Thread: Hello everyone

Hi there,

Before I get started, I like to say I'm new here, I registered here today but for a couple of weeks now I have been browsing this forum. You've all been doing a good job I've seen some nice tutorials, and i hope this forum continues on for along time.

Now the real deal. What brought me to this forum was this fixation I have for straight razors. Although I'm very new at the whole concept. I recently bought a very old straight razor 1887 (i assume) in an antique fair the problem with it is that its a bit rusty. The handle seems to be made of bone (its cool at the touch even when its exposed to the sun and I'm sure its not plastic), and I've been looking around to see how i can get rid of that rust. And a friend of mine told me i should use...ehh...wine vinegar (leave it in for 2 days take it out wipe it and use a kitchen scrubber [used for pans] to take out any rest of rust)

First of all I'm not really sure its safe for the blade and second I don't know of any place that sell those binding pins that hold the blade and the handle together, so I wasn't thinking of taking apart the razor, which basically led me to think that immersing the straight razor into vinegar may eventually damage handle. So if anyone could give me some advice I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance, I'm sorry for the long post but I'm from Portugal and I have some difficulties in keeping it clear and objective. :P

As soon as my very full schedule permits me, I'll be sure to add some photos of my razor. o/

Some photos would be nice to see how bad the rust is. I have no idea if the stuff you mentioned will hurt your metal. Can you find MAAS metal polish in Portugal? That is really good stuff to get rid of tarnish. I have been working on 4 vintage blades that are about as old as what yours is.

Here is what I learned... Less is more! Try to do everything to clean up your blade as nice as possible before sanding so you can assess how much work you need to do! If you get into handsanding the blade at a really corse grit of sand paper, you are in for a long haul. You are going to spend days on your blade. I actually really enjoyed sanding by hand but it got to be so time consuming I have decided to take a break for a while.

Try everything you can to get all of the rust and crap with some maas metal polish and a soft cloth (or other good metal polish, ask around for other brands if you can't find maas). All that you need to do is get a nice working surface so your blade is flat and well supported. If your blade is hollow ground and you push too hard on it and it is not supported it may crack. Then just get a small pea sized drop of maas on your cloth and rub it on the surface of the blade that you are going to work on. Work on the blade in sections. Then keep rubbing and rubbing and rubbing with a bit of pressure, not too much.

Your cloth will get really black. Keep another cloth near by and wipe the blade clean to assess the extent of damage on your blade. If all goes well after a while your blade should be tarnish free. I am not too sure if maas can get rid of rust but give it a try. After you are done try to see if you need to sand.

If the rust is bad then you will see little pits where ever the rust is. If you want to get rid of the pits you have to sand your blade. Some people leave the pits alone and go ahead and finish the blade on a buffing wheel. If you decide that you want to remove the damage and pits, you will be in for at least a 10 hour journey, but hey it is pretty fun and rewarding. Check out Bruno's handsanding tutorial in the stickies of this forum. Pay attention to the ergonomics otherwise your hand will hurt for weeks.

Try to preserve as much of the original markings on the blade, and be mindful of how much pressure you are putting on the blade and the scales. I accidentally cracked my scales just a tad accidentally by trying to clean the yellow gunk out from the middle. There is a ton of people here that have way more knowledge than I do. I am pretty much summarizing some things I have learned from asking questions on this forum...

Hope this helps...

Welcome to SRP. Great to have yo with us.

+1 on the pictures.

What is your intent with the razor you just purchased? If you want to shave with it and you are completely new to straights you may want to seriously consider sending it out for a cleaning and honing to someone in the classifieds that provides these services. Even if you want to clean it up yourself and shave with it your best bet would be to have your first straight professionally honed.

To do it yourself read through the WIKI and The WorkShop forum for restoring tips. To sharpen yourself read through the WIKI and Basic Honing forum.

For more comments on your recent purchase add some pics.

Good luck.

Welcome- if you REALLY want to get into restoration, I suggest buying Bill Ellis' cd on the subject found here: Straight Razor Book

Other than that, yeah, just check out the FAQ's at the top of the workshop threads and look around!

Thank you fatpanda, Joed and Philadelph for your quick and helpfull responses!!

