Thread: Junk to Funk

Hi guys,

I have just brought back home my first junk razor restoring project. It has a SOLINGEN, 5 JAHRE GARANTIE written on it. Funky name, 5 years warantie

It has nice thin genuine ivory scales, not damaged, and a damaged blade, with chunks missing and rust all over the place.

The pins are ok.

Now, how about some help restoring this razor?

1. Is there a way of removing the pins, without damaging them for good? I cannot find or order new ones, and these are looking ok. I was thinking about drilling off the center rod with a 1,5mm drill, and after, replacing it with silver rod, or something, when repining?

2. The ivory scales are not damaged, but they are dirty, and the pores have soaked some dirt too. What is your recommendation for cleaning the scales? I am thinking about ~1000 sandpaper, but I don’t have idea about removing dirt from the pores...

3. The blade doesn’t have a red rust (active?) a lot, but it is black ~80% of the surface. Is this coming off with WD40, sandpaper, metal polish or everything above?

And, finally, how do I sand off the edge? It is like saw all over the edge, and has 2mm deep chunks missing. I don’t think that is a job for a honing motion, it is rather better to sand with 500-800 grit laterally on the blade, straightening the edge, and then hone it with 800/4000/8000...???


Any help is appreciated...


Thanx,
Nenad

1. Is there a way of removing the pins, without damaging them for good? I cannot find or...

Short answer is No. You can find replacement pins, washers, and spacers at Classic Shaving.
http://www.classicshaving.com/page/page/523001.htm

2. The ivory scales are not damaged, but they are dirty, and the pores have soaked some dirt too. What is...

Are you sure it is ivory? If you are, then there is usually only a need to buff them with a fine white polishing compound. If you are not sure if they are ivory, bone or celluloid, send me an email and I will let you know how to test for them. Sandpaper of any grit on ivory should not be necessary unless you are removing scratches. 1000 is ok, but you would be better off with 1500 or tighter. If it is just soil and grease, use Quick and Brite in the paste form, full strength with a soft toothbrush.

3. The blade doesn’t have a red rust (active?) a lot, but it is black ~80% of the...

WD has a lot of uses, and it can be helpful in some stages of restoration. You would be better off with some kerosene for rust removal. I keep a squeeze bottle of it. When it is needed, I tip the bottle while covering the tip with my index finger. After turning the bottle back upright, there is enough on my fingertip to apply to the blade a little at a time. It goes a long way. Too much won't hurt, it's just messy. Don't smoke while you are doing this ink: And more importantly, use the least abrasive approach first. Use Maas or Flitz first with a cotton shop rag. Doesn't work, go to kerosene and 0000 or 000 steel wool. Still too light? Then try fiber wheels or scotch brite. If that doesn't do it, then go to sandpaper.

And, finally, how do I sand off the edge? It is like saw all over the edge, and has 2mm...

MM's don't compute with me. One of the hardheads who refuses to convert to the metric system. You have asked a lot of short questions that do not have short answers. Almost like saying, "How do you rebuild a carburetor... or something." :? But to try a relatively short answer, I am going to make a bunch of the guys here cringe. I use my variable speed Burr King that uses 2inch by 72inch sanding belts. I stik a worn 180 grit on, run about 800 rpms at the contact wheel and make as much as 1/8 of an inch of a blade edge disappear in about 15 seconds. I tilt the blade downward at a 10 to 15 degree angle and traverse the blade parallel to the grinding surface. If the blade is perpendicular to the grinding surface, you will either chip it further, or break it, or cut the shit out of your fingers. Without a Burr King, you can do the same thing with one of those belt sanders from Sears. Use finer grit belts. And be mindful that they are one speed. They can heat up a blade in a hurry. You will get a ton of sparks with little fingers exploding from the ends of the sparks. That's what it should do. The more dense the spark, the harder the steel. Do not use a lot of pressure, never hold the blade in one spot, and do not let heat build up. You will have to hit around 500 degrees before doing any damage. Use bare hands so you can tell how hot the blade is getting. If it gets too hot to hold, back off, and dip it in warm water. Of course, you shouldn't do any of this if you are not comfortable with the dynamics of a blade against an unforgiving and moving belt that will remove meat from a bone a little quicker than it does steel. If you turn any part of the blade a different color, like brown or blue, you have just toasted your blade. Practice on a junker first. If you don't have either of those, find an old coarse sharpening stone and start sawing. Or... you can hone the marks out.

