Thread: Waterville Razor?

Hey all,

Just picked up a "Waterville" razor for 15 bucks on ebay. Anyone know much about these? I really like it, I think it's a 6/8, with a smiling blade and a barbers notch. It says extra hollow but the blade is much thicker and more stiff than my others. Handles are teak maybe? Kinda reminds me more of a logging tool or something! Haha, anyways I'm in the process of cleaning up the blade and have a few questions:
1. Can too much sanding warp the spine enough to cause uneven honing? Can this be corrected with a few passes on 1000k paper to set the bevel?

2. Any special techniques for honing a smiling blade?

3. Treatment for the scales..teak I believe? Teak oil?

I'm this is my first attempt at "restoring" razor and I really like it so I'd like to not mess it up. Thanks guys, I know I'm always asking for advice..hopfully one day I can offer some qualified wisdom!

Watervilles are some of the best shavers I've found. When I get one, I don't let it go, as they're pretty rare, too.

1. Yes. Be careful when sanding, and go the whole length of the blade with every stroke, so you remove metal evenly along the length of the blade.
2. Use the X pattern, go slowly, and concentrate on keeping the entire edge in contact with the stone.
3. Teak oil will work, as it's designed for dense, oily woods.

Take your time, go slowly, and be patient. Don't try to take all the flaws off at once. Work them out slowly. Otherwise, you increase the odds of making the blade uneven, or even burning it.

NO, no....
Waterville razors are useless.

Send it to me. Sounds like you bought a real lemon.

I'll discard it for you. Hell, I'll even pay the S/H since you seem to have picked up are real doozy of a piece of useless metal...

( Damn! I love waterville razors! Lucky son of a.... )

C utz

Haha, well it may be useless for shaving! I finally took it to the hone and noticed first off that when layed on one side that the whole edge does not contact the stone! On the other side it does seem to. IDK, but this makes me think that the spine has uneven wear. Well, I know it does. And the bevel is uneven. So....I broke out the 32O grit paper and set out to establish a new an even bevel, doing circle's. Now I've done some serious laps and it still doesn't lay flat. Am I on track with this..or just ruining it? At what point is hone wear too much and the razor need reground. It had substansial wear when I started and now it has more of course. I'll charge up my camara and see if I can get some pictures on here. I just hope I can save the razor and get it shaveable. Any thoughts and suggestions are greatly appriciated as always. Merry Christmas!

You can send it to Joe for a re-grind. It's $25 (honing included). That will set it straight (pun intended)

Nah, I can't regrind a Waterville. It ain't a wedge. I do have my limitations.