Doctor Extra Superfine Hollow Ground - Back to Black

So I've had this Doctor Extra (Japanese I think) lying around for a while. It's about 13/16ths and the scales etc. had faded to brown (I hope its not cell rot, I think it was just light exposure - any thoughts?). So I finally got around to setting up my polishing machine and thought I'd give it a go. So playing with the polisher (and some wet and dry paper on the scales) she's come back to black(ish). Took a fantastic edge too - 3 days growth with little bother.

Before:




After (not perfect, but an improvement I think)

It's not cell rot - that happens when the scales start giving off gases - the outcome is that the blade gets corroded where it fits inside the scales. I have to say that I don't know what would cause the lightening in colour - I doubt that it's exposure to light as that would result in one scale being a different colour to the other.

Anyway, it looks pretty good now - and I agree it has a Japanese appearance.

+1 agreed, looking good, love the way the Japanese razors just round off the point, makes a great improvement to the shave IMO. Nice not to worry about getting caught by the point(which I have been)!

Great result!