My Newbie W&B Ghetto Restore - PICS!

Here is my first restore. Admittedly I have never done this before. Nor was I ever planning to do one. But this weekend I stumbled upon a few Sheffield straights [2] from Wade & Butcher & [1] from Joseph Rodgers & Sons.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2618/...3c9d8fc927.jpg
1. Joseph & Rodgers 2. Wage & Butcher Spike 3. W&B Barbers Notch

They were pretty beat up but for $10 a pop I figured I could use them for something. In the car ride back home I was really growing fond of the two old W&B's specially the barbers notch. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to clean them up. Im on a tight budget at the moment so I didn't want to have to pay a lot to get them in nice working order. My thought was to de pin them and then clean the steel up as best I could.

So, I de pinned the two W&B's and started to go to town with the limited supplies I had. I started whacking away at it with 100 grit. And I got the barbers notch to this point...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2546/...48cf455ca2.jpg



That took about a little less than an hour to do. Then sadly, I made a BIG STUPID mistake... I broke the tip off the Barbers Notch!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2480/...fdf4385eaa.jpg

Which really ****ed me off... I felt horrible. So, this morning I decided (with the help of some peeps in chat) to grind down the Barbers notch... I figured WTF? I already buggered it up...

Continued...

I then went out to the depot and to the auto parts store and picked up some more sand paper... 120/150/220/320/400/600/1000/1500/2000

Now I must confess / warn you I didn't take a whole lot of time. I think I spent a total of five hours. During that time I broke out the dremel and mandrel grinder. Went over most of the razors knocking out all the rust and as much pitting as I could. I also took off a lot of patina and such.

Then I proceeded with the grits. One thing I did was on each grit I used Flitz metal polish as a slurry - so to speak. I just added a few drops to the sand paper and went at it. I think this really helped cut faster.

So here is where I stand right now. I did the barbers notch all the way to 2k and the spike to 320 or 400 I dont honestly remember.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2588/...77f789e812.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2634/...e831266832.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2640/...1a78cb9e2d.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2488/...1b73f0aa47.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2607/...2f61ee717f.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3476/...edf07aaf87.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2424/...05a23267b5.jpg

Considering this should have taken a week (to do properly) I am still pretty impressed with the outcome. I know I really should have spent more time on the different grits, but I really didnt want to make this a long drawn out ordeal - remember I wasn't planning on even doing this. Nor have I ever done it before.

So, considering the rush job... how did I do? Any comments would be appreciated.

Inspite of it all, I really commend you for rectifying situation gone bad. At least you didn't just leave it be. :beer:

Plans for scales?

I would double check the scales from the 1. Joseph Rodgers & Sons as I believe those to be real tortoise.

If they are not then they sure are the best imitation I have ever seen.

that or celluloid.

That head of the W&B is sure a nice save
and for a first the finish is really ok!

Thanks, for the kind words everyone, your posts inspire me.

I will try and restore one of the sets of scales from the W&B. The other is cracked at the pivot pin. I may however attempt to fix this. Again, I have no clue as to what I am doing. Hopefully, it all works out in the end.

How, can one tell if its real tortoise shell?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by myuserid

How, can one tell if its real tortoise shell?

---

First check and see if the scales are thin. Second use a needle, heat it up with a lighter and hit it somewhere on the inside. If it's celluloid it will burn right through. If you smell a weird burned hair smell it's definitely not celluloid since tortoise shell is keratin (hair. horn, nails...)

or rub the scales on a piece of cloth until it becomes warm. If the warmth brings out an odor of camphor or celluloid, it is an imitation.

Here's a link on a set of real tortoise I ended up restoring for the owner. They sure do look extremely similar to yours.

Like I said, if they are not they sure are the best imitation I have ever come across.

Thank you, they do look very much alike. Ill check them out this morning, and report back.

Going to start work on the scale repair for the W&B tomorrow... Didnt mess with the tortoise shell yet.

