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I won a W&B 6/8 today on Ebay. It appears to be restorable but I'm sure its above my current skill level. Can any of you guys who do restores that I see on here give me an idea of what it would cost to get cleaned up? I actually like the original horn scales that are on it. Any help would be huge. Thanks guys.
Kurt
The link below is to the razor:
eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices
Hey kurtlav1
I think you should look at the classifieds and contact some of the guys directly as i dont believe $$$ talk is allowed in open forum but take a look at some of the restorations here with sanding ... not really that hard geve it a go yourself! :)
Regards,
Mike
Hi Kurt,
To be honest I'm not sure it will be worth it, if even possible.
It will under any circumstance need a lot of work.
It got quite a bit (uneven) honewear, making the toe a lot narrower than the heel, it also have a bit of chipping in the edge that will need to be taken out, both of these will require work that will interfere with the shoulder.
Looks like it also might be attacked by the notorious devils spit, not very fun to deal with :(
Personally I would not go on and restore it, but I'm still quite a newbie to restoring, some of the more experienced guys might have some solutions and a different view :shrug:
+1 on this post. PM some members who offer restoration services for some quotes and then decide what you want to do. You don't have to get it restored right away if you have other shave ready razors, take some time and do some research.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mcbladescar
From the pictures, it looks possible. I'd grab some 3m wet dry sandpaper and give it a go yourself. Then if you don't like what you've done, contact someone who does restorations. At the very basic level, you could sand the blade a bit and polish it up before honing it.
I'm not sure those scales are horn though....I think they might be bakelite. I didn't see any grain in them, rather just a consistent lustre that's usually apparent on acrylics and plastic. I could be wrong though.
As advised above, valuations are not permitted on SRP forums.
You can only expect speculation from pics. Pick a restorer from the classifieds here: Member Services - Straight Razor Place Classifieds
Send them the razor & ask their opinion.
The critical thing that's hard to tell from pics is how bad the rust is at the edge & how crumbly the steel is as a result. If you can hone you can assess this yourself by setting a bevel & partially honing.
Thanks for the advice everyone. My apologies for a price related question. I'll give her a go at first with the wet/dry sandpaper then contact someone if necessary
Unless you (all readers of this thread) do the restorations yourself I would not purchase a razor with the intent of getting it restored unless you are talking about cleaning, rescaling, honing and/or just polishing up. Polishing up does not include removing rust, pits or devils spit.
I do restorations and I can tell you that the price of restorations can get expensive when metal needs to be removed. Even before metal can be removed the razor has to have enough metal on it before restoration so that when the metal is removed it is still stable enough not to crack, burn or break during or after the restoration. Hollow ground razors such as the one the OP pictured is not a good candidate for restoration due to the level of hollow and what looks to be devil's spit on the spine, in the hollow and on or near the bevel. You may find someone that likes you money that is willing to take this razor on for restoration but I can assure you that it will not be me or any other reputable vendor that has done a bunch of restorations. This razor is a good candidate for the 'Ebay 101' thread. I leave it to the OP to decide if he wants to help others with this example. Sorry if being honest here isn't what you were looking for.
just take some polish to it to shine it up and have it honed. No matter how it looks, it should be a good shaver...
Enjoy.
Jeff.
:needcoffee:
I've polished her up, and by that I mean cleaned off most of the stains. The chips came out of the edge pretty quickly, and it honed nicely. I'm going to use it for a shave tomorrow. Hopefully all goes well.
Kurt
As soon as I can I'll post some pics
So I tried for the first shave with the WB. It shaves, but roughly. Should I add more tape to the spine to increase the angle of the edge? If I can get the camera to work I'll post pics tonight. Thanks for any advice.
Kurt
I doubt adding tape will help a rough shave. Talking about 1º angle difference. Check the edge under magnification. Have you set the bevel correctly.?Quote:
Originally Posted by kurtlav1
Unless the bevel is seriously wide, adding more tape will not help. It's worth checking whether the bevels were set correctly during the coarse honing stage.
I think i did poorly setting the bevel. I did a little more work tonight. Going to give it a try tomorrow. The photos are not the most up to date of the razor. It currently has much more of a mirror polish but otherwise the same.
Kurt
Have you ever shaved with a straight razor before this one? Do you have any "Shave ready" straight razors to compare it to?
Jeff.
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by Maxi
sand it with some 1k or 2k 3M wet dry and see what is under the dark
places. You need to do this for sanitary reasons as much as anything.
If you have any pits I like to use a chop stick to focus on them by hand
or work them with a slip stone.
You do not need to get it 100% perfect but clean it well. After
sanding make sure you oil lightly.
