Straight Razor collecting, shaving, and maintenance can be a rewarding hobby — but I constantly receive e-mails from people who find my site and are interested in getting into restoration.  I can’t tell you how many times someone has said “I sat down to watch the first part of your restoration videos, and I ended up watching all 12 in one sitting, and now I’m thirsty for more!”

Here is a recent e-mail from one of you:

Brad,
… I will be retiring at the end of the year, and I would really like to try my hand at repairing old razors. Do you think it would be a waste of my time to buy an old razor or two, you can find them everywhere around here,(Mississippi), and start grinding? It could turn into an enjoyable pastime, as I have worked in the manufacturing environment most of my adult life, so know my way around a shop…
B. C.

First off, B.C. from Mississippi, I’d like to say that I am so very very jealous of you retiring.  I can’t wait for the day!   I think almost everyone can agree..day jobs just get in the way of the stuff we really want to do!  What a tremendous opportunity to start the next chapter in your life.  I am here to tell you:  DO IT DO IT DO IT!!

Throughout the next week or two, I’m going to write a series of articles involving getting started in razor restoration.  Please, check back often.  Lets get started!!!

Getting to know you! Getting to know all about you!
The first thing any prospective restorer needs to do, is become familiar with shaving with a straight razor.  Some guys want to jump into restoration before having shaved with a straight razor at all.  I don’t think its a very good idea — especially if you are anticipating making scales.  Some of the most important first steps to get into this hobby is as follows:

* Purchasing a shave ready razor / sending out a razor to a respected honemeister (someone who sharpens razors for people)
* Having a quality strop.  (quality doesn’t always mean expensive)
* Spending several months learning how to strop, how to shave, and what a shave ready razor feels like

Why is this so important?  If you don’t know how to strop, and don’t understand the feel of the razor as you shave, then, to be perfectly honest, you have no business making scales!  It is very important to produce scales that are comfortable to strop with — and comfortable to shave with.  It is amazing how much of a distraction some “fancy scales” can cause to the enjoyable experience that is straight razor shaving.  I fell victim to this a few times in my early custom scale sets for myself.  I tried to make scales that “looked cool…”    I ended up taking them off several razors, and making better ones after I realized just how unnatural and unpleasant they felt.

Now, you realize that shaving and stropping techniques are important, and you should spend the time to build your skills thoroughly.  That doesn’t mean you can’t start learning restoration in the mean time.  Maybe you are already a straight razor shaver, and just looking into restoring now.  If so, move on!

One Man’s Junk….  Is a Restorer’s Junk!
As B. C. from Mississippi suggested, I would HIGHLY recommend picking up a few beater straight razors.  Try not to pay more than $5-10/each for them.  Try to find a variety of blade types and conditions.  Small full hollows with only small amounts of rust all the way up to a big wedge or two with lots of rust.  The more types of razors you have, the more you will learn.  Even if it is cracked or chipped, it is great experience.

Some of the things you can do with these beater razors:

* Try some hand-sanding
* Try out some hand-polishing
* Unpin, and re-pin over and over
* Honing practice
* Study the design of the vintage scales from several razors
* Notice how the wedge functions / how the scales bow during opening and closing
* Try cleaning, or sanding down a vintage set of scales

The Newbie Restoration Shopping List (first of several investments…)

In order to do the above things, sure enough, you’re going to need a few hand tools.  Here is the FIRST shopping list — for a beginner restorer just finding out if this hobby is right for them:

- Wet/Dry sandpaper. It must be wet/dry.  It holds up much longer, and wet sanding is usually preferred anyway.  Find it at Automotive stores, sometimes at Wal-Mart, Sometimes Do-It-Best stores.  Yes, they have it at Harbor Freight too, and although cheap, I find it doesn’t last very long.  I’m not saying don’t get it there — I’ve used HF sandpaper before, plenty of times.  The most challenging thing will be finding it in several grits.  I recommend:   80/120, 220, 400, 800, 1500.  Purchase around 10 sheets of the lowest grit, and 5 sheets of each of the higher ones.  I always cut all of my sandpaper sheets into quarters.  I find that a Quarter-sheet is very nice to work with.
- Two Hammers. a “normal” one, and a Ball-peen hammer, preferably 4oz.  You will be able to use the side of the head of the regular hammer as an anvil.  most of you probably already have a normal hammer laying around.  You might need to buy the 4oz ball peen online, or find a specialty store.
- Metal Polish. I use a polish called “Mother’s”, but, you an also use Flitz or Maas.
- Rags. Simple enough.
- 1/16″ Brass Rod.  You can find 1/16″ brass rod at most hobby stores.  Hobby Lobby (a USA chain) stocks it for $2.79 / 3 pieces.  If you are forced to order it online, it will be rather expensive to ship – but places like Jantz knife supply, and Texas Knife Supply both carry it.
- 1/16″ inner diameter washers.  The washers you’ll be looking for are #0, and #0wide.   I sell small sets of these on my site –  but those are really only meant for someone needing one or two sets.  They are not well priced if you wanted a hundred of them!  For larger quantities check out MicroFasteners.  For around $15.00 shipped, you can pick up enough washers to pin 25 razors.  You’ll use the #0wide for between the tang and scales (inner washers).
- Flush Cutters (preferred) or Wire Cutters.   You probably have some wirecutters laying around.  You’ll need them to cut the brass rod.
- A flat file. useful for filing down the ends of the brass rods you are cutting

