Completely new

[chrisp]

I want to preface this by saying i am completely new to straight shaving. I went against the grain completely by trying to restore a razor before anything else. I may get jeers, but I love projects. If anyone has any positive input I would appreciate the comments. Here is my progress as of yet. In addition, does anyone know this company. Thanks
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.png[/IMG]

[Troggie]

Welcome.. and good luck. I like you did the same thing ( I also bought a shavette style to start shaving with while I restored). I would highly recommend hand sanding first as you can get decent results in just an hour or so to see if there is any pitting or other issues with the blade. Also if you haven't watched them yet check out undream's youtube videos on a restore from start to finish as it gives great information and even some tips that may make re-assembly easier.

[ScottGoodman]

That razor looks like it is in pretty good shape and IF I were to start shanding it by hand I would start out fine...like 2000grit. Not all razors need "restored", some just need to be cleaned up and honed. The more you try to sand a razor like that, the more etch you will loose. If that one were mine, I would probably hit it with some polishing compound like mothers, maas, or flitz first. You can always go more abrasive, but not the other way...
Thanks,
Scott

[gssixgun]

What grits have you used so far????
And from the pics so far, it looks like you are sanding toe-to-heel...

Bruno did a very good tutorial on handsanding in the "Restoration Information" sticky, you don't have to make the tool he made but it does help...

You might want to read through here..


http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...wers-here.html


As to Imperial Stamped razors I have seen quite a few, is there a stamp on the reverse of the tang?????

[JimmyHAD]

Welcome to SRP. Never heard of the maker of that blade but it looks high quality. Good luck with the restore.

[chrisp]

Thanks for all of the hints. to answer some questions. I started out by autoclaving the blade to clean it. There was some heavy piting along the ridge and onto the tang. I started out hand sanding with 220 grit to remove the majority of the piting and then progressed to 400-800-1k-1.5k varying the directions of sanding as I progressed. The first two pics are after sanding and the third is before. Here are some more pics. First is before and the next two are other stamps on the tang. One says germany and the other is a hallmark of what looks like an oak tree. thanks

[ScottGoodman]

How hot did you get it when autoclaving it?

[gssixgun]

Can't quite make out the tree stamp, but it very well could be a Boker Made razor.. that was stamped for A. Weber & Co. to sell

Sounds like you are doing everything right on the sanding,, I used to go to 2000 grit then start polishing when I was doing handsanding... How far you want to go with the polishing is up to you, but honestly very, very, few of my personal razors have a mirror or even near mirror finish I love a high gloss satin...

I too would like to know how hot the autoclave gets????

[chrisp]

That's a good question. I was completely thinking of the sterilizatiin not the metal. But I am confident that it didn't get to 400 because the plastics I was also autoclaving melt at 400.

[cutalot]

could be the light but it looks like you got a bit of temper color in you blade a light blue, a bit back from the toe?.be super carefull not to overheat this blade its ever so easy to do when the steel gets this thin