What to do with it?

FrenchBlade

FrenchBlade

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2,124
Location
South of France
SO I got a straight for chips change. (got 5 more coming) not sure if they are useable...
The first one I'll post today, when I get the others I'll post them here too.
If you think they're not good enough, or No.1 is better than No.2 etc.. please tell me!
(I'm planning on sending the best one to Neil, maybe 2)

So I'll post here, get your advice, and hopefully that of Neil, since I'll be sending the good ones over to him to get them shave ready ;)

Razor number one;
Not perfect, but looks reasonable. would need a good honing I'd say, scales are plastic (or bakelite), rivet holds the blade well in place.

y6bWb.jpg


9hKdq.jpg


WU6cH.jpg


dbfDZ.jpg


ZMOFF.jpg


BvjGb.jpg


FxRs8.jpg


Thanks for your input!

FB.
 
Looks fine, but in pic no 2 the edge looks funny (maybe shadows?). I think you better send all to Neil and then he can pick out the two with the best quality, it´s very hard to tell things like that from pics. So many things can be wrong :lol:
 
Both razors seem to have some corrosion and possibly pitting right on their edges, not a disaster by any means but ideally you would want to avoid this because it may need to be honed out. I'm sure Neil will chip in...
 
Mikael said:
Looks fine, but in pic no 2 the edge looks funny (maybe shadows?). I think you better send all to Neil and then he can pick out the two with the best quality, it´s very hard to tell things like that from pics. So many things can be wrong :lol:
Click to expand...

antdad said:
Both razors seem to have some corrosion and possibly pitting right on their edges, not a disaster by any means but ideally you would want to avoid this because it may need to be honed out. I'm sure Neil will chip in...
Click to expand...

All these pics are the same straight, the edge looks bent on the second pic, but it's fine. On the honing, whichever one I'm going to use, it'll go to neil for a service, and I'll get the rest of the business from him. (strop etc.)

I should receive the others in the next few days, so I'll post other pics here, I'll then make a selection of which ones I'll get honed first. (or I should bin), if there are a few that I'm not sure about, I'll send the lot to Neil, and make him choose ;)

There should be one or two more, that are in better shape than this one.

I'm also waiting for neil to chip in, since he seems to be the guru ;)

Thanks for your input!

FB.
 
Just saying there is quite a difference in work load between having to remove material because it's corroded, resetting the bevel or simply getting a decent edge shave ready. ;)
 
Like Mikael and Antdad have pointed out, the edge looks a bit suspect - it may just be surface tarnish in which case it will leave just a bit of pitting which is OK, but it could go into the bevel and need honing out, which is a bit of a pin. That second picture certainly makes the edge look bent! It looks OK in the others but you should examine the bevel width - if it is large at the edges and thin in the middle on one side and thin at the edges and large in the middle on the other, then it has an issue - a bow in the lade or a warp in the spine: not easy to see with the naked eye, but the bevel gives it away. The spine will have a corresponding wear pattern. It does look OK in the pics though.

Vintage French razors aren't that bad in general and tend to be in much worse shape than this example. Providing all it needs is a basic hone and the scales are sound the cost of making it shave-ready isn't that much - removing from the scales and grinding/buffing/polishing the metal all add to the price though.

Regards,
Neil
 
Thanks Neil,

Once I've got all the ones I'm supposed to get, I'll post pics here, and send you some high res if you don't mind?
That way, you choose the ones you feel you can make into good first-time shavers. And we'll take it from there.

I purposely didn't contact you directly yet, since I though it would be nice to share the pics on TSR :D

FB.
 
Hi FB,

It certainly would be nice to post the pics here first, I agree. Once you have done so, feel free to sed me some high res pics and I'll give you an idea of which ones to restore with a full breakdown.

All the Best,
Neil
 
Ok, here are the others:

OMjWc.jpg


eEfpR.jpg

1 & 2
1: "Garantie Wald - Solingen" , "Kuroki" on the other., with case.
2: see below

kIdaR.jpg

3 & 4
3: "Salles a Moissac" on and "Le Talisman" engraved on the blade and the scales.
4: see below

hsQ2i.jpg

5 & 6
5: "Collin" (not very sharp)
6: see below

GuGmC.jpg

No. 2 close up, "Beaujeu Aine" & "14", nice snug scales, clean & sharp blade.


1tAkx.jpg

No. 4 close up, well oiled, marked "Robin a Limoges" on the blade, slightly loos, but not bad, blade in excellent condition. (v. sharp)


Cbv6P.jpg

No. 6 close up, slightly stiffer than No. 4, v. sharp, "Boubee" marked on the blade.


No. 2, 4 & 6 look almost "shave ready" to me, the others are very sharp, but not as "clean"
None of the 6 blades are warped, some are slightly unevenly honed (less than 0,5mm), the edge is nice on all of them.

Your ideas? Sorry my camera is a bit crap.. they look better IRL..

FB.
 
Arrowhead said:
They all look like runners to me, I'd love to get my hands on a batch of razors like that. Very nice.
Click to expand...
I'll probably need some of your expertise, and we can probably work something out ;)
I'd like to try my hand at restoring these, I'm going to see a friend this weekend, who restores antiques, to see if he can help.

I've had a look at the wiki on SRP, looks doable, the one I really like is No.1, the scales are lovely and in good nick. (and the blade is not bad)
(just noticed that it had some more engraving on the blade part "Maurice 40 Jahre Garantie"), Maybe I should see if it's still under guarantee.. :D :D

Anyway, Arrowhead, you seem to be pretty proficient in this, so if you don't mind helping me out, we could maybe work something out ;)

Send me a PM if you're interested.

FB.
 
Ok, I spend the weekend with a friend who's quite an expert on vintage blades (he's an agricultural grafting person), he's made several grafting blades for himself out of 'old type' steel, his preferred.
Grafting knifes are apparently similar to straights, as to honing and blade edges. (he tests his grafting knifes by shaving his arm with them). We did some superficial restoration on the most difficult ones I had.
He's also a restoration buff (vintage radios and vintage tools), so has quite a bit of knowledge on how to get these things done. It was a brilliant learning experience :D

The results are astounding, maybe not so much visually, but these straights are bloody good now. (reduced frown, reset the bevel etc..) I'm v. pleased, and will try and do my first straight shave sometime soon..

As I said to Arrowhead, I might still call on his expertise, and that of Neil to make sure I'm doing it right. (and maybe rescale one of them to try)

Here's a picture, they look better IRL, they are now covered in a slight film of vaseline oil, to prevent further rusting.
SaiaB.jpg


FB.
 
I'll be interested to hear how they shave, Max. Shaving the forearm is my basic test for woodworking tools: what it tells me is that an edge is not blunt - it's a minimum requirement, and one which can be satisfied by honing with a light touch on a 600 (sic) grit stone. In terms of razors, it tells you that the bevel is set. Before taking it to your face, may I respectfully suggest that you try some of the tests on this page. The one which really matters is the shaving with it test, mind you.
 
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