Thread: Grandfather's... worth saving?

How I make decisions of things like this...

Honestly I use the Magic Marker Test only not for honing

I simply take a black magic marker and draw on the razor then if you take a pic and finally look at it, you get a good idea of what will happen when you start removing metal...
This gives me perspective on the finished product and an idea of how to proceed..


Option #1 Requires real heavy grinding and would also leave quite a large gap at the wedge end of the razor this also puts the razor itself at a much higher risk.. You never really know what could be hiding in the metal, remember the toe of this razor was subjected to some impact/stress that chipped the edge...






Option #2 requires a tiny bit of Honing Gymnastics, and will leave a look like any other razor having slight Toe wear.. This is the safer approach, especially for an Heirloom razor




The other thing that we really can't see in the pic is the very rough spine wear that the razor was subjected to sometime in it's life, I will have to smooth that spine up before the razor can be stropped smoothly...

I'm glad to see the blade is in good hands.

I think I like the sounds of option #2 as well. I can't tell very well what is the lighting and what is your marker line in the last pic though. Could you take another photo with a little different light?

Seeing it on a much better monitor, I can spot the marker now. I definitely do like option 2 better!
I wonder (not having any experience with razors whatsoever...) is it better to put a smile on the blade or narrow the whole thing to keep the smile to a minimum? Does it strop the same whether it's smiling or straight?

Thanks!

Generally speaking most people agree that a slight smile is preferable, myself I find no difference in the shave, I do always hone toward a smile though it keeps the frowns away

Smile = Good
Frown = Bad

Yep, I'm definitely in for the smile. I just don't want too much taper to the blade I think. Not having really dealt with stropping or using one, I don't know the functional difference, just that it looks better without the taper to me

I strongly prefer a smiling blade, because it's easier to work it into the deep hollows. With a perfectly straight blade, especially one with a spike point, it's really hard to shave a couple of areas on my neck and under my jawline. Some blades, usually older wedges, actually have a smile forged into the spine. Actually, the blade in the SRP logo is like that. Good ergonomics all around.

You ARE of course, going to offer Grandpa the first shave with it when its done, right? Then again, he might take it back when he sees how nice Glen is going to make it!

If the scales for grandpa's razor were not so very nice and were just humdrum run of the mill scales, I would choose the first procedure to shorten the blade and then re-scale them with something appropriate to the shorter blade. But since the original scales are going to be used, I would opt for door number two so the blade does not look weird in the scales. Neither option is perfect, but when working with a restoration, you take what you are given and make the best of it.

So this is where we are at now,,

Breadknifed out to a nice gentle smile, then buffed to eliminate the rough spine, and to make it look a bit nicer too..







Note: I tried to capture the edge in the last 2 pics, look very very close as you will see the very last trace of the "Dinger" in there, this is how breadknifing "Doesn't" waste steel if you do it right.. You bring the repair right to the last point before it is eliminated from sight, then you will shift gears and start dropping the angle from 90° to 60° to 45° to 20° using Circles and Breadknifing strokes on the DMT 325 until the last of the Dinger gently disappears from the edge, then switch to the 1k of yer choice and begin honing the edge in.. This makes sure that no steel is wasted and keeps the smile intact while it gets there as the very last of the Dinger is taken out as the bevel is set

Also the time it takes me to do that, is less than it took me to put together this post about 10 minutes to a solid bevel set...


Warning to newbs: This is edge restoration not honing, if you breadknife a razor without knowing what yer doing the problems you create are on you, not the system...