To be honest — thats all that I can think of!!!!  With this small list of items, you are ready to start practicing!  Not to mention, all of those items above will be good investments, because I still use them every time I make a set of scales!

What? NO POWER TOOLS?
Soon, young grasshopper.  Believe it or not, with just your hands and some time, you can turn your first rusty razor into something decent with only the items listed above!

What can hand sanding really do?

Hand sanding is the process of removing metal from your razor with just sand paper.  the main reason to remove metal is to “sand out the pits” — which is kind of the opposite of what you are really doing, which is to sand the entire blade down to the deepest pit.  This can sometimes be a quick and easy endeavor — and other times can take hours and hours.  It just depends on how deep the pits are!

Here is an example of what can be done.  This razor was a $12.00 find in a local antique shop.  The only thing used to restore it was the tools listed above.

This is the razor “Before”

This next picture depicts the same razor, unpinned and hand-sanded for approximately 2 hours using 220 grit paper:

320 grit:

400 grit:

600 grit:

1500 grit:

And finally, polished thoroughly for approx 40 minutes using Mother’s Polish and a rag:

The scales of course, were also thoroughly cleaned, and polished as well — using just 1500 grit paper and a rag!!  So, as you can see — A LOT can be done with some time, and some motivation.  Learning how to hand sand a razor is an important first step for someone looking to get into restoration.  You will use hand sanding time and time again — I still use it ALL THE TIME!

That is all for now –  in a few days, I will talk a little bit about purchasing your first power tool!!!

Hows this for a business model:  Don’t send me your straight razors for restoration.  Confused yet?  Good.  Lets explain.

The Common Scenario

Lets say…you’re new to wet shaving, and you just picked up your first rusty, stained straight razor from an antique shop or E-bay.  Eager and excited, you post a picture in a popular shaving forum, with a title like “Antique shop find” or “My ebay score!”     The forum members reply with things like “Nice score!” and “That should clean up great!”   You feel all happy and in love with your new found treasure, and quickly move to the Restoration and Workshop forums out there, and find that this is a bit more involved than you’re willing.  Your next step:  Find a Restoration guy, right?  Maybe thats why you’re reading this right now…  You found my page….

The perfect candidate razor….  For NOT having professionally restored

Disclaimer:  There are exceptions to my recommendations throughout this article — please understand that if a razor has sentimental value, is a family heirloom, or holds special meaning to you that its not always subject to the same analysis as the average e-bay find.  I totally understand this, sometimes a razor is worth restoring no matter what the cost or condition, if it’s something you feel is worth it to you.  On with the article….

There are a few guidelines I like to follow, when recommending to my clients whether or not a razor is worth restoring or rescaling.  They are as follows:

* The blade should be 6/8 or larger
* The blade should not have major chips or cracks
* If the blade is a full hollow razor:  The blade should not have significant hone wear, uneven hone wear, or a combination of the two.
* If the blade is a full hollow razor:  The blade should not have significant rust on the hollow portion of the blade
* The resulting restored razor should have a value higher than the price I charge for my services ***

They may seem like odd requirements..  What does blade width have to do with anything?  Well, mostly, it is because of the last item there –  It is quite simple really, a 4/8 or 5/8 razor will rarely be worth more than $100, EVER — so why invest $100 for a new set of scales?  It is not a wise decision.  Especially, when you can find prime examples of 4/8 and 5/8 razors out there, practically new in the boxes, for less than a new set of scales will cost you.

Examples

Here is an example of a razor that should not be sent out for restore.  At the time of this writing, this razor is on E-bay, and is currently selling for $15.00.

