N Mills Warranted.

I missed a couple of older razors and my rad had me going in this direction for a short time. I bought 2 this one being the first. I figured it would need some work when I bought it but I am not sure where to start. I gave it a quick polish to see it better and here is what I see.
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It looks like I got my work cut out for me. It looks like somebody found it under a wood pile and tried to fix it up. It has heavy grind marks on the blade with some deep pits on the heel, and toe. On the non stamped side you may be able to see some vertical ridges. I can feel a couple of these real easy. Bumps like on the blade. The radius is rather large so it doesn't look like it was done with a dremel. It may be original grind but I am guessing not. I haven't done any research yet but will after this post and I am not sure what it is supposed to look like to begin with. The scales look like bone and 1 looks okay but the other is warped and cracked. ( another thing to learn). I am thinking I should start by removing the scales and taking the heavy grind out of the blade, maybe fixing the radius from spine to edge and then ???

i like the way that razor looks !!!

I saw it and it was Buy Now $26.00 . My trigger finger never had a chance to itch. Boom it's on it's way . LOL

I would say , leave those scales on there, until you see if you can hone it first. See if you can reset the bevel, then try to shave ready it. Why work scales , if she won't shave.

You never know, :shrug:,,you might have a good shaver that is Cosmetically Challenged.

Well the scales are cracked bent and flop around in the breeze and will have to be fixed at some point. I would love to give it a hone a try it out but wondering if that will increase the chances of chipping the edge when I do go to sanding and fixing the shape of the blade. The scratches are almost unbearable to look at and the pics don't show that very well. After spending more time thinking about what might have happened to this poor thing, it does look like somebody took the wedge out with a dremmel. the top of the bevel is wavy and it is the same at the spine. A single large radius wouldn't do that I don't imagine. It's like they tried to make it easier to hone. It has a small chip in the edge also about a half an inch from the heel. It's going to need some love before I am happy with it really.

I like the shape of the blade, but you've definitely got a stack of work in front of you with that one. Keep posting updates as you go.

Okay well... I put a few hours into it today. I started to hone it like Hirlau suggested. In the pictures above you see what looks like hone mark and edge but that is actually what is left of the original true wedge it once had. I brought it down from 1000k to 250 and gave up. It had some chips in the edge which after what I felt was waaay to much time on the 250 I wasn't even touching yet. I stopped and thought about it and decided nothing to lose so I might as well try to do something with the shape of the blade. I took the edge right to the 250 hone and got the chips out and kept the edge shape to match the spine. It had been hollowed out with something of a heavy grit and so I thought I would start with cleaning that up. I grabbed the rotary tool and put a flap sand disk on it and went to town very carefully. I stayed away from the spine and edge until I got a feel for how the tool was working with the razor. After some time I got right up next to the line at the top and took down more of the old wedge face. Then I went to the edge(keeping it flat against the wood) and tried to smooth the last part of the old wedge shape out. No accidents yet as I have been paying close attention to spin direction and where the edges are. Here is what I got so far.


I got the vertical gouges out of this side and almost all the old wedge face.
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You can still see the course scratches that I am trying to get out at the top
and some of the wedge face still left at the edge but I am getting happier about it.
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I also did some hand sanding on the tang and around the scales just to clean it up some and give my hand a rest from the vibration. Also hand sanded the blade some before i took the pic so things would show up better. I might take it back to the hone for a few laps to see what the real results are so far. Shinny smooth sticks out like a sore thumb and will give me an idea how much is left to do. I don't think I am going to have to spend to much more time shaping the blade. I just hope the bevel isn't to tall on the blade as I think it may look way wrong that way. As long as it's not a double bevel looking thing like before I might be okay with it. Naaa it has to look good now LOL. Working with those scales on is becoming more of pain and If I can repair them I think I should take them off before I break them more.

If they're as floppy and funky as you say, then I'd take them off for sure. It's easier to work the blade that way. To me at least.

As far as hand sanding, I haven't made one of those wooden sanding jigs like I've seen in the wiki. However I have had good results using sandpaper wrapped around an eraser. My favorite is one of my art erasers that is an oval. Something to consider anyway.

Keep at it man!

That just might be my goal for the day. Taking off the scales. The more I picture the end result here the more I wonder about how well I can save these originals. The crack may be the deal breaker on that one. I always wonder how hard it would be to make some bolsters to cover a crack and hold it together. I have already purchased some 36 gage brass and 24 gage SS. More to learn later. The eraser trick sounds good. I have these little suede swabs it use. They get in between the scales real easy and not to hard to keep the paper off the soft stuff. Shown on this link below in post #7

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...iney-hand.html

Well, I drilled the pin out and amputated the scales. Done with the rotary tool for today and hand sanding in the other direction with 220 to see what I got.


