Thread: Need advice - hand sanding my first ebay razor.

Here it is after getting it out of the scales this afternoon:


After sanding with 320 grit 3m auto wet/dry for awhile:


What do you call this, a half hollow, a wedge?


I'm going to have to be careful with what I do on the front as I chose this one for the etching:


And not sure how much I can sand the tang:




Not knowing how I could damage the razor, I don't want to push my luck removing metal if it will damage it. How do I know when I need to stop? I've got the rest of my sampler packs of 3m, from 320 where I started up to 2500 and some blue magic polish. As I've only read a bit and am in practice a complete beginner, any advice is welcome. I'd like to get it as clean as possible and don't mind how long it takes or the work, but don't want to break it.

p.s. If anyone is available to help me learn this stuff and honing in Houston I'm willing to pay in cigars, booze, and food.

-Derek

Derek, I am down in Texas City. I have been successful using a reloading vibrating tumbler for cleaning and polishing blades. If the etching is deep, looks like yours is, you can put it in this tumbler with some walnut media or corn media with a little additive, (metal polish) and the razor should come out nice and shiny, like new. I have put some old Wade and Butchers in there and one had some engraving on the blade, and it came out fine. Takes a little longer but it does save time sanding by hand. I do not know if you are familiar with a case tumbler or not but the blade does not actually tumble, it pretty much floats in the bed of media while it vibrates around. I would be glad to meet up with you and show you what I can plus we have lots of resources to pull from in the Houston area.
I also like cigars, booze, and food!

Robert

Sounds to me like; - Houston, we solved the problem!

Nice razor, I like the tennis-match. Can't tell how deep that is, but the marking on the tang looks deeply-cut to me, and I doubt you could sand that out if you wanted to.

Looks like a full hollow, I think. Hope it comes out well for you.

One thing I always do is note how much flex the razor already has & then & start at the finest grit that will have an effect on the rust etc. I think starting at 320 as you did was a safe bet. You always have to be happy with the job yourself but it is possible to go further than is safe if sanding too long or too coarse.

I would say you have something in the half hollow range there. You can look at the Henckels ratings here & judge what grind it most closely resembles.
The straight razor - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Originally Posted by onimaru55

One thing I always do is note how much flex the razor already has & then & start at the finest grit that will have an effect on the rust etc. I think starting at 320 as you did was a safe bet. You always have to be happy with the job yourself but it is possible to go further than is safe if sanding too long or too coarse.

I would say you have something in the half hollow range there. You can look at the Henckels ratings here & judge what grind it most closely resembles.
The straight razor - Straight Razor Place Wiki

I've seen people mention the flex. Is this what you feel from just pushing a thumb against the side of the blade? I think this is one of those things that would be easier to be shown than to get from a description in print.

It's possible I have already sanded too long as when I finished last night it looks like the bottom of the blade is actually a little thicker than than the area with that dark spot I was sanding. Although I sanded across the span of the blade, I did not get the bottom span as well right along the bevel.

Originally Posted by DOGRAH

Derek, I am down in Texas City. I have been successful using a reloading vibrating tumbler for cleaning and polishing blades. If the etching is deep, looks like yours is, you can put it in this tumbler with some walnut media or corn media with a little additive, (metal polish) and the razor should come out nice and shiny, like new. I have put some old Wade and Butchers in there and one had some engraving on the blade, and it came out fine. Takes a little longer but it does save time sanding by hand. I do not know if you are familiar with a case tumbler or not but the blade does not actually tumble, it pretty much floats in the bed of media while it vibrates around. I would be glad to meet up with you and show you what I can plus we have lots of resources to pull from in the Houston area.
I also like cigars, booze, and food!

Robert

Hey Robert, I sent you a message with my contact info. I'd read the thread about the vibratory tumbler and signed up for an in-stock notification for the Midway tumbler a few weeks ago. Although I've heard awful things about the Harbor Freight tumbler, I'm tempted to stop by on the way to Costco today.

I may have sanded too much last night, but I understand the tumbler is very gentle and it's probably my best shot for cleaning it up the rest of the way if I can do it.

If you want to get rid of the pitting, then 320 is much too fine.
No matter how fine or coarse you choose the paper, if you want to get rid of the pitting, you're going to have to remove X amount of metal. Choosing a fine grit will do nothing except insure than you're sanding much longer than you have to.

Originally Posted by Bruno

If you want to get rid of the pitting, then 320 is much too fine.
No matter how fine or coarse you choose the paper, if you want to get rid of the pitting, you're going to have to remove X amount of metal. Choosing a fine grit will do nothing except insure than you're sanding much longer than you have to.

Yes, I was concerned with going too low on the grit and removing too much metal - I may have done so already, but it may very well be OK - I don't know. I did scrub pretty good on it for probably an hour or so, using some WD-40 on it as well. It sounds like I'll be meeting some SRP people locally soon and I'll know more about what I've done to it.

Since I had to run to the store today anyhow and drove past a Harbor Freight, I went ahead and picked up a tumbler and some crushed English walnut lizzard substrate from Petco (not sure if this is course or fine grade). If it looks like it's going OK and not removing the tennis etching I suppose I'll need to pick up some corncob and mix in the blue magic. I read of some corncob material being sold at Walmart, so will give that a try I guess.

If the etching looks alright around bedtime tonight, do you think it'll be safe to leave it overnight? I'm wondering about metal above the bevel where I sanded as well. Those pictures I took show where I left off last night but it's probably hard to tell just from them.

Originally Posted by RADisorder

I've seen people mention the flex. Is this what you feel from just pushing a thumb against the side of the blade? I think this is one of those things that would be easier to be shown than to get from a description in print.

It's possible I have already sanded too long as when I finished last night it looks like the bottom of the blade is actually a little thicker than than the area with that dark spot I was sanding. Although I sanded across the span of the blade, I did not get the bottom span as well right along the bevel.

Really it's just a point of reference. When you sand/grind on a blade it becomes thinner. There are many full hollows that shave very well that have a very thin flexible blade. If you are restoring a thicker blade you simply must not exceed the full hollow geometry.

Pitting removal is often a compromise & etches are almost always less deep than the pitting so getting rid of one gets rid of the other. Hollow blades have less room for error & a light cleanup is often the safest approach, especially for a first time.

I'll weigh in.

What you have before you looks great,
Clean up the previous sanding marks,
Hone and enjoy.

One of our other members added a beautiful forced patina (as he called it yes you Carl...) to a blade and all can say is WOW,
For me it really helped capture the blade.
So many want shiny and new looking, (buy a new blade)
I enjoy the history, story, and life behind it.

But alas to each his own, I have no doubt it will look great and shave as well as it looks in the long run.

Cheers

Pat