Why it doesn’t qualify:

-  The razor has uneven hone wear, and heavy rust
-  In order to restore, the razor would have to be unpinned, jeopardizing the pivot end bolsters.
-  The razor’s rust around the stabilizer area would force you to use heavy sanding or extensive greaseless compound buffing, causing the lines to soften on the stabilizer and shoulder, lessening overall visual appeal.  The tail of the razor would have to have a decent amount of metal removed as well, and from past experience the top of the spine near the point end likely has VERY deep pitting, requiring a large amount of metal to be removed.  In order to remove the rust and pitting, the etch on the face of the blade would have to be removed.
-  I would likely charge around $85.00 for a full restoration and honing — The resulting razor would have a value of around $55-70.00, mostly due to its size and what will almost certainly be soft lines and obvious alterations to its original geometry.

Would I buy it for $15.00?  Nope.  Should you?  Only if you’re willing to work on the blade yourself.

Example #2

Here is another razor, currently on E-bay.  You might say “Well what the heck is wrong with that one?”  My answer:  not a lot.  However, tell me this — is it worth it to invest $50-80.00 for professional restoration on a run-of the mill 5/8, black plastic scale razor?  Is it?  The etch might be lost too — basically removing the only thing that makes this razor stand out.  Why bother?  You can purchase a brand new, professionally honed Dovo razor for less than it would cost to bring this one back.

Example #3

This is another razor currently on e-bay.  This is very similar to something that I would get a request to restore.  Here are my concerns:

- The razor’s scales are basically junk.  They are warped and ugly (apparent from another picture).  In order to bring this blade up to something worth looking at, it will need a new set.   $$$$$
- The blade doesn’t look so bad at first glance…  But..  looking closer there is some serious rust on the tang and stabilizer.  This razor is never going to have that brand-new look to it, no matter how careful the restorer is — and the etch, yet again, is not something that will be guaranteed to survive.
- It doesnt matter how you slice it – this is a 5/8 razor, that even with new custom scales will be lucky to fetch $100.00, in shave ready and perfectly restored condition.  What makes it so important to you that you’d be willing to invest $130+ to make that happen?  Have you seen some of the razors out there available for $130.00, that will have none of the aesthetic issues this one will end up having when its completed?

Is it a neat razor? Sure.  Should you buy it?  Maybe!  Should you have it professionally restored?  Nope.

The ideal candidates for Restoration & Re-scaling

- Large full hollow blades over 6/8 that need new scales, but minimal blade work.
- Any wedge over 6/8 in size, regardless of amount of rust
- Unique or valuable razors
- Razors that have excellent quality steel, but lousy scales – example:  Filarmonica, Henckels Friodur, etc.
- Any razor with sentimental value or family heirlooms

Conclusion

Not every razor is worth being professionally restored.  I really wish people would stop recommending it to every newbie that posts a picture of their latest acquisition.  Razors like the 3 examples above are all too common in the antique shops, flea markets, and E-bay.  People buy them up at $15-30 each — and in my opinion they just aren’t worth it.  Regardless of whether you hire someone to fix one of them up, or invest 3, 5, 10, or 15 hours of your own time sanding and polishing, in the end, you are in the red on that razor.  Everyone should assign a monetary value to their time — the challenge is not to forget yours, and to realize just how much it REALLY costs you for a run-of the mill 5/8 razor.

I will be accepting Razor Restoration and Rescales beginning May 1.  If you’re interested in sending me something, please fill out a Quote.  I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.  If you have filled out a quote over the last 3 months and I didn’t get back to you, please re-fill it out.  I’m going to start with a clean slate here.  One of the main reasons, is the drastic change in prices.  Please note — I will only be offering rescales in the following materials:

G-10 (many colors available)
Paper Micarta (Ivory, Antique, Black)
Carbon Fiber
Black Horn
Translucent Horn

Prices for all scales regardless of materials will be the same –  $99.00 — metal lined wedges will add 9 bucks to the price.  If you are looking for wood scales or acrylic scales, please look elsewhere.

As for blade work, I’ll only be accepting razors that meet my requirements.  I’ll be rejecting work if the razor falls into one of these categories:

* is less than 5/8 width
* is a full hollow grind with heavy pitting or rust
* has significant hone wear
* is a razor that I feel is not worth your investment in restoring or rescaling

In addition to these changes, I’ll be adding a new offering –  full re-grinds of near-wedge razors.  The cost for this service will be $90.00.  Inquire for more details.

Thank you!

Restoring straight razors and making custom scales has been a relaxing, rewarding, and sustaining hobby for me for nearly 2 years now. I’ve been able to pay for my workshop, grinder, a couple razors for myself, my hones…and even taken my wife out for an evening here and there with the small profits I’ve made.  It also helped pay for my son’s habit of being an awesome hockey player, which is quite an expensive habit to have!  I am grateful for my customers and the business they have given me.  I always felt really good about offering my customers fair prices, for a good quality job.

