Thread: Removing metal from the hollow

I am not a restorer by any stretch of the imagination. OTOH, I have read a lot of threads on the topic. I cannot remember where I read it but I know that in one of them it said that with some wedges pitting is so deep that it is allowed to remain in some instances. There is a point of diminishing returns IIRC. Max and Glen could no doubt elaborate as they are about as experienced as you can get.

I would say they were horn. If you did mark them, sand them lightly with high grit sandpaper - 800-1500 wet and dry, then polish them with a very fine abrasive such as emery or ruby compound. They buff to a high shine! And coat them in neatsfoot oil overnight.

That blade is old, old, old. IMHO, Leave some of the pitting just to show some respect for its experience.

Old blades like that aren't meant to be perfect. Like an old cowboy, it's going to have some wrinkles and scars. About all I would do with it if it were mine is put it in a tumbler of walnut media for about 24 hours for an even satin finish. I'd then I'd put those nice ole' scales back on it and put it to use. That's my $.02 anyway...

Originally Posted by randydance062449

That blade is old, old, old. IMHO, Leave some of the pitting just to show some respect for its experience.

+1. I wouldn't do much more to that blade, if I were you. You can actually polish out all it's real value and it's too nice a blade for that. Old English blades with character are very, very nice, in my opinion. The more modern styles with less character are more ideal for restoration purposes, in my opinion. The more "plain" the blade and the later the model, the more likely you'll enhance the value with a spiffy restoration. The older, more unusual and full of character a blade is, the more likely you are to minimize it's value by doing a "spiffy" restoration. You have to treat the really old blades like that with the care and respect Randy recommends. But.... it's a matter of personal taste and I don't think anyone will hang you up by your heels if you have a different perspective.

My wife bought me this same razor and it by far the best shave ever for me..I like it 10x better than my new dovo. I have not polished it up yet.I would like so see some picks of it when you get it yours done. ..Why do you say excessive amount of metal.try it first I like it that way you may be sorry if you change it.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

...There is a point of diminishing returns IIRC...

That sounds like a fancy way of saying it's not worth the effort, and having hand sanded a few blades myself, Jimmy's right. I have since given up on hand sanding.

You need to decide how bad you want to get rid of the pitting. If it's worth 15 hours of killing your hands, go for it. If not, you can take it to a buffer to speed up the process. Or you can throw it in a tumbler to shine it up without removing the pitting as Shooter suggested. Bottom line, pitting like that is going to take a whole lot of time to remove by hand. You also need to consider what it's doing to your hands. In the wiki is an idea for a jig for holding the sandpaper which might help.