Advice on restoring Blue Wonder 7/8"

I am a newbie to straight razor shaving, with less than a month of (thus far positive) experience. :)

I have been contemplating buying a hone, and today I asked my father for advice, as he knows a little about honing (he builds wooden boats, and has honed a few planes and chisels). We discussed what I would be honing (of course), and when I told him, he mentioned that he had a razor which he got from his father, and that his father had got from his father. I asked him about it and he said he didn't want it and that I could have it.

When he showed it to me, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a Blue Wonder 7/8" in what looks to be quite nice condition. Needless to say, I'd like to keep it and restore it to shave ready condition, but I'm not sure exactly what is necessary to achieve this.

The worst problem appears to be a small chip in the cutting edge. I have attached some photos below, in which the chip is evident.

There are a couple of small rust spots on the blade, and a little bit of rust around the pivot, which made it slightly stiff to open. I put a small drop of light machine oil on that and it has loosened up nicely. However, a little rust is still evident on the tang and around the pivot.

There is also a tiny crack in one of the ivory scales, but that doesn't bother me greatly.

I am just wondering how much honing would be necessary to remove the chip in the blade, and whether a newbie would be likely to do a decent job of it. Also, I'm wondering whether it would be worth removing the blade so that I can clean up the small amount of rust from around the pivot.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :)

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Can I just say the pictures are not showing.

Thanks.

I noticed they're not showing as pictures in the post, but I see links (e.g., attachment 90015), which I can click to view the pictures. Do you see the links?

I did, but when clicking on them it says invalid attachment.

Thank you for letting me know. I will try to fix it now.

Welcome to SRP!

Congrats on what looks to be a very nice heirloom piece :)

First, if you are planning on doing anything other than maintaining a already shave ready razor you will need more than one hone, you will need a full progression set from a bevel setter to a finisher, most start with 1K-4/8K and a C12K or other finisher stone. (And honing tools and knives are very different from honing razors)

To get that chip out you would want to go down to a DMT 325 or an 220 stone to speed things up, but it will still take some time.

I would not recommend to go on and do it yourself as a beginner, send it out for professianal honing and rather get yourself some cheap eBay specials to practice on, the risk of ruin the razor is too big.

You can unpin the pivot and remove the rust with some fine wet/dry sanding paper an polish it afterwards, but again, there is a risk of doing some damage.

Take a look in the Workshop sticky to see how to do it: Workshop: How do I / Where do I / What do I / answers are here

Personally I probably wouldn't bother on this one and just clean it up best as possible without unpinning it.

The scales are not Ivory BTW, not sure, but I think those might be celluloid.

PS! Are your father/grandfather very yong?

I might be wrong but I don't think that razor is that old, somewhere mid 20th century maybe?

Good luck and let us see how she turnes out.

It's a beautiful razor. Let us know how she turns out.

Thanks for all the great advice.

I thought perhaps a coarser hone might be needed to get the chip out without taking a lot of time and effort, and in that case, I think you're right that I probably shouldn't risk damaging something I care about.

My father was born in 1944, and the razor came from his father. My father knows nothing about shaving -- for as long as I've been alive he's had a beard. :) He told me that my grandfather had acquired the razor from my great-grandfather, but it is possible that wasn't the case. Does the razor look like a more recent make/model? (Sorry, I know nothing about this... I tried googling it, but didn't get a conclusive answer).

Anyway, thank you again for your help -- I appreciate it :)

Thank you, and I will do that :)

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Originally Posted by Loewenherz

I am a newbie to straight razor shaving, with less than a month of (thus far positive) experience. :)

I have been contemplating buying a hone, and today I asked my father for advice, as he knows a little about honing (he builds wooden boats, and has honed a few planes and chisels). We discussed what I would be honing (of course), and when I told him, he mentioned that he had a razor which he got from his father, and that his father had got from his father. I asked him about it and he said he didn't want it and that I could have it.

When he showed it to me, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a Blue Wonder 7/8" in what looks to be quite nice condition. Needless to say, I'd like to keep it and restore it to shave ready condition, but I'm not sure exactly what is necessary to achieve this.

The worst problem appears to be a small chip in the cutting edge. I have attached some photos below, in which the chip is evident.

There are a couple of small rust spots on the blade, and a little bit of rust around the pivot, which made it slightly stiff to open. I put a small drop of light machine oil on that and it has loosened up nicely. However, a little rust is still evident on the tang and around the pivot.

There is also a tiny crack in one of the ivory scales, but that doesn't bother me greatly.

I am just wondering how much honing would be necessary to remove the chip in the blade, and whether a newbie would be likely to do a decent job of it. Also, I'm wondering whether it would be worth removing the blade so that I can clean up the small amount of rust from around the pivot.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :)

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Mann thatsss a niceee razzoorrrrrr!!!!! Send that bad girl to get honed.. DO NOT TRY TO DO IT YOURSELF. There are plenty of guys out here that can do it. besides it you get it honed by a pro here you will know what a true shave ready edge feels like and will enjoy shaving with a straight. That chip is not that bad.. just got to remove some metal so it just might end up being a bit thinner. Its awesome that you have such a nice razor as an heirloom piece. KEEP IT. I have my great-grandfather's brush and I cherish it. ENJOY!

What's up with Australia and Blue Wonders?? Seems like most of them ended up there (very unfortunately for me). Anyways, as vvti said, that's a great razor in great shape. Blue Wonders are really top tier razors, I don't think anyone would argue that. That said, and the fact that it's a family heirloom, I really recommend you get it professionally honed. Learning how to hone is a long process of trial and error, and you really don't want to be doing that with this razor. That'd be like learning how to drive in a Lamborghini.

Lots of guys from this forum live down under, check the classifieds or post a request in the Honing section.

These Blue Wonder razors are a top quality shaver, let alone an Heirloom...

There are pros in AU that do this work, take advantage of that and don't mess that beauty up..

Thank you all for the advice :)

Sounds like a good idea to get it professionally honed, so I will look around for someone in Aus. to do it for me.

Other than getting the chip out, I wouldnt mess with it too much.

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Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Other than getting the chip out, I wouldnt mess with it too much.

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I agree. You can do a lot with dental floss, toothpics, q-tips, and some polish around the pivot. Those scales are celluloid. Nice piece!

Okay, thanks. That sounds like sensible advice. :)

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

I agree. You can do a lot with dental floss, toothpics, q-tips, and some polish around the pivot. Those scales are celluloid. Nice piece!

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Dental floss!!! Why didn't I think of that!

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Originally Posted by gnoils

Dental floss!!! Why didn't I think of that!

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It works! I use Maas on the floss. Also, smash a q-tip with a hammer and Maas it up. Works wonders in there between the scales.

I love it, it looks great! I would listen to ppl here and send it out to have it honed...it is a nice heirloom piece!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

It works! I use Maas on the floss. Also, smash a q-tip with a hammer and Maas it up. Works wonders in there between the scales.

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I'll remember that next time. Unpinning and repinning is hard work.

A bit of spit n polish & a few licks on a hone :p
Razor on the way home today.

Wow! Looks like brand new, thank you! :)

I can't wait to shave with it!

Enjoy & take care :)

Got my razor back yesterday, and to say I was impressed would be an understatement. Not only did it look amazing, but it gave me the smoothest shave I've ever had. (Admittedly my experience is limited, but this was simply incredible.)

Thanks very much to onimaru55 for doing such a wonderful job, and also to those who recommended his service. :)

I'm telling you these things are worth their weight in platinum. Enjoy! And welcome to the Blue Wonder owners club (hey... maybe we should make a club!)

Cheers zapp! I agree... lovely razors.