Thread: Anyone interested in a PSA Sanding disk kit for razor restoration?

Ok, Ok, to start with I have the perfect razor, a wedge my wife found in an antique store. I probably have 3 or 4 more that need work. No more purchases until I finish those up. I promised the missus.

I am also looking forward to restoring some razors . I think that the blade on the left is probably not much of a shaver but love the shape. On the other hand, the rest I am looking forward to shaving with.

The razor you have on the left is used as a background pic on one of my web pages. The blade is changeable with the scales by taking out the button screw.
http://www.billysblades.com/Meat%20Choppers.htm
The WB on the right is one of my favorite shaped blades. My preference is shoulderless blades... the lines are so clean. I just spent the better part of three hours restoring a blade in worse shape than the one you have on the right. It was tits. I even cut the crap out of my left index TWICE working on it. Something I rarely do these days. Just as I was buffing it out to a perfect mirror, I noticed a 3/8 deep hairline about a half inch from the tip. I think I may still put a set of scales on it and use it for display.

That WB is in great condition... I have the same, but with bad scales. I just got cow's horn, I might do a set of scales these days...

Vlad,
You might be surprised with the W&B on the left. I have an 8/8 W&B something like the one in the center and it also has the convex blade. After honing it up I would put it up against my best shaver. The convex blade was a bit of a challenge but did get it very very sharpe.

Bill Watkins

Bill, I saw the blade on the left on your website and in your gallery before you restored it. I fell in love with its unusual shape. When I saw it on e-bay I marked it off as "must have" and was pleasantly surprised that no one was interested in it. Got it for minimum bid +$10 shipping.

Bill, I am waiting for your e-mail address. My response to your PM is too long to go through the PM system and I don't know if you have received my PM'd e-mail address which I sent you two days ago.

Yes, Bill, Bill W. and Nenad, I suspect that the W&B will be an awesome shaving axe. I am not crazy about the scales nor the pins though. I think I will rescale it with heat treated purple heart scales (traditional shape). Nice deep burgundy purple. Add brass pin inlay design in the theme of the era from which it came (1800's) so it does not clash with the blade. Then I will be happier with the look.

I want to restore the W&B blade to MINT(Y) condition and was wondering if you know what finish it had originally: mirror or brush? I know that Gentleman's Razor is mirror finish.

The Wonderedge is a nice catch too. I am dying to take it out for a spin and see what everyone raves about. It is my first DD.

In general I tend to stay away from restored blades and go for the "needs love" purchases. Not because I have something against restored razors I just don't see why I should have less fun and pay someone to have had it for me all in the same purchase .

Please add me to the list.

Welcome aboard Joe, you have been added to the list.

At the last minute added enough for a few extra kits and/or spoilage. I completely forgot to account for potential spoilage in my original supply estimate.

Good thing I did, since you are number 15, the original order would not leave any room for me to screw up while punching the disks.

Originally Posted by vladsch

Welcome aboard Joe, you have been added to the list.

At the last minute added enough for a few extra kits and/or spoilage. I completely forgot to account for potential spoilage in my original supply estimate.

Good thing I did, since you are number 15, the original order would not leave any room for me to screw up while punching the disks.

Thanks. I posted as soon as I read your first message and when I got down to the end I thought I was too late.

I have a Dreml. I haven't had very good success with it, so I've been sanding manually. I have everything from coarse emery cloth to 2000. I just can't believe how much work it is to finish an old blade with pitting. I'm eager to find a better method.

I think you said you would send a PM? I'm planning to pay via Paypal.

Guess what got me motivated to make the mandrels and disks myself? Here is the post of my hand sanding project Following Bill Ellis' advice

The results are good but it took over 8 hours. Just the pitting took 5 straight hours with 100 grit paper to sand out. It is not only time consuming but physically tiring. My fingers were sore for two days.

After that I had a good feel for the sanding and knew I could get good results but just the thought of doing it again by hand made me litteraly sick to my stomach.

I decided that I have to have sanding disks and up to 2000 grit at least. I done all the handsanding of high carbon steel for this life.

Here is a test I did of the leather mandrel and aluminum oxide paper Experimenting with PSA sanding disks you can see the results. They are better, faster and easier than by hand. Better because with less effort I didn't mind going back a few grit numbers to sand out a few missed scratch lines.

I am making the disks from HandAmerican PSA backed sandpaper sheets, 100 to 2500 grit, these will be silicone carbide so should cut faster and last longer than my test disks.

As far as payment I am planning to PM everyone for their e-mails once I verify that there are no snags with the disks and send a Paypal Invoice to that e-mail address.

Forgot to add that with a dremel you may want to get a flexshaft attachment for it. A bit easier to maneuver. I use a flexshaft tool similar to Foredom and it rocks for comfort of handpiece and pedal control of the speed.