I thought this side was the best side but you can see I have a large depression right where the light washes out
the blade and another small one to the left at the same height. The toe shows pretty even sand marks. I went at the depressions for what seemed to be forever and I will have to go back and do some more work with the rotary tool to get them out.

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The good thing about this tool is that it is fairly slow at removing material and I have yet to feel any heat on the blade. I have gone off the edge a few times and also over the top of the spine with it. Glad I got in the habit of keeping the edge down flat on wood or the rubber mat. No damage thank goodness.
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This is the side I was worried about but it is coming out good.
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The hollow looks a lot better than it did. If I was going to do very many more of these I think I would be looking for a fine grinding wheel or 2 or 3.
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I had a thought about this thread.. Maybe I should of started it in workshop and not Show and Tell ? I am showing you what I did and telling about it LOL .

Ha! Perhaps so.

Looks like you're going really well though. Just be super careful with that dremel. It only takes a fraction of a second to have a horrible accident.

Keep up the good work!

I do like the shape of that blade, nice lines. Good job so far, wear your safety glasses.

I have had 1 kind of tool or another in my hand everyday since I was 13. I have learned how to respect them and Also what happens when you don't. Some years ago I had a Dremmel cutting wheel come apart and I felt something hit me in the chin. I reached up and half the blade stuck in my face. Right under the face shield. I have never been seriously hurt but I have had some really close calls. I had good teachers.

Yeah, at work they pushed safety glasses all the time. I used all the excuses, don't fit right, they fog up, etc. Then after using a wire wheel on a L head grinder and having to pick an errant wire out of my cheek, I thought they were a pretty good idea. My neighbor had a grinding wheel blow up, didn't mess him up, a couple chunks hit his leg. But holy crap, there were pieces stuck in the sheetrock, ceiling, and walls. I've always respected them, but have had them take things away from me over the years from not paying attention.

I really wonder about some guys who might get one for Christmas, never used one before and gos to town on a blade. I've only used a Dremel a couple of times, but I've used a die grinder. At 27K rpm, they can get mean real quick.

Exploding wheels are one of the truly scary bits in the machine shop! Or when the moron lets his mind wander and runs the lathe toolbit into the chuck and the bit shatters. Or, a heavy feed/speed on the surface grinder rips the improperly mounted work out of the magnetic chuck and flings it across the room and embeds it in the concrete wall!

Well I am done sanding. Okay maybe a little more after my eyes clear in the morning but I gave it a little polish and I think I got it. I just picked at it once in awhile but I got tired of it staring at me every time I sat down at the bench so I really went at it tonight. I took some 220 grit and put it paper down on the blade and ran a stick of MDF on it until it took the blade shape. Flipped the paper over and with a little determination pressure it went well. Went over it again with 500 grit and started with some 1000 which I may go over it more with that. Not sure how finished I want it. Mirror might be too much for this razor ? The rest of it is done as far as I am concerned. I like the detail as it is. It looks more like the way it was made as compared to corrosion to me. And look at the size of the pin hole. 1/8' drill bit almost looks like it would go through it and I think it doesn't because the pin was so rusted in. I looked at bone today in the Jantz catalog. I believe that is what was on there. What else did they use at that period? I think it was before the great buffalo hunters time. Antler and I don't know what else? Ivory would be too much and too fancy. I was thinking of putting the old ones back but the crack at the pin bugs me. I am sure you guys could tell me how to get em straightened out and finished but that crack. Well, I got time to decide. It needs a little more finishing and a hone job.

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Just a note to all who decide to use a Dremmel on a razor. This was my first and I feel lucky. This blade was a full wedge at one time and it looked like somebody tried to hollow it out with a course sanding wheel for some reason. Maybe to make it easier to hone, who knows. It was extremely messed up. It was way to much work to hand sand for me and that is the only reason I attempted this. I kept the razor on a piece of wood as I used a flap wheel and I always made sure the wheel spin direction was going off the edge and the edge was always laying flat on the the wood. I was also aware at all times which way the blade would go if the wheel did catch and send the blade flying, making sure my fingers and other body parts were not in that path. As for the work...keep the wheel moving and watch carefully what it is doing. Stopping frequently to look close will keep you from sanding away to much in 1 spot or creating more work for yourself fixing ridges and low spots. I used an 80 grit wheel to start and fixed most of the damage that some one else did. When I put on a 150 grit it started to make things look better. Then I noticed deeper scratches started to appear in the blade. I don't know if it was because it was a new wheel or if it was me but at that moment I stopped and started doing it by hand. Yes, it was one heck of a job but my razor is turning out nice and it may have been ruined had I been determined to go on with the Dremmel. My point here is,, there is a time to turn off the power and do it the best way which may not always be the easiest. That is one of the secrets to good craftsmanship.

