Blade Marks

Hello,

I have been shaving with a straight razor for about a year now, and finally decided to have a go at restoring one. I bought an old Sheffield Steel hollow-ground from eBay for £5, removed the scales and polished the blade using wet-and-dry and Peek to a nice mirror shine.
I then started to hone it. The bevel was out so I took it to my 1000 grit whetstone to start honing. After a few strokes it left me with huge scuff marks across the blade (I've attached a pic). Any idea what caused this? I'm assuming the blade was out of shape slightly, as the whetstone was lapped properly, so completely flat.
I carried on anyway, and have started to get an edge on it. Will finish off tomorrow on my 3K, 5K and 8K.
Does anyone know if these marks will sand out? I don't mind sanding it again and repolishing.
Kind regards,
Mark
 

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I'm certainly no expert but if that really was hollow ground I don't see how the hone would remove metal other than from the spine and the bevel unless you are using a lot of pressure. As you have a range of stones I'm assuming you have honed razors with some success in the past. It looks like a wedge or near wedge to me and I would try and get more expert advice before committing a lot of time to honing it. You might need to take a lot of metal off to get a functional bevel unless you try a few layers of tape. A photo end on looking at the blade profile could be helpful.
 
Hello,

I looked more closely at the profile. The side in my pic is almost a wedge, and the 'hollow' side looks like it's quarter-hollow.

I put 2 layers of tape on the spine and started honing again on the 400. Got a fairly decent edge on it after about 20 mins, but I have shaved a lot of metal away! It's my first go at actually restoring an old blade, so I didn't expect it to go well! I'm determined to put a shaving edge on it and shave with it, even if I scratch the face up in the process. I never meant to sell it on, it may even turn into a decent razor to shave with, just not to look at!

I have my own hollow-ground razor which I have maintained for a year, so honing is not an issue. This blade looks like it was just badly made, or for some reason the makers only hollowed out one side.

I have 4 more old razors to practise on for now, so I'm hoping the next will be a bit more successful.

Lots of good advice in here, which is one of the reasons I thought I'd give it a go.

Cheers,

Mark
 
I think that what you have there is a microtome razor. These were used to cut tissue sections for examination in hospital path. Labs. Nowadays a cassette type blade is used. These razors were laid flat side down to cut the section and the machine operated a bit like a very finely adjustable bacon slicer. I have sharpened these in the past - generally the hollowed side only is given a bevel, the flat side being honed, well, flat! They can be used as an ordinary straight but they are a bit fiddly. Good luck!
 
Oddly enough I just turned up one in the general razor pile that passes for my clection. Made by Joseph Rodgers so I'm optimistic re the quality. I'll hone it up when I get a chance and post a photo or two
 
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