How much Faff???

Angry Badger

Angry Badger

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Just wandering how much FAFF, work and expense is involved in restoring a Straight Razor!?! I appreciate the main expense will be getting it honed and shave ready as this is something I am unable to do! But replacing pins and cleaning up the blade as long as it's not heavily pitted is this that the average guy with time and a bit of patience can do/achieve to a good standard, or is this kind of endeavour left to the experts!?!
Cheers Andy
 
I think it depends on how handy you are. Repinning a straight, or indeed putting on new scales, isn't a black art but there is more to it than it might appear at first glance. I'll try to find a video of John June showing how it's done - I found it quite illuminating. Little tips and tricks like using a very small peining hammer and a specially made piece of metal with holes in just the right places. Once you have seen the video you will either feel like you know what to watch for and feel confident to have a go, or you can ask John to do it for you for what seems a reasonable fee. Lemme go and see if I can find the YT link...

Removing scales


Fitting scales (therefore also repinning)

In addition, there are a few threads in this very section of the forum, such as this one :
Thread 'Pinning' https://www.theshavingroom.co.uk/community/threads/pinning.53127/
 
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It's not hard at all although it might take a bit of patience to achieve a good finish. If a blade is badly rusted you might start with a few grades of wet & dry sandpaper to rub it out quickly then move on to finer polishing. Micromesh polishing cloth is good for this.

And you might have more sanding to do if you choose wooden scales, again working through some grades of paper: coarse to shape the wood then finer grades to get a smooth surface ready for the finish.

PS: a soup spoon makes an excellent peening hammer ;)
 
Thanks for the info guys very informative and very interesting. Something to consider for a future venture maybe?
I think I might buy a couple of cheap razors where the blades are totally shot and have a go at removing the scales first following JJ's technique, just to get the idea and feel of how this part of the operation works!?!
Like you say mcgruff cleaning up and polishing metal is a stage by stage process. I wasn't sure if a diluted acid was involved on the blade cleaning and again can use the cheap blade of the razor used for scale removal project to play around with using various grit paper, wire wool and pastes!?!
Thanks hotmetal for those YT links of JJ, well worth watching!
Cheers Andy
 
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