Thread: What Should I Do?

I've JUST got a nice Emil Kronenberg Sen 5/8 that I'd say is a full hollow. Nice razor for a good price. I do like those dimensions on my Burrell; a humble razor by pedigree but I love it. It's fighting for first place with my only other razor; a W&B 4/8. I'm finding a 5/8 full hollow has more feedback than a 4/8 full hollow; and I like that actual feel. So the 'Emil' should be nice to shave with, except it's blunt; there's no other way to say it. It's also got some rust on it; actual brown rust, plus little, black, fine, spidery squiggles. It's a nice razor with nice scales that look like ivory, though I know they're probably not (and I'm not sure I'd want them to be). The scales have those fine lines in them, like growth rings on a tree. The blade has a jimp (I think they're called) on the top, and a nice longish tail on the tang. It's got a nicely shaped toe that will be less lethal than the Burrell's spike. It's got a rather garish and wanky gold wash design stating 'EDGERITE' with art deco style embellishments. It has some rust in the pivot.
So, what do I do?

(a) hone it (first one) and try and fix the rest up without taking it apart (i.e. mag wheel polisher, etc)

(b) try and take it apart (I have almost no tools) refurbish by hand polishing on wet and dry, honing , etc, etc, with no idea what I'm doing, really. I could use a fine file to grind off the pins, polish, buy some pins and re-pin it. I know that is ridiculously simplistic, but I'm conveying just the broad idea.

(c) send it to someone to be re-furbished. This would probably have to be overseas.

(d) swap it

I should say I have never honed, and the only things I polish are cufflinks and mag wheels a million years ago on my TC Cortina...

I recently Honed one of my Razors, I had previously only refreshed an edge on my Naniwa 12000.

I was however inspired by Earthdawn's recent posting of his success at a first attempt at honing. I simply followed the Pyramid Honing guide in the Wiki ( with the extra laps on the 8000 for stainless), on Naniwa 5000 and 8000, then finished on 12000 and usual stropping regime. It actually felt very simple and the razor shaves beautifully.

I can tell by your posts that you are both thoughtful and methodical and that you are at a stage with your shaving that you will be able to gauge your results, with that in mind I would say, clean it up as best you can, then hone it.

If you simply follow the pyramid guide one time and it doesn't work out, then you will not have done any damage and you still have the option of sending it out.

But I suspect that you will make a good job of honing. At this point I'm sure that you will become very attached to this Razor (as I have to the one I have honed) and you may later decide to go further with the refurb, with the confidence that you can hone it again at any time.

I hope I haven't sounded patronising, just my thoughts based on my experience so far.

Unless it really means a lot to you personally, just clean it up with the metal polish some and just use it. I have some razors that are more utility grade and others that are nice and pretty. Don't get me wrong...I will never have something that I won't use. What I am getting at is that some razors we pick up for $20 aren't worth the cash outlay of having them restored, so why not just let them be old and still put them to work. My pickup that I drive isn't the prettiest thing, but it's a darn good truck that I would take literally anywhere. On your razor, I would just clean up what you can and put it to work. Then again...I'm one of those guys who like patina and an aged looking razor.

Take some #0000 steel wool and some metal polish and give it a good once over making sure that the red rust is gone.After that I'd just let it be and hone it.Of course I like the character of blades with tarnish, pitting and even some devil's spit.

Pulling scales off without breaking them is a pretty neat trick even for those of us who do a lot of them and have the tools. I would suggest you just clean up the blade and scales the best you can, hone it or have it honed, and enjoy shaving with it. When you get tools and a little practice unpinning/pinning, then pull it apart and thoroughly clean/polish. Good luck.

How do you expect us to ever take you seriously again... with an avatar like that?

Don't bother taking it apart. Hand sand and then go to the metal polish. Then send it out to get honed.

Originally Posted by easyace

I recently Honed one of my Razors, I had previously only refreshed an edge on my Naniwa 12000.

I was however inspired by Earthdawn's recent posting of his success at a first attempt at honing. I simply followed the Pyramid Honing guide in the Wiki ( with the extra laps on the 8000 for stainless), on Naniwa 5000 and 8000, then finished on 12000 and usual stropping regime. It actually felt very simple and the razor shaves beautifully.

I can tell by your posts that you are both thoughtful and methodical and that you are at a stage with your shaving that you will be able to gauge your results, with that in mind I would say, clean it up as best you can, then hone it.

If you simply follow the pyramid guide one time and it doesn't work out, then you will not have done any damage and you still have the option of sending it out.

But I suspect that you will make a good job of honing. At this point I'm sure that you will become very attached to this Razor (as I have to the one I have honed) and you may later decide to go further with the refurb, with the confidence that you can hone it again at any time.

I hope I haven't sounded patronising, just my thoughts based on my experience so far.

That's really nice advice and nice words, thanks!

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Unless it really means a lot to you personally, just clean it up with the metal polish some and just use it. I have some razors that are more utility grade and others that are nice and pretty. Don't get me wrong...I will never have something that I won't use. What I am getting at is that some razors we pick up for $20 aren't worth the cash outlay of having them restored, so why not just let them be old and still put them to work. My pickup that I drive isn't the prettiest thing, but it's a darn good truck that I would take literally anywhere. On your razor, I would just clean up what you can and put it to work. Then again...I'm one of those guys who like patina and an aged looking razor.

Again, good advice. I've seen some nice razors here that are shiny as, well, you know, and look really nice. Then again I've seen some with a really nice patina. But patina is one thing and rust is another. I actually paid a fair bit for this, a fair bit more than my Burrell. I'd like it to be a nice razor; I think it wants to be. I WAS actually considering removing the gold wash design on the blade; as i think by the time I've got rid of the marks it'll be partially removed anyway...

Originally Posted by Theseus

Take some #0000 steel wool and some metal polish and give it a good once over making sure that the red rust is gone.After that I'd just let it be and hone it.Of course I like the character of blades with tarnish, pitting and even some devil's spit.

Sounds really good, I think I'll do this!