Dunc's Intrepid foray into the realm of restorations

With a few fleaBay blades in my possession and the beginnings of a restoration kit I figure I might as well "contribute" to the workshop community (although the reality is I am just here to sponge information, suggestions and inspiration ;) )

I'm going to just plug away in one thread instead of cluttering the board with a bunch of pleas for advice and guidance as I slowly work my way through the process of bringing old blades back to life.

My goal's in restoring are to build up a collection of shavers so I will be able to provide less repetitive SOD posts :rolleyes: and to satisfy my rampant gear whoring and tinkering tenancies...

So let me begin with introductions of the first 3 sacrifices... er I mean projects.

This little guy is probably going to be the first attempt. It is stamped as a A.P. Wendell & Co, made in Germany. The scales are tight and would probably clean up nicely, minimal staining and minor pitting as far as my negligible experience can tell. The blade has a slight frown and I'm thinking instead of tearing this little guy apart I might just let it be my honing guinea pig (after next payday when the hone budget is ratified).

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The other razors both have warped scales and will be providing me with a opportunity to make new scales :) and learn the fine art of peening... both blades show some pitting and tarnish.
A.W. Wadsworth "Pathfinder" and Fredrick Renyolds "the princes own" will need to be torn down. I think the FR has a bit of a smile and the Pathfinder has some heal wear but nothing severe. I would like to keep the etching on the Pathfinder (If i go after it with hand sanding is the etching a lost cause?), the etching on the FR is so faded I doubt it is worth considering.

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I am picking up a tumbler and I was thinking that once I have these torn down a cycle through the walnut shells and buffing compound might be educational, to give me a foundation as to what can be buffed out in that manner. Then move on to sanding if a more aggressive removal is needed.

I always am interested in the wisdom of those more experienced than myself :bow

Honed one of those Pathfinder "Big CHiefs" for a guy a few months back... let me tell you, those are nice razors! Took an edge very readily, and man oh man was it smooth!

The tumbler has worked for a few folks here already. Well enough to save a guy about 5 hours of hand sanding to get a valid starting point.

I have restored a set of super old scales. I start with dissassembly. I sand them starting with 220 grit and ending with 600 grit. Then I buff then for hours with some #00 steel wool. I then hand polish them with some Maquire's PlastX and cotton balls.

Talk about bringing some old scales back to life.!!

The blades I sand for fun and relaxation. I found I spend about 10 hours on average per razor I sand. No tumbler here... :)

Good luck on these projects mate. NOthing like bringing a 10$ X-Bay razor back to life. Nothing...

The Big Chief is now without scales and slowly getting sanded down. I have got it fairly clean the pitting is another story. I want to keep the etching so quite a bit of the pitting is going to stay.

220 grit done, 300 grit starting to look good.

1500 is done... need to find some 1800 and 2000 grit.

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Looking good. When it's all said and done, are you going for a mirror polish or more of a satin look?

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Originally Posted by jfleming9232

Looking good. When it's all said and done, are you going for a mirror polish or more of a satin look?

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Thanks, I haven't quite decided I think I am going to go for a mirror polish on this one just to see how it works out.