What I didn’t expect was that in doing so, I became so swamped that I could not keep up with demand.  At one point in 2010, I had 40 razors that weren’t mine sitting in a box waiting for work to be done to them.  And I was averaging at the most 3 razors per week.  Eventually I realized that I just didn’t feel comfortable with that much work, sitting there looming over me.  I tried to keep cool though, and put everything I had into each razor I completed.  It can be overwhelming though!  Keeping track of who wanted what done…addresses, etc.  I almost needed a secretary (my wife passed on the job….).   In late 2010, I decided to start saying “No” to new work.  That is a really frustrating thing to do, because, I know it had to hurt my reputation.  But, I had to get out of the hole I dug!  14 weeks later, I had finally finished my queue.  Since then, I had started pulling out a few razors I had acquired and needed some work.  Things were good and it was nice to work on razors that were my own.  But.. it didn’t take long before I was doing some work for a friend…  and then soon thereafter, a customer sends a razor to me without inquiring first if I’m accepting work…and so on and so forth, and I find myself swamped again — well, not quite like before, but, you get the idea!!!!

Some very obvious realizations have come to light for me, that I think I always knew, but, was underestimating…

1.  Demand for Straight Razor Restoration is out of control.

Hundreds of straight razors are sold EVERY WEEK on E-bay, and almost all of them need work.  Most of the time, not just a little work.  They need a LOT of work.  Who are buying these razors?  Mostly people who want to use them – and mostly people who don’t know what to do with it when it shows up on their doorstep.  Very few people are willing to put for the effort to clean up a razor, and very few know how to hone.  So, why are they buying them?  Because they constantly read about people buyng vintage and having them restored, see the pictures, and hear about how amazing XXXXX brand is – it seems like a good alternative to buying current production razors.  The fact of the matter is, however, there are not enough people offering Razor Restorations out there that offer a QUALITY service to work on these razors.

Any time that a market has this much demand, there are going to be people that will take advantage of it.  The charlatans.  Go to E-bay, do a search for “straight razor.”  Choose Buy-it-now, and price highest.  I can guarantee you, you will see a few razors in the $150-350 range for sale – some common names like Wade & Butcher or Wostenholm, put in “custom” scales.  Click one of them.  Notice how the scales usually don’t seem to fit right.  Sometimes they are too wide near the tang.  Imagine stropping that.  Notice how the wedges aren’t tapered.  Notice how the scales are too thick, and they aren’t rounded very much along the edges.  These are all signs that these guys are new at scale making – yet they are demanding prices that would suggest they are masters.  This is troubling to me.  That is NOT the right way to start off as someone who wants to become a well respected and reputable restoration person.  If you’re charging people $100-300 (the premium over the bare blade value of $50 maybe) for a set of scales they aren’t blown away by, they won’t be buying from you again.  However, if they are charged $40.00 for a set of custom scales, then, they will likely be willing to overlook a few problems with the scales.  THIS is how you should approach being a new scalemaker –  start with low prices, build a client base, and, for crying out loud, MAKE SCALES.  Make LOTS of scales.  The more you do, the better you will be at it.

Demand for these services is THROUGH THE ROOF, and although the numbers of users continues to grow, the only thing I see popping up all over the Internet are new places to buy DOVO’s…and Gold Dollars… and brushes… anything that doesn’t require any work and can almost be drop-shipped to the customer. I guess there is a place for those vendors, but, I guess I am just sad that there are not more people out there willing to put in some time to learn how to restore razors properly. Its not like it is THAT difficult… Especially when there are so many resources available. Heck, I have basically given away every secret I have in my Straight Razor Restoration Video Series on YouTube.

Time for another realization…

2.  People have, and will take advantage of me if I keep my prices low.

I LOVE making scales for people, seeing their reactions, telling me how they will cherish their newly restored razor, never sell, etc.  This is why I rescale for people, as opposed to just rescaling for re-sale, which is way more profitable.  This fuzzy feeling inside changes when I see my customer sell their rescales the week after they get them back.  It doesn’t take a genius to figure out, I’m being taken advantage of.  You buy a nice old rusty wedge for $20.00.  You send it to me, I restore, rescale for $80-90.  You sell razor for $175.00.  You profit $75.00.  I get my money too, it really is a victimless crime.  However –  This creates more demand for my service — demand that I can’t handle – and it preys on my willingness to offer quality services at a fair price, expecting you to actually use the resulting razor….which leads to my next realization…

3.  If I re-open to new work, I have no choice but to increase my prices.

And not just a little bit.  I’m talking about a 68% increase in price.  From $59 to $99 sets of scales.  That is depressing to me — but — how else can I open my doors, be fair to my customers, and keep myself from getting swamped with work?  There is no other way!  Its either raise prices.. or have a lottery?  Ha. thats the only other thing i can think of.  What if I take on 10 razors in a week at $99?  I will have no choice but to raise them further.  Turning people away because I’m overloaded doesn’t make sense – it just puts people off.  I also have to set my prices accordingly so that false demand is not created by people sending me razors for me to work on so that they can re-sell.