Ok, I have the scales completely depinned now. When I depinned them originally I just removed the pivot pin. For whatever reason, the bottom pins were acomplete PITA to remove. I had to grind them off with a dremel cutoff wheel. Then it took forever for them to pop out. I took great care in removing them though.

Here are some pics of the freshly removed scales.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2441/...f4af35ce6c.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2564/...30788e98d3.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2600/...546424eace.jpg

Here is a link to the full size pics and others I didn't post...

Next up I will soak them in Neetsfoot oil for awhile, then dry them off then repair the crack with epoxy.

I was a little low on neetsfoot oil this morning, so I figured I would share what I did to conserve...

I put all the scales into a ziploc baggie and poured a small amount of neetsfoot oil into the bag. Then I held the bag straight up, this reduced the (wasted) surface area and completely submerged the scales. Lastly, I stood the bag in a plastic container and suspended the top so the surface area didn't increase. I think i used about a quarter of what I would have if I just poured it in wider bottom container.

Not really too big of a deal, but it seems to be working well. Plus, I am not using nearly as much oil as I would have.

Hope this helps someone else...

Last night I began to restore the scales from the W&B Barbers Notch. They are the first set of scales in the above post. After soaking in the neetsfoot oil for most of the day I dried them off then began sanding. I used the following sandpaper...

240 dry
400 dry
400 wet
600 wet
1000 wet
1500 wet
2000 wet

Here is what they look like now...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3501/...430b74bc27.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3524/...7b813e6dd5.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2421/...3afe43d3a7.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3522/...b62876a3e0.jpg

So how did they turn out? Comments would be appreciated...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Maximilian

I would double check the scales from the 1. Joseph Rodgers & Sons as I believe those to be real tortoise.

If they are not then they sure are the best imitation I have ever seen.

---

They look very real to me!

Great transformation on those scales. I see you followed the tips as was suggested. :tu

Thanks for the recommendations Max, I think they came out really nice. I had to sand the scales down a bit more than I hoped, as there was an X cut in the back of one. So that took awhile to sand down. Im going to see if I can find some micromesh on the cheap - locally. If not no worries, they look a 100x better already ;)

Next up...

Im not sure if I should replace the wedge or not. It appears to be made out of metal.

Also, I have to get them pinned and honed... Ill have to send them off to get honed as Im not equipped for that.

Your wedge is probably lead, I'd clean it up and use it. Nice work by the way...especially on the recontour of the broken toe.

Everything you've done so far looks great.

You've done a great job on those! You really made the best of things by re profiling the broken tip too.
If you don't mind advice though, when you hand sand, don't press so hard. You're leaving a few scratches. Try to get an even finish before you progress to the next grit, & keep the pressure a little lighter. Hopefully, that way, you'll eliminate the deeper scratches & end up with an even finish, whatever stage you take it to.
This isn't meant to be a downer. I think you've done them proud! Just thought it might help. :tu

Ive been meaning to update this thread for awhile. Thanks for all the feedback. I will heed the advice about hand sanding - I guess next time. I personally like the look of the minor scratches. It adds to the aged quality of razors as old as these. I know many people want and aim for perfection, but its interesting to look at in a different way that a perfectly restored razor. I guess it comes down to beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

Im going to be sending the barbers notch out to be honed soon. Once it comes back Ill repin and take some more photos.

thanks again for all the input!

You might want to check with your honer of choice first. AFAIK, most want the scales on the razor for honing.

In addition, you don't want to be trying to install scales on a shave ready razor for your first pin job IMHO.

Great work so far.

It wouldn't matter to me whether or not the blade had the scales on it when honed. But for the sake of the edge, re pin and then hone. Did you ever figure out if the tortoise was real or not?

Excellent work and a great thread - I'm looking at buying my first 'proper' blade and finding this forum has been a real bonus.

I'm only 30 mins from Sheffield, so will be trying to recover a 'local' product!

I'll keep checking back on this thread as I'm intrigued by the quality of the 3 blades you bought and how you progress them to 'shave ready'.