A dull razor is still sharp so use care...
Next hone and shave test... If there are no pits
that impact the edge you should have a good shaver.
You will also know if more investment is in order.
I should note that I do not restore razors. I do rescue
a lot of them for my own use. An afternoon of hand sanding
goes a long way. Power tools in the right hand can do in ten min what it
takes me all afternoon and do a better job. A dremel can wreck a razor
in half a second so avoid power tools.
Unfortunately I learned the hard way how much dmage a dremel can do. I ruined a sweet shumate that I got a few months ago.
On the shave ready note, I've been shaving successfully and comfortably with a dovo 5/8 for three months now. I'm no expert, but I would have to think the issue with the W & B is one of sharpness more than technique.
I have cleaned the blade significantly since the pictures I've posted. I will post the updated ones tonight. Thanks for all the input.
Kurt
So this is where I'm at with the W&B. It cleaned up nicely, but I'm still having trouble getting it super sharp for a shave. Any thoughts on whats going on? The bevel seems to be set, but I could be wrong. I'm not sure its sharpening technique issue because I just honed the Dovo and its shaving well. Anything you can offer is appreciated.
Kurt
Just trying to be helpful, you might want to post how you honed the razor, stones used, pastes, etc, so an experienced member can try and help evaluate what steps to take to bring it to shave-ready.
By the looks of it, the razor seemed to clean up pretty good. Give it a good soak in oil.
Remember to keep your razor sharp and your mind sharper.
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by twogun
I know that when I hand sand a razor and polish it the
edge often suffers -- a lot.
My guess is that the bevel is not well set. This is one case
where a hanging hair can be used to map dull and sharp bits.
While the HHT stinks for detecting shave ready it excels at
detecting dull. A hair slides on dull and will catch a little
sometimes more on the well set bevel areas.
The other trick is to inspect the edge in sunlight. A sharp
edge does not reflect light yet dull patches do. Also inspect
the bevel in sunlight. It should reflect light the same along
its length. Some hones polish and some leave a frosty surface
but it should be identical. So reflect the bevel surface
and inspect the bevel and spine then continue rotating the
razor so you are looking at it edge on. Continue and inspect
the opposite side. Compare and contrast with a good shaver.
I'm still striking out on getting this old girl shave ready. The routine for honing is 1 k, 4k, 10 k then copious stropping on leather and linen. I know this probably isn't ideal but its currently all I have to work with. The edge appears uniform in the light it reflects. I'm guessing that finding the right amount of tape on the spine may be adversely affecting my sharpening. Right now its at three layers, as one produced a large bevel.
In any case, I've set her aside a few days to take a break from the honing attempts.
Kurt
Nice looking razor! If it was me, I would send it to have it professionally hone. It is easier to maintain an edge than to set one from an abuse razor in m opinion. My 2 cents. Double O
Getting it honed by someone in the classifieds is always an option :) I'm sending out a razor tommorow to someone who is highly recommened, for not very much money at all you can get a decent clean up and honing as long as the edge is in decent shape. It might be alot easier to try to maintain the edge than to set a new one...either way, goodluck
If you went through the trouble of learning to restore it, you might as well go all the way and learn to hone on it. Honing is like restoring, some people have a talent for it right away and some people don't. Just watch the online videos and go to town.
Let me add as a disclaimer, my honing is "okay", but my restoring is a horrible thing to watch..
Yes and no.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wintchase
I agree with what you're saying, with the caveat that some restored blades have a very, very wide bevel. If you get a 1/8" wide bevel even with 1 layer of tape, it is very wide, and as such really annoying to hone. you could of course go with 3 layers of tape, but the resulting cushioning will introduce its own set of problems.
Finally admitting defeat and sending this razor to Max for a proper honing. Hopefully some tips on where I'm screwing up will accompany it when it returns. Thanks for all the help.
Kurt
I finally figured out that the razor has a pretty substantial smile. For a while I thought it was my technique but I flattened and sharpened another razor successfully. In any case, sent the razor out today to be honed. Looking forward to getting it back and shaving with it. Thanks to all for their input.
Kurt
You will not regret it. I had a razor honed by Max and I love it. That way while I am still learning to hone I have something to compare to.Quote:
Originally Posted by kurtlav1
Just got the WB back from Max today. I'd like to thank him for his pointers about where I went wrong with the honing process on this blade. Turns out there is a substantial taper on the blade running from the heel to toe. The taper was throwing off my honing attempts since I didn't know how to compensate for it. Used her for a shave tonight with Baxter hot towel solution then Castle Forbes Lime. Super sharp, nice shaver. No complaints for the limited investment into it.
Kurt