Thread: Another first.

About two months ago I sought out and purchased a Dovo and had it honed. Its quite nice. Then I began to read the threads here even more, about restoring, honing, ebay, etc. I watched ebay for a while, and purchased a Shumate Barber. It has had a good cleaning, and is in great shape, but eventually will need some polishing and some new pins. Then....(my girlfriend thinks I'm obsessed) I went down to the Antique market in Toronto early on a Sunday morning....to find a JR Torrey 258 in excellent shape.

As a chef, I have been honing my own knives for a long time, so I thought that after a bit I'd give it a try on my razor(s). My knives have all been through a series of Nortons; 1k, 4k, 8k, and a Dickoron steel. It's a good progression, and has always worked well. So....I brought out the combo 4/8, pulled out the Shumate and gave it a whirl, paying attention to my strokes, frequency, and bevel coverage. I'm very proud to say that it passed a HHT, and this morning I took it to the whiskars. I've had nice shaves with the DOVO, but this Shumate was above that. Very comfortable, sharp, and exciting.

Now that I've patted myself on the back.....

How can I, in a tiny condo, restore the blade, remove a very small amount of rust on the tang, and re-pin, without investing in crazy tools? I'd like to be able to get the Shumate and JR Torrey shining and beautiful, without spending a fortune, or having my loving and supportive girlfriend think I'm insane.

Thanks in advance,

Maxi,

There is so much info on the Wiki about razor restoration.. Some with fancy equipment and some not.. I bought the CD by Bill Ellis which is very helpful and tells you many ways to do evrything.

I live in an appartment and have no special equipment.. I do have a dremel tool which I use for buffing a final finish on the blade and scales.. I also use it with a sharp point needle sanding tool to remove the pins and separate the scales. If you are not going to do that (remove the scales).. Then all you really need is some sand paper.. Wet/Dry that you can purchase at an Auto/Repair store...

The progression of hand sanding is in the Wiki and is excellent .. I've used this method with 180 grit to 2000 grit before finishing with turtlewax green rubbing compound. For the final polish a 1" felt polishing pad with your dremel set to low works great. You have to chck the blade often or you will over heat it and ruin the temper of the blade..

Be sure you think about it.... and read how it has been done by others first... there is a learning curve and you need to read the instructions in order to shorten the curve!........ the razor edge is sharp and you don't want to be throwing it around the room.. only use the dremel with the rotation away..away...away from the razor edge... or you stand the chance of hurting the razor and yourself or someone else in the room....

I recomend using magnitiezed blade holder that you can buy from several sources .. I found mine in the Classifieds on SRP for 15.00 I think.. Well worth it when you are using a dremel tool around your razor edge.

Point is ... before you start.... read... a lot... and please be careful.. it's great fun... but safety first... especially in your apartment .. on the kitchen table or the coffee table in front of the TV...

Hope this helps... you get started...

My first restoration was recently completed and is in an album on my page for you to view if you like.. when I started.. like you I didn't know a thing about it... I just wanted to make it shine like you... So... I read everything I could find on this site, the forums , the Wiki, the CD by Bill Ellis, and the DVD by Lynn Abrams. Then I started.. It was great fun and very satisfiying... I still have all my fingers and toes as well!!

Good Luck..and have fun!!!! and please be safe too!!

Maq

I live in a small apartment too and I've figured out that I need only the following tools for basic jobs...all of which are available from Harbor Freight:

1lb mini anvil with a 1/16" hole drilled at one end: $3
4oz ball peen hammer: $2
wet/dry variety pack of sandpaper: $5

There's just no way for me to fabricate custom scales in this place so I get all mine from Classic Shaving as they include all the pins and such for any rescale I need to do.

Thanks to both of you for your posts. Very informative. I'm off to check Harbour Freight after I finish typing this.....

I'm going to need to find a 1/16" rod and washers. The scales on the Torrey are a fantastic red, and the scales on the Shumate are basic black, but both are in impeccable condition. I'd like to re-pin the existing scales if i can.

Thanks,
Maxi

Originally Posted by Maxi

Thanks to both of you for your posts. Very informative. I'm off to check Harbour Freight after I finish typing this.....

I'm going to need to find a 1/16" rod and washers. The scales on the Torrey are a fantastic red, and the scales on the Shumate are basic black, but both are in impeccable condition. I'd like to re-pin the existing scales if i can.

Thanks,
Maxi

Can you work around "re-pinning"? I think re-pinning takes it to a whole new level of pain...I only say that because I have ruined many a good scale re-pinning.....If you are limited on resources you may want to see if you can leave the pins in and work around them? Specially if the scales are in good shape..

Get some metal polish(maas, fitz,etc..) and try that first.

Turtle Wax premium rubbing compound works well too, it will remove light scratches.

If these dont work, then i would bust out the wet/dry sandpaper.

I'm with Slarti - try metal polish first, with the scales intact. It's not a restoration if the razor's in good condition - it's a kick in the pants if/when you crack perfectly good scales for no reason. I'm really not sure why you would think it "needs new pins" either. If they're snug, then they work just fine - if not, gently tap them with a tablespoon until they are snug. If you want to shine them up a bit, use some metal polish and a Q-tip or at worst some 2K wet/dry sandpaper.

I was going on the notion that if i had to remove the scales to sand and pollish the entire blade/tang, etc. then I would need to reassemble the razor. However, if the metal pollish works, and I'll try that first....then I'm saving myself some work.

Thanks,