Thread: Crack in blade edge?

Any way to save a new (NOS) razor that has a hairline crack in the blade at the edge? I got this razor in wonderful condition from an ebay purchase, and not for much money. Neither he, nor I looking at the pictures found that crack. When I got the razor and held it up in the light just right I saw the slight distortion along the blade edge. Magnification shows a hairline crack kind of in the shape of a ( but a little more curve at the top back toward the toe. It was an A. FIEST & Cie. Solingen Germany, model "Monterna" in very fancy italics on the Left tang, along with Fully Hollow Ground, under the name Monterna.
He felt bad about it, sent me another razor, a Geo. Wostenholm & Sons to replace it, so that was very decent of him. I told him this razor is basically new, with no hone marks at all, and does not look like it was ever honed or stropped. VERY thin blade that starts nearly all the way up the blade close to the spine, and highly polished, ALL of it. I think his Father, who passed away and left him the collection of over 100 razors, probably had it and never used it for this reason.
Is there a way to perhaps add super-glue to both sides, or J.B. Weld or some low temp 95C silver based solder (melts with a cigarette lighter) to the spot where the crack is and stabilize the crack?

This is a picture of the whole razor, but forgive the off hue. I used the wrong setting on my camera, and managed to fix it a bit with Photoshop.

You are asking if gluing or welding a tear/crack on a straight razor is feasible? Unless you want to scar yourself for life I would nicely use that razor as a display item. I'm sorry for your loss. It does seem to be around 5/8 so removing the crack is not an option too. Doable probably but you'll end up in the stabilizer and with maybe a 4/8 or 11/16. Hard to say how far up the crack goes.

How far does the crack extend into the blade?

Originally Posted by adbuett

How far does the crack extend into the blade?

You and Max were curious about this, so was Glen in a different thread. Here is a better picture, taken outside yesterday. I had to do a bit of photoshop to give it a cleaner look for posting. It looks like a longitutal crack or such near the toe, but that is just reflection or other, not an imperfection.



I used my digital calipers and measured from the edge of the blade to the top of the crack. That distance is 0.086" .

This is what I would do if I were in your position. You will need to make your own decision as to what to do after considering the possible outcomes, i.e. extending the crack or chipping the blade. Because I don't believe in owning razors that I can't shave with, I would go about trying to hone out the crack. Depending on what the crack actually looked like (It's hard to tell from photos, even though you got a better one) I would either breadknife the blade until I got past the crack, or just hone with tape, to protect the spine, until it is gone. Take this with a grain of salt as I have never actually dealt with this problem before. Also, I would say removing by hand-methods is the safest avenue since power tools may lengthen the crack. Epoxy would probably be no good just because of the nature of the crack you're dealing with: small, on a cutting edge, etc. The solder I'm not sure about though.

The blade edge is very thin. Bread-knifing by had would take an inordinate amount of time. The crack extends all the way though and as you run the blade edge across your thumbnail and watch the ripple effect as you move down, you get to this spot and it really shows. The crack goes up and does a curve back toward the rear of the blade.

The blade width from top of spine to cutting edge is 0.674" 5/8 = 0.625" Now if if I get rid of the crack at the very top, the blade will now be about 0.588" width, larger than a 4/8 = 0.500" , but will be under the 5/8 (0.625") by about 0.037" or as it reads at Boeing, where I used to work, 37 thousandth, or 88 thousandth wider than a 4/8 razor. That wold be a shame, since this is a very small spine area that quickly thins to the width of a DE blade most of the way down the blade. If it were not for the flaw, it might be a "singing" blade.?? Possible?

Forget about any kind of weld/solder or glue to try and fix this.
Welds are done at temperatures that will most likely blow the temper on the blade. Solder is not hard so not going to work at all, glue same as solder. I am not sure what low temperature welding techniques available but I think it is not going to be worth the time and money to try and fix this way.
Try hone it away and if it works it works if not you are not loosing anything by trying.

Well, as far as the solder goes, what I have has no lead, cadmium, or antimony in it. Mostly silver based, good enough for food industry, tough at 22,000 PSI Tensile strenght and a cigarette lighter was used on a demo when we bought it at the winery. I held the ends of a paper clip together as the guy soldered the meeting parts with just a cigarette lighter. Never burned my fingers. Just a thought...

Originally Posted by Gibbs

Well, as far as the solder goes, what I have has no lead, cadmium, or antimony in it. Mostly silver based, good enough for food industry, tough at 22,000 PSI Tensile strenght and a cigarette lighter was used on a demo when we bought it at the winery. I held the ends of a paper clip together as the guy soldered the meeting parts with just a cigarette lighter. Never burned my fingers. Just a thought...

Isn't silver soldering high temp soldering? It is a form of brazing as far as I know. Also a lighter flame I think is in the 600-800 C which will blow the temper of the blade too.
I personally would try and hone out the crack to see if it works.

It is not a "silver" solder, but does not have lead, cadmium, zinc, etc that would be taboo for the food industry. Melts at 395 F, called Cronanbraze(TM) 92C and a tensile strength of 22,000 PSI. It was designed for high strength where low temp was required for melting. In other words, you couldn't use it in your oven to solder something as an oven would easily get hot enough to cause it to melt. Their list of advantages (Cronaton Corp.) Five times as strong as solder, Lowest heat factor needed for application. Stuff is kind of on the expensive side, and hard to find. 1/16" x 9' is what we have and it was something like 32.00 for that little coil. They say it's suitable for all dissimilar metals like chrome plated steels, Stainless Steel, copper, brass, and bronze.