My First "Resto" Attempt

Here's a few pics of my first sanding then polishing job. It had some marks on it, but was a fairly decent blade to start with, I think. I got it up to 2000 grit, then started with polishing. All by hand, I don't have any power tools yet. There are still some very fine 2K grit lines that didn't show up in the pic, but all in all, I'm happy with how it turned out. Now I need to send it out to get honed. I'm wondering if I should have taken the pin out for the sanding. I'm also considering a tumbler purchase. I'm just not sure how into this I want to get right now, especially being so freakin' new.....


Before:

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/6972/dsc00396iq2.jpg

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/7746/dsc00397om2.jpg

After:
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4877/dsc00414ut1.jpg

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/9472/dsc00411uh6.jpg

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/9084/dsc00413ce1.jpg

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/4406/dsc00416uw9.jpg


Please, let me know what you honestly think. The bad and the good.

OMG what a difference. I am in the middle of a complete restore of an old Wade and Butcher. I have not started polishing the razor but have isntalled a new set of scales. Good Job!! I cant wait to start polishing my str8.

I would say ... WOW:eek:...

Maarten

That's all the more impressive as it was done by hand! In the before photo's it looks like it's got some severe hone wear, but it came out beautifully. I think it's best not to unpin unless you really have to.

Thank you guys for the kind words. It doesn't show in the pictures, but you can still see some very, very faint tiny 2K grit lines. But all told, I'm very happy with how it turned out.

And thanks to everyone here who helped me (publicly and privately) and answered my questions.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ben.mid

That's all the more impressive as it was done by hand! In the before photo's it looks like it's got some severe hone wear, but it came out beautifully. I think it's best not to unpin unless you really have to.

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Does indeed look great - you've set the bar high for us newbies ;)

Ben, just curious - what's the resistance to rescaling? Will new, custom scales (say replacing cracked celluloid or warped bone with hardwood) never fit as well as the old?

Great work Truckman! Nice restoration. It looks like a totally different razor. Very impressive.

hey truck- congrats! And you did it WAY faster than I did mine... That's a keeper

Very beautiful! :tu
Are you using any chemicals to get the finish?

I hope to restore an old swedish blade myself....

I did use polish as the last step. Maas and Blue Magic. Just trying out both to see which I liked better....

Those were the only "chemicals" I used.


I appreciate all the compliments people, but I think the pics make it look a lot better than it really is. I was looking it over again the other day, and there are quite a lot of very fine scratches....I guess I get to try a third time :D