And finally, if any of you have actually read this far, I have one more realization that is inevitable

4.  Prices of good-quality and restored vintage Straight Razors will continue to rise with no end in sight.

Number of straight razor users and demand continues to go up, number of quality restorers remains unchanged, and the number of vintage razors out there is a finite number.  All of these things equal higher prices.  It is inevitable.  Get used to it.  Look at the bright side —  It makes PERFECT sense to buy lots of AMAZING razors.  It is an investment.  Its as good as putting money in the bank.

Hope you enjoyed my ramblings

Brad

I’ve started working on a Dubl Duck WonderEdge. I decided to lift the inlays off the original scales, which were cracking and warped. I know this process is well documented out there (using acetone to remove inlays) but here are some pics anyways.

For a while now, I have been using scale thickness as a way to correct uneven grinds in vintage razors. Having come across a ton of old sheffield blades that had been giving me centering problems, and having to work with horn, a natural material that has tons of variables, I’ve devised this method of using scale thickness to my advantage.

As many know, the perfect razor has a perfectly even grind, a straight tang, and perfectly molded scales that are identical to one another.

In the world of hand made scales and old, vintage blades, sometimes not all of these things come together. Some of those blades were either 1) ground by 11 year old apprentices, 2) ground on a Monday, or a Friday, or 3) ground while possibly drunk. And then, there is my scales, which, could also have been made on a Monday or Friday, or possibly while drunk. haha. I’m sure all you scale makers can relate to that.

Now, if you’re using a 1/8 stock, then, many times, you need not worry about thickness, because you’re cutting them out, and just rounding corners. But, what happens when you rip your own wood..with a hand saw? or what happens if you start with horn blanks that are 3/16″ + thick? We have to thin these out by hand on a belt sander. Sure, you can use a caliper every few minutes, and test at 15 points around the scale to make sure everything is perfect. But, how many of us really do that? I know I don’t. So, every once in a while, I end up with scales that are just slightly off, one thicker than the other. Typically, I would correct my error when I noticed it during test fitting.

However,…this got me thinking..

Why not intentionally create two thicknesses of scales in order to correct an improper blade or tang grind???

After all, this is what a set of uneven scales looks like, when you use a nice, wedgie wedge. On the left, you see a perfectly symmetrical set. On the right, you see an exaggerated example of how using one thicker scale than the other, and the resistant force that it generates will cause the thinner scale to bow out farther, and thereby create a mis-aligned set of scales. Normally, this is a tragedy, and many times is the cause of a headache for guys learning to make scales.

Now… this image is exaggerated. I wanted to really illustrate the idea I’m trying to convey. The actual difference in the scales are minimal, and almost completely unnoticable. We’re talking 1/64 differences in thickness.

So, what I have found is that when I have a problem razor with the aforementioned problems, I have been able to make an adjustment to scale thickness in order to correct it. I just pull the scale off the mockup and thin it out on the inside on a 180grit belt as necessary, and then re-test fit. When I get it to the point where its centering, I finish off the inside of that scale from 220grit-800 and a quick buff.

So, I have found that using this method, I have been able to not only correct errors in my own scale making (originally not even thickness), but, also to make adjustments to make old problem-razors fit well.

Hopefull this makes sense! G’luck!

After almost a year of restoring straight razors, I have decided to create a series of videos to show everyone how I do it, and how they can restore their own razors.  Please enjoy these videos!  They are available in the Videos section on my page here. Or, you can watch them directly on youtube by clicking this link:

Straight Razor Restoration: Start to Finish (Playlist, parts 1-12)

The run time of this video series is 91 minutes.

Hope you enjoy!

A customer asked me to document his restoration.  Razor just needs to be honed now.  Pictures are in order from start to finish.  Customer asked to save the etchings and stamp, so, I had to tread lightly.  There was also a VERY nasty pit on the back side that might have destroyed the blade if I had remove it!

[Show as slideshow]