I'm new to SRP, but I've been lurking for a bit, and I'd like to share my razor restore as it happens.
Preliminary notes:
If I've learnt anything about working in the workshop it can be summed up in two phrases "Safety First" and "Measure twice, cut once", these both apply to straight razors, cutting yourself while sanding is very easy (my fingers will vouch for me) and it's quite easy to sand a little too hard in a moment of frustration, causing hours of monotonous sanding with the next grit in an attempt to remove deeply embedded scratches.
Another thing which is very important is patience. Tempered high carbon steel will not give in easily, and a water-like approach is required. Water isn't hard, but it is constant, it eats away at stone in tiny amounts, and over years in this way can carve a jagged cliff into a smooth bluff.
Purchases:
Total spent so far:
$NZD ($USD)
$30 ($21) on razor
$25 ($17.50) on strop
$10 ($7) on sandpaper
$2 ($1.40) on baby oil
Total: $67 ($46.90)
Potential Purchases:
~$100 (~$70) on hone
~$10 (~$7) on brush
~$15 (~$11.50) on soap
Total: ~$125 (~$88.50)
The Restore:
I bought a straight razor from an antique store a few weeks ago, with the intention of restoring it to a mirror shine, and the sharpest edge possible. Being a complete novice in respect to razors I spent several weeks researching them. I found that there are 3 ways to restore a straight razor; with a rock tumbler and gentle media, with a rotary tool (bench grinder, dremel, etc.) or hand sanding. There are many places to go wrong with a rotary tool or bench grinder, and I didn't want to have to go out and buy my own specialty dremel bit, or a finer grinding wheel and I was unsure as to how I would get my hands on a tumbler, so I opted for the more conservative and ego-stroking method of hand sanding.
My razor was of Solingen steel, with "A & A MFG Co. Solingen Germany" etched into the tang. The blade had some quite intensive pitting and corrosion on the front, with a rather clean, but somewhat pitted back. Luckily the pitting and corrosion wasn't near the cutting edge, so I was saved from some quite painful honing or grinding in the future.The pitting luckily wasn't too deep, and I could barely feel it with my finger, but I wanted to attempt to sand it all out.
Razor steel is high in carbon (0.5% to 1.5%) and tempered to a brittle, sharp edge, so sandpaper would not cut it as easily as it would annealed steel, or iron, so I opted for some coarse sandpaper, to be followed by progressively smaller grits to achieve the finish I desired. For the initial sanding I chose 80 grit emery abrasive paper, as it was the coarsest paper I was comfortable using because 60 grit paper would leave scratches which would take a long time to sand out with 80 grit paper and I wanted to be as careful as I could with the razor.
I purchased the sand paper, with grits: 80, 100, 120, 240, 320, 400, 800, 1000, 2000 which totaled about $10NZD (About $7USD). I like to have quite small gaps between the grits, because it is easier to remove the scratches from the previous grit, and you don't end up finding scratches you've missed when you polish your blade to that heavenly mirror finish.
On preliminary tests with the sandpaper I found that I couldn't remove the pitting with 320 grit paper (which would remove the need for quite a bit of intermediate sanding at each of the lower grits). I also found out that it is very important to dry your blade properly while wet sanding, as it rusts very quickly, especially when rough from sanding. Luckily I spotted the surface rust and sanded it off before it had any real consequence. After that I started sanding with oil instead, a dangerous move with some scales but mine were plastic (I'm 97% sure they aren't celluloid). I used baby oil which is just mineral oil with perfume, used commonly for removing makeup and for lubricating dry skin, it's available in small bottles, perfect for use with straight razors (keeps them rust free) and hones (apparently it's good for keeping hones supple, but don't hold me to it, until I've had a chance to test it) at your local department store or ~$2 NZD ($1.40 USD).
So far I've spent ~6 hours sanding the blade, and the pitting on the front is about half as deep as it was before. This looks like it will take ~15 hours total, possibly more. I'll be sure to update with pictures of the razor.
Other ideas and notes:
I've heard of people restoring blades with rock tumblers, and I was keen to try it, so I've attempted to build a rock tumbler with a can, some wheels and a fan motor, I'll let you know how it goes.
My grandfather told me that he uses a piece of dowel in a drill, with sandpaper wrapped around it if he wishes to have a dremel-like tool. It seems like this could potentially be an ingenius idea, as it would be possible to cheaply and easily create a rotary 2000 grit tool with just a round pencil, some tape and a strip of sandpaper.
I hope you've found this of interest, I'll update it when I can,
Joundill.
