Thread: Second Restoration Attempt - Joseph Rodgers wedge

Well, this is the second attempt at restoration for me, and I've got to say it was much harder than the first.

The scales are ivory, and unfortunately one cracked when I unpinned the scales.

Not knowing enough about ivory, I stupidly decided to un-pin on a day where the humidity was a very dry 26%. Result...crack. Anyway, after tidying up the scales I used a clear epoxy to fill the crack.

I had real trouble cleaning this blade up. I went down to 120 grit to remove the light pitting (there is still a little on the blade). After about 400 grit, I did alternate sands with the blade and across the blade but I just couldn't seem to polish it up again no matter how hard I tried.

After a while, I realised that unless I sanded the blade in a lateral (with the blade) direction only, the scratches were almost impossible to remove. So I ended up sanding the blade uni-directionally from 800 grit up. Anyone else struck this? I'm new to this so no idea what was going on there.

Nevertheless, I was as nervous as anything repinning the scales. I had the scales in a humid container for half the day before I attempted to put them back on and it seemed to have helped - it was another super-dry Sydney winter day.

Anyway, pictures attached...

Despite the crack, that really has come out beautifully! A great looking razor & looks like it was worth the hard work. Well done!

Oh. I have one of these. It is one of my favourite razors, both aesthetically and functionally. You did well!

Nice cufflinks, by the way.

Very nice job... looks great

Very nice work !!! and for the record sometimes scales crack period end of story sometimes it doesn't matter how careful you are they just crack... Let loose with a few choice cuss words and figure out a work around just like you did

Very nice! Looks like you are really getting the hang of it.

Keep it up,

Ray

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Very nice work !!! and for the record sometimes scales crack period end of story sometimes it doesn't matter how careful you are they just crack... Let loose with a few choice cuss words and figure out a work around just like you did

Thanks Glen - that makes me feel better! Yeah, I let out some choice cuss words alright - I was trying to be so careful. On the same day I unpinned the Bengall and the scales just crumbled - and then I discovered the pin was really bent. So I'm guessing that unpinning is one of the trickiest parts to this, or else I was just having a really bad day.

As for the Joseph Rodgers, the next job is honing - and I'm having trouble with this one. There is a slight smile in the blade. The toe is shave sharp but I'm having trouble with the heel. I don't want to do any more without some help.

Any honemeisters that could help me out? Any Ossie honemeisters out there? Please PM me if you can help me out in any way.

Cheers,

Karsten.

Beautiful job considering you did everything by hand
Love the finished look
Keep up the good work

Another one for the bagman! Looks nice mate. Great job
BTW.. How did your first end up shaving?.. last I heard you were halfway through honing?

Mykel

Looking good! I look forward to seeing pictures of many more from you.

Chris L