As I let my digits heal from all the hand sanding I put some tape on the spine and went to the 250k stone a few laps and then the 1000k. As I suspected this was NOT going to be a simple job either. In the pics below you can see exactly why. In the beginning I had noticed the spine was thin in the center on the makers mark side. I knew this was going to mean trouble. You can see this as plain as day on the tape and the effect of it on the edge. I am not to crazy about taking the spine down to make it flat and not sure about how to make a honing frame to put over the spine to build the bevel. Shape some sheet metal and tape it on ?It has a weird smile to it. It is straight about half way from the heel to the toe and then it starts to grin. If I had a 3" wide 1000k I was thinking it might bridge between the low spot and straighten the bevel out. The geometry has not manifested into a model in my brain yet, so I guess I will wait and see what you guys think before I move on.
Thank you maddafinga for the eraser idea ! I used a #2 pencil to get in the tight spots and work on some of the smaller depressions. Will use it again to polish out the high part of this bevel once I figure out this little dilemma .

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This side is not so bad yet not perfect.

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Looks like a toughy there. I'm not a good enough honer to be able to offer any advice there. I'm glad the eraser thing worked out for you though! It's looking good, and I'm sure it'll come around. Good work!

Well I have been looking at it and measuring and looking and I think what it is is that I haven't gotten all the old wedge taken down enough. At the spine the difference in thickness is .005 narrow in the middle, and that is total of both sides. When I put the back of the calipers along the bevel it teeter totters. I am thinking I will take more thickness out at the middle and end where the bevel comes high up the blade and see if that doesn't do it. The spine matches a straight edge on both sides so close it is hard to see anything off ,even though the detail looks thin. My gut is telling me to mess with the bevel before I touch the spine.

Well the calipers don't lie. I can't tell from the pictures what the issue is. Trust yourself and have at it man!

Well as it turns out I had to sand and hone and sand and hone about 4 times to get it this close. It was the thickness of the blade near the bevel and not the spine. I got a 180grit flap wheel and taped off all but the thick part near the top of the bevel. Sand a little with the flap wheel, sand a lot by hand and then give it a few laps on the 1000k to see what the bevel looked like. I could still see thick parts which made the bevel look wavy and tall in spots at the top so went over it again. As I said I had to do that about 4 times to get it this close. I went at it a couple of more times by hand and I think I have got it very close. I am afraid of going to far and chasing it back and forth so this is it. Now I am trying to decide if I want to mirror it out or put a more dull or satin finish on it before I give it a final hone and test. Then the scales........

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Don't get discouraged man. Also don't be afraid to set it aside for a while either. Sometimes you just need a break before you can make the progress you want.

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Originally Posted by maddafinga

Don't get discouraged man. Also don't be afraid to set it aside for a while either. Sometimes you just need a break before you can make the progress you want.

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i agree one of my DD DWARF's took me a bunch of attempts just to get a bevel set on the thing , then i couldnt get it ready to shave , left it alone for along time ( started to hone better ) then picked it back up honed it up again and its a good shaver now .. but man some of the frustration can drive you nutsssss ..lol..

it looks like you got it cleaned up pretty good though

Oh it's been sitting but that's so I can cool down and go at it with a slower pace. All the honing was to see where the top of the bevel was at. It's impossible to see without some sort of shine against it. I took a lot more of the old wedge out at the spine too. You can see it under the tape real well but it's gone now too. I am just at the point where I am afraid of going to far. If I sand that blade to thin at the bevel it will show up the same as if it's thick. Would be easier with a large wide grinding wheel but that is a few more bucks down the road. I honed it with 2 layers of tape so far but will use just 1 when I go for the final bevel. I do know the hone frustration though. I sat down to hone 8 and got 4 right LOL. Then I am not real crazy happy about using them as they are smaller blades. Thanks for the encouragement, I will keep at it. I got 2 maybe 3 more of these old guys to fix up and some scales to make. The whole learning process is necessary as I want to make my own from scratch someday soon. Already gathering parts for a knife forge and oven build and thinking about grinding.