Can't be restored but it can be honed and used. Just because she won't be as pretty as the day she was made doesn't mean it's a piece for the garbage.
Huh? It can be used? I thought the crack in the blade was a kiss of death for ever using it again. In what way can you make it usable? You have my curiosity piqued.
Many SR shavers would claim it is dangerous & risky to use a blade with a cracked edge. Risk of the blade's crack splitting (think 'blade flex' on DE razors & the nicks caused when that occurs) can lead to injury. Not a risk I'd be willing to take.
If it were me I'd try to hone it and, so long as the crack didn't actually flex enough to damage the stone, I'd have a great practice platform to try out different ideas on and hopefully learn from. Worst case scenario, it'd make for a unique letter opener.
My guess would be that if you tried to shave with a crack in your blade, it would want to grab hairs and/or scrape your face something vicious.
Why couldn't he at the crack in the blade take a carbide tipped instrument score the blade on both sides place in a vice so you have a controlled break then with some diamond files and stones reshape the end of the blade to the original shape then go ahead and hone the blade...anyone? Yes/no
If you remove (break) the required amount of metal to eliminate the crack (about 1/3, well into the shoulder) you may wind up with a razor that begins to look as this one does... A nice letter opener, but a failure as a shaver.
There is a useful fix.. You just have to make a "Shorty" out of it to shave safely, a flex in that crack while Honing, Stropping, or Shaving can do damage but hey not my monkey's not my circus.. The issue is where the crack is, not that it is cracked, and center crack like that just doesn't leave much blade to either side to save, but nothing says you can't try.. Here is a thread of one of the more extreme saves I did a couple of 3 years ago, just to see what you could do.. http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/when-life-comes-up-lemons-make-lemonade-or-a-kamisori.26815/
Realizing that this straight had a crack in the blade was disappointing, and a reminder of the hazards of eBay. Yes the listing did mention the crack, I just didn't catch the particular detail before I place my bid. Hopefully I'll learn from this, but if history has anything to say, it will take a few more lessons. There are a few things I could do with this razor. I had a pretty good idea what I was going to do with it, but I value the opinions of this great community so I started this thread. It didn't take too long before my thoughts were confirmed, saving the blade was not worth the effort. I will be keeping the scales, cause you never know when you'll need a set of scales, and I do actually plan on honing the razor. This will end up being my "training" razor for honing, because it doesn't matter if I damage the blade. Now I could break the end off and have a shorty, or grind back the edge and hope I'm left with enough steel (approx 5/16"). I could also just hone it up and shave with the crack left alone. I'm pretty sure other people have done this, but I won't be. I suppose I might be able to reinforce one side of the blade to prevent the blade from flexing and splitting at the seam, but something tells me I'd get very good shaves from that...
Yeah, the guy that did it describes in few words how he silver soldered it later in the thread. I think the main things about that one that are so impressive are that he was able to maintain the temper of the blade through the process and that the end result still had legible imprints through the area he worked on to some degree. It's a pity Ulrik isn't a more well known member of the community, he definitely shows talent and intelligence and seems like he would have a long waiting list of people wanting to employ his services.
Sorry, Ty. "Been there...Done that!" I've since learned through trial & error the many pitfalls of de-pinning razors on old scales. My success rate has greatly improved, I'm happy to say, but it took a few sacrificial scales to get to that point. I'll let someone else comment on the kamisori options. That's beyond my pay-grade….
I guess it would depend on how you like to hold your razor, closer to the blade (second pic) or futher down on the handle (first pic).
I had the same problem last week when a Wade and Butcher razor i bid on and won arrived. I removed the scales and went right to work on the blade and carelessly held the blade at a 90 degree angle to polish it and the flex that this caused cracked the blade. There is no lesson learned better than one learned the hard way!