Hope that helps...

2 mm is a pretty hefty sized chip. 3 mm is approx 1/8 inch. When i want to remove a visible ncik in the blade I use a sawing motion on the very side corner of a coarse hone. By using just the corner I remove the same amount of steel all along the edge of the blade and I have no problems with heat buildup. That does result in a VERY dull edge. To re-establish the bevel I use 600 grit or finer abrasives. Either sandpaper, layed on a hone, or a 800 grit stone. It takes quite a few laps to re-establish the bevel. Approx 150 laps on a Spyderco ceramic hone.

Regarding the pins. Are there collars around the pins or just the pins? If it is Ivory then there is probably no collar. If it is synthetic Ivory then they probably used collars.

To remove the rust and discoloration from a blade I use Fabulustre ground up into a powder and added to MAAS. I then apply this mixture to a hard felt wheel on a Dremel running at a slow speed. If you find pitting under the rust then do not be surprised. Trying to remove the pitting can be an exercise in frustration. It is best just to live with the pitting. To remove the pitting requires a lot of grinding/sanding with a variety of grits and buffing compounds.
If your razor has a mirror finish then the process is even more difficult.

Cleaning Ivory I have no experience with. If you go to the SRP index and look under the restoration tab you will find references to various restoration techniques.
A plastic buffing compound works the best to restore the lustre to synthetic handles after you have sanded/buffed the scratches out.

Hope this helps,

The Junk to Funk transformation is over!

Thanx to Bill and Guest (forgot to sign, huh : ) for the help.


Here's how it went:

First, the handles are either ivory or bone. They have pores on them, and I don't remember seeing pores on ivory, so they might be bone. The pins had collars around them. I did manage to get the pins out without damaging the collars. I drilled with a drill the same size as the pin (rod), and finished the work using cone shaped diamond dentist drill. The collar came off undamaged. The key is patience. And it is a nice way in preserving as much historical value as possible.

The blade had heavy rust and pitting. It soaked in WD40 bath, then kerosene bath, some 800grit sanding, then polishing with various metal polishing pastes, all done by hand. I wish I have read (and try) about the electrolysis method of removing rust before doing this...

For the nicks on the edge, I done some work on coarse stone I have at home, I don't know the grit, but it looks like some 200-300. This does result in a very dull edge, on which I managed to establish bevel on the 500 and 800 grit. The blade cuts arm hair after this phase. It seems to be that the arm hair test is not so reliable after all, as I would not strop and use after 800 grit sandpaper

The handles were in good shape. They didn't have scratches to sand off. I did a light sanding with 800 grit, and then buffed to mirror shine. They look really nice.

Now the fun part, make a razor again. I went to a local jeweler and get some silver wire for the pin. I managed to make it in rod form (it was square-shaped) with fine files. After doing some research on the Yahoo group, I found that the users had very good results hammering the pins with a tablespoon, instead using jeweler’s chasing (ball peen) hammer. Since silver is a soft metal, I decided to give this method a try. You will need a backing for the pin as you hit it wit a round side of the spoon. I used a top of a hammer. It is nice if the metal backing have a tiny dent (the size of the pin) in it. I found a dent in my hammer that fit the job (lucky my hammer is experienced one : ), and started spooning. The silver was getting the mushroom shape really nice. It took 100+ hits, and the job was done.

Now, this razor is ready to begin his second life

I will post picture soon...


Nenad

Way to go !

The normal rod is 1/16th of an inch in diameter, for your future reference.

I am the "guest", it seems I was logged off by the system.

Randy Tuttle