Thread: Pitting...

Happy New Year Everybody.

I was wondering, about deep pitting. I just finished cleaning off this razor, which according to my research is about 70 to 80 years old. It had a lot of crud on. Soap scum? I don't know? But when I got it all off it had caused pitting. I managed to get most of it out, but there are still some pitting, that are just so deep. Is there any kind of trick to this? some kind of filler? LOL, like... bondo.

Seriously, the blade is really looking nice, but that pitting is kind of bugging me.

But I don't know if it's wise to shave off any more metal, and compromise the blade.

Hi there I have restored a few razors I did an experiment with a cheap razor that was badly rusted and sanded it down so there was no more pitting. The razor looked really good however when it came time to hone it the blade was that thin that was nearly impossible to hone. It took me days on and off to get it shave ready and it is a really horrible shave because the blade is so thin (I can bend the blade by pushing it from the side). I now leave the pitting in the blades it remind me that these razors are old and have had a life before I got hold of them.

That is exactly what I'm worried about. In fact, I'm worried that I've gone a little too far already.

This is about the thrid blade I'm working on. I bought a lot a 4 blades on Ebay a while back. I bought for practice, and I messed up two of them already.

I really would like to get this one right. So maybe, I'll just leave what little pitting is left, and just polish and finish it up and work on the scales.

Your best bet when you get a razor with that kind of corrosion is to first hone it a bit to see if the pitting is into the bevel. If it is then you may end up with an edge that will look like a piece of swiss cheese. As you sharpen the pitted areas will just fall away and leave holes and/or micro chips. No point in investing time in sanding a blade such as that IMO unless you only want it for display.

Honing. I was saving that for last. Since I have no honing stone. I'm just starting out. I'm trying to get the money for a norton water stone kit I saw at amazon.com

But I didn't see any pitting on the bevel, that's the first thing I look at is the bevel, the edge. I know I have another blade with some chips in it, small chips. But I need to get the tool to fix that. LOL.

So many tools I still need get. So much more the learn.

Thanks for the tip.

could you post a pic of your razor so people can see what shape it's in now, I usally dont go for the mirror finish myself I leave a patina and hand sand from 600-800 up to 2000 and with old razors there's usually still dark spots and pitting like others said the bevel is what needs to be fresh steel if has corrosion and chips but as I think youve found out full hollows are verythin and over sanding near or at the edge will quickly cause possible damage. look over the wiki and sticky on the workshop forum

I have no decent picture to offer you. But the pitting was on the face of the blade, just under the spine, on the curve. There was no pitting on the blade. The bevel / edge is clean. I have 400 to 600 with 1500 my highest. Then I have some polishing compounds to work with. Though I do have to get green, to finish. And yeah I've browsed through the wiki.

I'm done trying to work out the pitting. And for this blade I see no point in getting a mirror finish. Not with the pits. I'll save that effort for a blade in better shape. And when I get a little better, as well.

I'm just going to put a little more detail in this blade, then see if I can hone it.

But hey, thanks.

Razors with pitting into the bevel can be pretty fun to play with. You can't tell until you hone if the pitting is shallow enough it'll disappear as you move up the grits, or if it's deep enough your blade will literally have a freaking hole through it.

I always try to remove all pitting, then once it becomes clear I'm going to wind up with the wisp of a razor Exile described I give up, hone it anyway and see if the pitting could cause problems. Usually it doesn't. If it does, I'll evaluate the blade, and if it seems like a good idea, I'll grind it down until I get a fresh bit of steel to rebevel, and if the edge STILL has pitting at that point (I've yet to have a razor that bad) I would give up. Yes it's more work than these razors are worth, but hell, it's good practice, and I've gotten a couple good razors out of old pitted pieces of junk the sellers had most likely given up on.

If the pitting does not affect the bevel you may just have to live with it. Polishing will help clean it up and make it shine after the sanding process.

Yeah, this razor came from a lot of 4 I picked up on ebay, a while back. Basically to practice on. I think I paid like 15 bucks for all 4 razors.

But this one here, came from germania cutlery works, and I was able to find some information on the company. Very interesting.

That's why I'm trying to be a little hopeful with it.

Of course, as I mentioned, I do have to get some honing stones. I should have the spare change in a couple of days. When I get paid.