I'm going to try to take some initial pictures of the razor this weekend before a begin any restoration.

I'll keep in mind the ergonomic tip. About the Maas... i'm sure i've heard of it before but i'm not sure it's for sale here. :|

I've been reconsidering taking apart the razor because most of (what I assume to be) rust is near the handle so if I took it apart I would garantee a better treatment, and i'll almost certainly won't break the handle.

About my intention with the razor... first of all i've never shaved with a straight razor...and I wasn't considering shaving with this one either...but i've got to say...from what i have been reading here... I think that after I get this razor all tuned up...i'm gonna give it a goo and see what i've been missing.

Now i'm going to check out bruno's handsanding tutorial.

Thanks again. o/

Welcome to the forum trammanaka... I hope you will have as much fun as I have had so far.

Please if I may share with you something that I found out the hard way. If you don't have to take the scales (handles) off do not... re pinning seems to take a lot of practice. I seriously regretted taking my scales off of 2 of my blades. I left the scales on the second set of blades I worked on and I found those razors that I left the scales on will be able to be honed professionally and be ready to use months before the blades that I took the scales off of.

Now I have to either send my blades to a professional restorer or make the scales myself which requires woodworking tools such as band saws and power sanding belts. Since I live in an apt I will be sending these blades out...

P.S. I was able to get the rust off of 2 of my blades by just folding up some high grit 1500 or 2000 sandpaper and rubbing away the rusted of the blade between the scales.

hummmm

Okay... now i'm starting to worry...:P... I think i'm going to post the pictures first and wait for your opinion about taking off the pin. I really don't wan't to mess this up.

anyway I still have to buy the steal cleaner... and I don't have much free time, so this will take a while.

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by fatpanda

Welcome to the forum trammanaka... I hope you will have as much fun as I have had so far.

Please if I may share with you something that I found out the hard way. If you don't have to take the scales (handles) off do not... re pinning seems to take a lot of practice. I seriously regretted taking my scales off of 2 of my blades. I left the scales on the second set of blades I worked on and I found those razors that I left the scales on will be able to be honed professionally and be ready to use months before the blades that I took the scales off of.

Now I have to either send my blades to a professional restorer or make the scales myself which requires woodworking tools such as band saws and power sanding belts. Since I live in an apt I will be sending these blades out...

P.S. I was able to get the rust off of 2 of my blades by just folding up some high grit 1500 or 2000 sandpaper and rubbing away the rusted of the blade between the scales.

Originally Posted by trammanaka

hummmm

Okay... now i'm starting to worry...:P... I think i'm going to post the pictures first and wait for your opinion about taking off the pin. I really don't wan't to mess this up.

anyway I still have to buy the steal cleaner... and I don't have much free time, so this will take a while.

Thanks again.

No need to worry , Sorry if I am sounding paranoid or I am freaking you out. Not my point... My point is is that being excited about fixing up an old straight can make you want to do everything there is in restoration. This is exactly how I felt... What happened to me is that after I worked on 2 blades in this manner, I was swimming in deep deep water and getting tired!

Then I obtained two more and I tried to clean it up as much as possible with just polish and some light sanding 600 grit. On one of the blades, I did not even sand just polish. It just worked out better for me in the end. These two blades that are good enough for me to begin shaving with!!! They don't look like some of the show room quality restorations that the real pros do here, but they are shiny, clean and I can start practicing.

Well... I feel like an idiot

I started sanding my blade... and i got impacient said what the hell... I'm gonna take out the pin... 15 struggling minutes later I broke a scale... I am such an ass.

Anyway i start looking closer to the blade and i notice a rip on the blade near the pin hole. its so deap that if i bend the blade once or twice on that area its gonna break. arghhhhhhhh

.... I don't know if I should welder it or just give up right know.

By the way its an Erik Anton Razor... I'm trying to upload the pictures this moment but its taking a while.

If not know later on I'll post them

About the line by the pinhole- I believe they were made that way. I've seen plenty of these style of framebacks with that 'split' there. Try to follow the line to the underside of the tang and it should run all the way to the blade. I think they did this so they could put the blade in and fold the steel over to secure it in place.