Thread: Restoring old razors

Good morning,

I have been buying old razors from antique stores and am thinking of try to restore them. One of them has a couple of pits on them and some rust.

My question is how do I remove the pits and rust without damaging the blade?

Is there certain tools I need or will steel wool and sand paper do?

Thanks

Read information in the Library here.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwi..._Place_Library
There is also a thread on "Cheap Tools"
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...storation.html
Nothing fancy, just use a bit of common sense at first; then if you see yourself getting further into the hobby, get what would solve a problem you may have had.
Slowly, slowly does it best!
Have Fun!
~Richard

Forget power tools. Wet/dry sandpaper. State course and work up to 2500 grit or higher. Some use WD-40 along with sandpaper. Finish with metal polish like Mothers. Go slow.

The one key ingredient is elbow grease, sometimes a lot of elbow grease. Rush a restore and ruin a razor. Sound advice above.

And post lots and lots of pics!

Only power tool I use is a Dremel with a purple sponge wheel, followed up with a Chrome Oxide coated cotton buffing wheel. You pretty much can't hurt anything with that because all either pad does is buff.

For everything else, wet/dry sand paper and elbow grease. Usually starting at 600 and going up from there, but you can always step down to 320 or 220 if the pitting is deep. But bear in mind the blades are already thin, so you don't want to dig too deep.

Dulling the edge before sanding is also a good idea.

Maggard Razor dude does a really good tutorial on his methods:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uurB...B72C1548AB91FC

He missed my favorite method of unpinning - a small metal file. Works the same as the dremel (grind off the pin & separate) but I feel it's much more controllable and really doesn't take much longer. If the dremel catches it can walk around the work piece with surprising speed. If it did that to your scales with a grinding head you might find yourself in the market for replacements. Tread with care!

Use of a buffing wheel and compounds for all of that is interesting...I guess as chunky as that blade was he had a lot of metal to play with. Quite a luxury. Most of the ones I've done are hollow ground and there isn't a lot of wiggle room. I hit them with 400 or 600 grit, just enough to get rid of patina and rust, then buff them enough to get rid of the scratches and polish a bit with a wheel and chrome ox paste. Mirror isn't the goal for me.

But I really like the way his razor came out. Very nice work, and a helpful little series.

I use 2400 Micro Mesh wrapped around a wine cork. Start your strokes at the spine and down to the edge. A little McGuires #2 Fine Cut Cleaner on the Micro Mesh will help
speed up the process.

You might stay away from blades with a "Gold Wash" and blades with etching. You can easily erase etching on a blade. Start with the Plane-Janes.

Originally Posted by Redlega6

Good morning,

I have been buying old razors from antique stores and am thinking of try to restore them. One of them has a couple of pits on them and some rust.

My question is how do I remove the pits and rust without damaging the blade?

Is there certain tools I need or will steel wool and sand paper do?

Thanks

Lots of good advice on here about rust and polishing. Something I learned when restoring rusty chrome on bikes-- a copper kitchen scrubbie will sometimes do a pretty good job of taking off surface rust without scratching the metal. Softer than steel.