Dorko 43 6/8"— Another eBay Salvage

Discussion in 'Razor Restoration' started by HolyRollah, Jul 30, 2016.

  1. HolyRollah

    HolyRollah BaconLord

    Part of a set of abused eBay razors I acquired recently was this vintage Dorko 43 razor. From the photos you can see extensive surface rust, severe hone-wear, and overall, a razor that has suffered some neglect. Normally, I wouldn't go near a razor that appears so far gone, but since it was part of an inexpensive set (and the fact I've never tried a Dorko), I was compelled to give it a go and see what could be salvaged.
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    On the buffer I began removing the surface rust from the blade. Prior to this, I had removed the blade from the 3-pin scales—which were in decent condition, just in need of a good cleaning and polishing.
    Beneath the rust was some evident pitting, particularly on the 'back side' nearer the heel (bottom photo above). The pitting extended about 1.25" and nearly the width of the blade. This would take some work to minimize.
    Greaseless compound progression >80 grit to remove the majority of rust and begin reducing the pitting > 240 grit >removal of surface scratches and minimize pitting > 400 grit > softening of scratches and pitting > 600 grit > further softening of scratches and pitting > Emery compound > removal of scratches and beginning of polish.
    Some final hand-polishing of both the scales and blade. Re-pinned the pivot point. (Whooops! I thought I had grabbed a nickel-silver rod to go with stainless washers, but after finishing the pin, I realized that I had used a BRASS rod by mistake…..:angry032:
    I DO like the look of contrasting rod with pin and have used it before—but this should have been all the same. Oh well…. I may eventually swap the other two out for brass to match OR simply leave it. Not a big deal, but…

    I honed the razor (dbl layer of spine tape to compensated for the spine wear) using a progression of Chosera 1k to set the bevel > Naniwa 3k>5k>8k>10k>12k and finished on the Escher waterstone. Killer sharp edge (HHT4-ish). I had an afternoon shave using this newly-operational Dorko and it was wonderfully smooth. BBS on a 3-pass shave. :D:)

    Some Eye-Candy Pics of the 'new' Dorko…You can still see some residual pitting on the tang (mainly) and some near the heel, but overall, none of it is truly objectionable. I wanted to maintain the maker stamps and model number so best to leave some pitting, if necessary.

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  2. lindyhopper66

    lindyhopper66 Well-Known Member

    "What a difference a day makes."
     
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  3. Jim99

    Jim99 Gold Water Shaver

    What a nice job you did with this! Very impressive!
     
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  4. ob1page

    ob1page Frozen in Phoenix

    You would be hard pressed to tell that these were even the same razor, excellent work Kevin!
     
  5. Linuxguile

    Linuxguile dating an unusual aristocrat

    Beautiful work, as always Kevin!

    Sent from my Galaxy S6 using Tapatalk
     
  6. david of central florida

    david of central florida Rhubarb Rubber

    Excellent

    How do you detect the hone wear on the thicker grinds?
    Nevermind, i see it in the before pics. The after looks great.
     
  7. HolyRollah

    HolyRollah BaconLord

    Thanks. Typically you'll see bad wear at the toe, at both point and spine. In many cases, I suppose theres not much one can do when it has gone beyond a salvageable position.
     
  8. IDuck

    IDuck Well-Known Member

    fantastic work....you are a magician
     
    HolyRollah likes this.
  9. Hillbilly79

    Hillbilly79 Well-Known Member

    You have given it a new lease on life. Very nice.
     
    HolyRollah likes this.
  10. swarden43

    swarden43 "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."©

    D) All of the above

    Great job, Kevin!!!
     
    HolyRollah likes this.
  11. battle.munky

    battle.munky Has the menthol.munky on his back!

    Night and Day different dude. Super well executed save. I had my doubts it could be done and before I got to the after pics I had a different idea of what the final result was going to be and I gotta say dude, you completely blew my mind. That is some master level stuff right there.
     
  12. Salty Belle

    Salty Belle Well-Known Member

    No words, so I'll make one up. Wowza!!!
     
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  13. whiteboy_cannon

    whiteboy_cannon Well-Known Member

    Excellent!

    Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
     
  14. Hank

    Hank Active Member

    Holy wow great job!!!
     

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