Thread: cheap restoration.

so i have been restoring two razors, and i had to use hand sandpaper. And i wonder if you could use a hand drill buffer attachment and add greaseless compound on it.

IF you can secure the drill and have it running and SECURELY in place then you could polish out the razor.... you can even reverse direction if needed........

but it has to be SECURE!!

I would think that a hand drill would not spin fast enough.I know mine doesn't.

x2 on the secure

Years ago I put a drill in a bench vice and put a buffing wheel on it, come to think of it I've done the same with a stone wheel. Heck I even made a mock lath in the same fashion. However I would also have to say that you need to be very careful doing so and I would even go a step further and say you may not want to attempt this as to many things can go wrong and you could get seriously injured.

Stick with hand work until you get the proper tools. Flying blades can kill.

I don't get why people have this horrible need to mechanize restoring razors (unless it's your job, and increased speed means increased income). I enjoy sanding it by hand (done over a handful of blades, more in line), it's therapeutic, gives you direct contact (hands on), more control and, when you're done and it's shining like a mirror, more satisfaction. Turtle waxing it in a sand-spinning machine for two days? Doesn't mean you're dedicated, you just want a great result without sweating for it. My two cents on this one.

I just don't understand why people go through so much effort to learn to shave as manual as possible, and start using all kinds of (heavy) machinery at home for restoration, repairs and maintenance.

Originally Posted by Themagicturtle

so i have been restoring two razors, and i had to use hand sandpaper. And i wonder if you could use a hand drill buffer attachment and add greaseless compound on it.

That's exactly what I did... and even used a DeWalt cordless on the slow speed.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...thin-lose.html

I can't stress enough the importance of keeping the buffer rotations going AWAY from the edge at ALL times.

I did the early 'dirty work' with sandpaper and fingers, then the final polishing with drill mounted buffer wheels and compound.

It can be done.

I tend to agree with Pithor, doing it by hand teaches you way better as to what is really going on with the razor, Honestly there isn't one of us that has done this Restoration Gig for a long while that didn't start by using sandpaper...
The trick however is picking the razors to work on a bit more carefully
Handwork also slows things down a bit and leads to less damage to razors and hands, it also lets you develop the skills needed and the knowledge needed to do things right and safely once you decide to step up the game and add power...
Power does things faster not always better...

I know that might sound a bit hypocritical coming from me, but search out my early stuff and see if I didn't start with Sandpaper first

Remember "Rush a Restore, Wreck a Razor"

Originally Posted by Pithor

I don't get why people have this horrible need to mechanize restoring razors (unless it's your job, and increased speed means increased income). I enjoy sanding it by hand...

I don't, I hate it. That's why.

Originally Posted by Pithor

...it's therapeutic, gives you direct contact (hands on), more control and, when you're done and it's shining like a mirror, more satisfaction.

I find it incredibly tedious, uncomfortable and it burns through way too much of my spare time (Edit: which is neither valuable nor sparse, but I've never been able to stretch it very far) . Call me impatient but if faced with the prospect of hand-sanding all my razors I would just leave the patina on. Besides, I need that time to crack the strangely elusive mystery of honing.

Originally Posted by tonycraigo

That's exactly what I did... and even used a DeWalt cordless on the slow speed.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...thin-lose.html

I can't stress enough the importance of keeping the buffer rotations going AWAY from the edge at ALL times.

I did the early 'dirty work' with sandpaper and fingers, then the final polishing with drill mounted buffer wheels and compound.

It can be done.

I've done it too. But as tonycraigo did, I started with sandpaper first (and yes, after the awe and mystique of doing your first razor, it's a huge pain in the butt) and then went to some polishing compounds applied to wheels and a drill mandrel. Polishing by hand just seemed like a ridiculously tedious endeavor, so I wanted to try what I could without buying a ton of new stuff. Hand-sanding followed by drill-buffing has gotten me a nice mirror finish where I wanted it. The thing I liked most about it is you can control the speed of the wheel pretty easily, and it's slow. You probably could get some harsher compounds on to the wheels and avoid the hand-sanding.

Here are some things you may want to consider based on my experience:

1. Get a bench mount for the drill (they have these, they essentially mount your drill like a buffer). If you're going to be doing some more serious grinding, you'll want the drill to be secure.
2. Use a corded drill. I use my cordless drill and the batteries die pretty quickly.
3. Keep the speed pretty low. You're using the drill for a purpose it's not really designed for, so there's some added danger there. Slower speed is undoubtedly safer.

And of course be safe, wear shop goggles, hard shoes, etc... Good luck.

Hand sanding a blade is absolutely NOT a waste of time. It's an incredible learning experience. I will agree that at times it can be tedious, but so is hand sanding scales to 2500 grit before buffing or burnishing by hand....but there's no way around it.

Hand sanding is a great way to determine what the razor needs, and it can be somewhat relaxing. Anyways, that's my two cents. I've done lots of blades by hand, and it was loads of fun. Believe me when I say this....I just got a set of buffers and wheels, and the learning curve for this piece of equipment is much steeper than sandpaper. I'm very glad that I learnt a
bit about restoring before I got the compounds! I can't possibly stress this last point enough...I cracked on blade early on by sanding too hard, but that was it. I've already messed up 2 blades trying to figure out how to buff correctly!