Any way to save a new (NOS) razor that has a hairline crack in the blade at the edge? I got this razor in wonderful condition from an ebay purchase, and not for much money. Neither he, nor I looking at the pictures found that crack. When I got the razor and held it up in the light just right I saw the slight distortion along the blade edge. Magnification shows a hairline crack kind of in the shape of a ( but a little more curve at the top back toward the toe. It was an A. FIEST & Cie. Solingen Germany, model "Monterna" in very fancy italics on the Left tang, along with Fully Hollow Ground, under the name Monterna. He felt bad about it, sent me another razor, a Geo. Wostenholm & Sons to replace it, so that was very decent of him. I told him this razor is basically new, with no hone marks at all, and does not look like it was ever honed or stropped. VERY thin blade that starts nearly all the way up the blade close to the spine, and highly polished, ALL of it. I think his Father, who passed away and left him the collection of over 100 razors, probably had it and never used it for this reason. Is there a way to perhaps add super-glue to both sides, or J.B. Weld or some low temp 95C silver based solder (melts with a cigarette lighter) to the spot where the crack is and stabilize the crack? This is a picture of the whole razor, but forgive the off hue. I used the wrong setting on my camera, and managed to fix it a bit with Photoshop.
Hard to tell where the crack is in relation to the Toe or Heel in your pics But in answer to the glue/welding/solder options????? No, not IMHO... You can hone it out, you can grind it out, some people shave with it anyway (I don't)... Also for everyone reading... A fast way of testing an edge for a crack is to lay the razor edge on the top of the thumbnail and draw it across, so that there is a slight ripple in the edge that you can see as you go across... A crack will become very obvious that way... If you watch either the Dovo vids or the TI vids you will see one of the guys do this on a lead thumb ring to test the Hollowness of the grind.. The same technique can also be used on the top of the thumbnail to check for a crack...
Glen, Getting back with you, I took a picture of the blade yesterday. Troggie and family came by for hamburgers so I didn't get it uploaded until much later. I tried to give it some clarity in Photoshop and it at least shows where the crack is. It goes up and then curves back toward the heel. I believe I measured it at 0.086" with my dial calipers from blade edge to top of the crack where it head back toward the heel. Blade edge from the front. Sure seems to be very thin for a long way down. Could it be an Extra Hollow Ground "singing" razor?
It looks like a significant crack to me. Honing it out can probably be done, but it will take time and you will loose what appears to be a substantial amount of the width of the blade. There are a number of honers who can probably hone it out if you aren't comfortable trying it. I wouldn't just throw the razor away, but it will need some work.
Well, I'll lose at least 0.086" of the blade width. It is wider than 5/8 now (5/8= 0.625") and it will be a bit under that but more than 4/8 (4/8= 0.500"). Probably take me about 15 mintues to get the edge down to that level, if I wanted to loose 0.087 or so of the blade width. I think I will still be below the stabilizer. I'll have to check and see.
I'll bet the more you try to grind it out the bigger the crack will get, but it might be usable still. I would hone it and see if the crack interferes.
It is ground down now. It turned out pretty good. Used 800 grit and then when close to done, switched to 1000 grit belt. Took about 15 mintues to get out the crack and the blade never got even warm. I had my finger against the back and never got warm enough to tell about. 100 degrees tops. Honed it and shaved a bit with it, but I was trying out the DOVO vs Revisor razors. Revisor won, BTW.
