My First Restoration

Discussion in 'Razor Restoration' started by JimR, Mar 31, 2009.

  1. moviemaniac

    moviemaniac Tool Time

    Nice razor, Jim! I'm _NOT_ a fan of giving old razors a mirror-polish but each to his own. In this case, seeing the back has already been polished, I'd also polish the front to the same extent - as a whole. The etching is not too elaborate so its disappearance would not be a great loss.
     
  2. JimR

    JimR Active Member

    Thanks Klaus! I'm not sure I'm going to get a mirror finish, but I definitely didn't like the big black streaks on the blade....
    There are some stains that I'm not taking the time to remove--I remember you posting about how some wear shows the age of the blade, and I think that's actually a pretty cool idea. I mean, this blade is old...it should probably look it, a little.
     
  3. JimR

    JimR Active Member

    OK....the words are gone. I just didn't like the balance of the clean blade with the mottled groove. Now that it's gone, I actually see that the way the staining was marring the lettering actually made the stains seem worse than they were. So that was good. I'm now up to the 320 grit, and it's already getting shiny...
    So far so good!
     
  4. Truckman

    Truckman New Member

    Good work Jim! Don't forget the pics!
     
  5. Etoyoc

    Etoyoc Backwards

    Looking forward to how this turns out Jim.
     
  6. JimR

    JimR Active Member

    Thanks guys. I'm taking a break from restoration tonight to make a paddle strop... :eek:
     
  7. moviemaniac

    moviemaniac Tool Time

    Nice! But we want to see pictures of that one too :D
     
  8. JimR

    JimR Active Member

    Done for now...

    And after a few days of hand sanding up to #2000 with wet/dry sandpaper (mostly dry), We come to this:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    The pictures aren't the best, but that is NOT a mirror finish. It's shiny, yes, but there is still a bit of cloudiness. I'm NOT going to take this to the buffer. I decided it was too risky, I'm too inexperienced and this is a razor I want to keep. So, I might take it up to higher grits of sandpaper, but no machinery. I also had some trouble with the monkey tail; it's not as clean as it should be, but to get it better I'd have to unpin the scales, and I don't want to do that yet. As for the scales, that's another issue.

    They are some kind of plastic--bakelite, perhaps, by the smell--and they were finished with a lacquer that had discolored and flaked off. I scraped it off, leaving a matte black surface, and I'd like to clean that up a bit more. I tried some metal polish, and got some improvement, but I want gloss--any ideas?

    Anyway, it's pretty much done. It needs honing, and it needs a bit more polish, but the difference is certainly striking. I'm no pro, I never will be, but I didn't screw it up too bad!
     
  9. TomPike

    TomPike Active Member

    Very nice, Jim. This is one very interesting straight and youve done a great job bringing it back to life. Will you hone it yourself or send it out?

    For the scales, I'd use sandpaper, followed by a plastic polish (I like Meguier's Plast-X; it's sold at auto parts stores). I sand celluloid and lucite pens on a fairly regular basis. Same deal as metal, just much easier. Start with about 400 or 600 and work up to 2000. It should look about like new after the plastic polish.


    Cheers,
    Tom
     
  10. JimR

    JimR Active Member

    Plastic polish, eh? Awesome! I'm in Japan, so brand names might be different but auto-parts stores are auto parts stores, so that's a good start...thanks for the advice!!!!
     
  11. hoglahoo

    hoglahoo Yesterday's News

    It looks really good, Jim
     
  12. rodd

    rodd Knotty Boy

    Nice work! That is beautiful!
     
  13. Bronco

    Bronco Mac Daddy

    Looks great Jim! You might try a little work on the tail with some metal polish, q-tips (pull off most of the cotton) and dental floss.
    You can even wrap a bit of the sand paper around the q-tip or a tongue depressor.
    Keep up the good work!
     
  14. Truckman

    Truckman New Member

    Looks great Jim! I'm not sure how you polished the scales, and maybe it has something to do with the lacquer flaking off, but I have a pair of bakelite(?) scales that I used metal polish on and got a decent result. However, I had to really buff the heck out of them with a clean cloth (I used 'painters rags'). A simple 'wax on, wax off' wasn't enough. It came to a decent shine, but not glowing or glass-like by any means....

    I think it adds a nice contrast to the blade though...I like it!
     
  15. hoglahoo

    hoglahoo Yesterday's News

    More hijacking - Jim do you mind?

    I found another of those "diamond edge" razors with the unusual grind

    [​IMG]
     
  16. Truckman

    Truckman New Member

    did you pick it up? Those are just way too cool looking....
     
  17. hoglahoo

    hoglahoo Yesterday's News

    Not at all - just saw it while browsing the wiki at srp :)
     
  18. Truckman

    Truckman New Member

    :mad:

    here I thought you found it on ebay or something.... at first I thought it was Jim's because of the same background....
     
  19. hoglahoo

    hoglahoo Yesterday's News

    It is Jim's lol
     
  20. Truckman

    Truckman New Member

    Ya got me! :ashamed001

    [​IMG]
     

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