Thread: My first razors and other tools. advice?

Hi,

I've been shaving with a DE for 2 years now, and last year for my birthday, my brothers gave me a ivory/bone (not sure which) handled straight razor. a few months ago I entertained the idea of shaving with it, so I bought...

6 razors...initially to practice with because i didn't want to ruin the other one cause there isn't much blade left. for 15$ It was really a crap shoot, because the guy selling them didn't know what they were, and i couldn't tell from the pictures. I got 2 Torrey Razors, a George wostenholm, both of which I have heard of from reading around here. a "royal gold", a scetticher? & kellogg & co, and a W.H. Morley and sons (germany), all of which i've never heard of before.

the catch? they were dirty and rusty. So now having sanded the rust off of 4 of them, mostly with tips from reading the restoring section here, I don't know what to do. do I make em shine like a mirror or just leave the, i guess what you could call a patina on there? There is some pitting up high on the blades nowhere near the cutting surface, and 1 tiny pit on 2 of the blades on the cutting edge. Sanding through all of that seems like it would take alot of time, alot of metal off, and i think the flaws gives them a sense of age and character. So what do I do now? besides the messed up edges, will any of this black patchy looking stuff hurt the edge? It dosen't come off with any type of sanding or polishing so far...
I guess I'll send at least one out to get honed because Im not really sure what I am doing...but which one should I send?

My only other supplies are
a "8000 grit" hone...i don't know what brand, as everything it written in japanese. I once saw it for sale for $60 on a woodworking website, but i got it cheaper from...ebay.
A india stone and a hard black arkansas stone I can get from my dad.
And a carborundum strop, the only thing wrong with it is a small cut on the top end.
Is there anything else I should get?

I sharpened one to the point where it would shave hair off my arm, but it would catch when on my face...then I gave up and went to sanding the rest of the razors instead.

If I feel like it later, ill get some pictures of them.

Thanks

~Andrew

Update- the W.H Morley is still sharp enough to cut me without feeling it...I just cut my finger and didn't notice till it saw the blood...oops.
Update#2-pictures

They say a picture speaks a thousand words, it would make it much easier to see what's what with a few pictures.

Welcome to the SRP, good luck.

Welcome to SRP Andrew!

Its hard to tell which razors you should get honed without seeing them.. it really depends on the state of the razors.. if there is a lot of hone wear or not if they are straight or have a smile or frown.. but I guess you did pretty well if you get at least one of the Torreys or Wostenholm shave read.. the rest would be a bonus..

I like those crap shoots anyway.. or to mangle a movie quote...
ebay lots are like boxes of chocolats.. you never know what you are gonna get

Maarten

The question of which to get honed really depends on their condition. By the way, the WH Morley is also a great razor. I would suggest that you clean up one of the razors to a level that you would consider to be acceptable and then send it to get it honed. When you get it back, you can shave with it and see if this is something that you wish to pursue. There's no point spending lots of hours working on the razors if you decide you aren't interested in them.

Pictures definitely would help if you can't decide which one to pick.

Have fun playing with them but be careful around those edges. As you sand them, they can get sharp enough to cut you even if they started out dull.

Welcome to SRP. Whether to leave a patina or polish to a mirror finish is a matter of individual choice. I leave the patina because I'm not skilled in polishing nor am I interested in putting the time in to learn it and finally do the restoring. Ten hours of hand sanding a blade is fine if you are into it but I would rather be riding my bicycle or honing.

You've undoubtedly read enough in the forum already to know which hones members favor for sharpening their razors. As Utopian said sending the Morely off for a pro honing would be a good idea. Not only would it give you something to shave with but it would be a benchmark against which you could compare your own efforts.

Like Utopian said, get one so to a state that it looks like something you're happy with and send it out for sharpening. You've then got a razor that you like and gives you a benchmark as to what a good razor shaves like. Then you can decide whether or not to take it further. Good luck.

welcome to srp.

the guys above covered your questions, so i can just jump on the bandwagon and say i concur with them.

as long as there isn't the orange stuff the pitting, tarnish black rust isn't bad for the blade - provided, of course, you don't let moisture sit on the blade.
the rest is a matter of personal preference. mirror polish is best from maintenance point of view since there is less chance that water will get trapped onto it. some of my razors i think look better if they aren't really shiny, others the other way around, so i clean them up accordingly. i'm sure somebody else may not agree with my taste, but that doesn't matter much to me.

So, I took some pictures. I think it would be easier just to link to photobucket to see the file names and see which razors they are.

Pictures by AJP2010 - Photobucket

But here's some for the lazy.


Wostenholm



torrey

Anyway, in small format they look better in person, zoomed way in, at least in native resolution, they look pretty bad but i think that's the black stuff and/or the sensor on my camera. That's about an hour or 2 of work there for 4 razors...except the Morley. Mirror finish will be down the road...after learning to shave with one of these, and having more free time.

Will honers fix the edge, or is that more money?

ok well thanks to everyone for their replies.

Both of those razors are worth sending out to be honed, thanks for the pics, Im lazy.

yeah you needed to start at coarser sandpaper for less time.

they can be honed as they are, the wostenholm is going to need its bevel completely breadknifed, the torrey may keep most of it as long as there are no surprises in the steel.

i think it's time to contact your favorite honemeister and point him to the pictures.