying to remove the pins?

Yes. That was the plan. I did it the same as my other str8 I unpinned.:thinking:

Pics of the process.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/web-proj.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/webproj2.jpg

I managed to get the bubble out of the blade toe. About 50 whacks at 100grit did most of the work.

Your probably thinking that it doesn't look like there was much done.

Well to see it in person you'd think different.

Pics 6 and 9 have both deep and shallow pitting. 60 grit for an 2 hours then to 100 grit for another 30 minutes. The only thing that moved was the small pits. Which is what I thought. I diminished the deeper ones but they are still there. The edge is still sound and the spine is being protected through out the process so is the tang.

What ever metal this blade is made of is hard as stone. When I chipped my Sheffield 220 grit took out the chip. I tried 220, the blade laughed at me. I had to give it the 100grit. Who is laughing now.:jedi:

My next task is to remove the swirls and hopefully get it to a mirror. Reevaluate and maybe start over.:shrug:

Thoughts and input are always appreciated.

I'd say go for a statin finish. But it is looking like you might have a shaver there. Nice job so far.:tu

Keep us posted.
Thanks
Tim

Or he will never talk to me after he is finished. :D

Actually this is turning into quite the learning experience.

I wouldn't mind if there was a pass around of beat up blades that were sent around to new guys to get the practice of restoration.

I am kicking around the idea of a 60 grit flap sanding to see if 7500 rpm and eat some of this metal and reduce not eliminate the pits a little more. GS and I have pmed a bit on this and I seem to be agreeing with him. I may give it a go just once. Although my dremel skills are lacking and that is what is scaring me off of doing this.

:OTOn another note I am going to repin and get some intermediate sandpaper for my other resto and hopefully finish that this weekend. I think I will put in a new space instead if the old white one just to give it some slight character

Here is the latest. I took an 80 grit Flap wheel at 15,000 rpm to it to try to get at some of he more surface tarnish.

I unpinned the scales and I found a lot and I mean a lot of rust a the hinge.

Took the flap wheel to that and that is gone. The tang and the tail are black and still will be. That will not come clean. I cleaned the jimps and they shine.

Let me know what you guys think.

I think I am winning.:jedi:

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/webproj6.jpg
http://straightrazorpalace.com/%5BIM....jpg%5B/IMG%5D

I think you are winning. It may never win the beauty contest , but it will have class. I say keep going.:tu
Tim

Looks like your slowly winning. Looks good to me.

Just a quick update. I am going to repin the razor this weekend and finish up the polishing on the blade. Most of the black is permanent on the tang and I do not want to remove the stamps. The spine cleaned up nice.

The razor did bite me this morning. I took the bubble out on 100 grit paper and I have the razor standing on its spine. I went to reach into my cabinet for something and I felt a pinch.:thinking:

I pulled my hand out and there was a hairline cut on my pinkey from touching the edge.:chop:

this has been exiting reading from the 1st post, good on you for taking on this project.
extremely good going.
I have q number of Strai8's to start on later today, i am a metal polisher of only 3 years but i can't wait to get in there and play. But i think with these old beauties the old saying goes "If it is not Broken don't fix it!" meaning i have seen alot of old blades that have the modern spines on. I am all up for repair but sum of the old character may get lost.
You mentioned about allowing old blades to be sent to us Newbie's to learn on, that would be fantastic.I am in the UK and have already set up where i am going to get my spines pin sets etc and to get my blades honed.
looking 4ward to seeing your finished project.
good luck and well done.
Brian :tu

I am working on the final sanding getting out the flap marks etc.

Interesting discovery is that 80 grit flap wheel marks are mostly invisible. I took them out with 320 grit paper. Yes I went from 80 to 320 why, there were no marks to take out just polish.

The edge is still there I may try to polish that after I get the pins back in. Should have it done on Monday. It looks much better than when I started the major pits are gone and only the small ones remain.

I am very pleased.

Its nothing thats not worth i try! :gl:

I really thought this razor was a goner... I think you earn a medal for courageously saving this razor from the dead.

Maarten

Well its finished. I posted it at the Gallery as a first restore. Here is the thread.

First a Thank you to Singlewedge for doin all the hard work. I was going to buff it up a little, and in so doing broke the scales again. This time I decided to replace them, with the consent of Singlewdge, since he tried so hard to save them in the first place.
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This one is going to be given away. Details to be worked out yet.

Thanks

Tim :D

PS: it has been honed and it will hold an edge

Has the razor been honed yet?

I'm interested to see if after all of that vigorous flapwheeling if it will hold an edge.

Tim I just sent you a PM about this razor. Looks possible for the giveaway pending attempts at making it look nice.

Bill

Once completely polished and buffed this razor will look like a marvel. With Tim behind the wheel it should be awesome when done!

remarkable progression from pitted nightmare to it's almost-end-result. I would have given up on it myself, but it came out great in the end! :tu

Looks great.

Oh yeah its sharp and I made sure the blade did not heat up.