Thread: Dovo Fritz Bracht #88, restorable?

Salutations,

First, the razor...





Got this one as a Christmas gift. The black marks are all over the blade and tang. One small nick in the blade exists about a quarter of the way down from the toe. It has a diameter about the size of a sewing needle or tooth pick. My question is simple, can it be restored as a shaver. I would love to be able to use this in my rotation. Any and all help is welcome and appreciated.

Cheers,
JackOfDiamonds

I'm sure the experts could be more helpful but I would say yes. You might need to bread knife the blade depending on how deep the nick is but as I said the experts here on this board can tell you more.

Looking at that blade, I would say that you may have an issue with deep pitting along the edge.
You may not, however, the first thing I would do is try and set a bevel to see if you can find good steel.
Breadknifing - to me - is a last resort and should not be attempted by the inexperienced.

From what I can see on the pics, this is not going to be restorable giving the hollow grind and the corrosion along the edge.

I agree with mainaman. The pics are too small to really see the cutting edge, but rust/pitting like that right near the bevel don't usually bode well for a razor.

That is a real shame, but I was afraid that this would be the case. If I can't use it to shave with I really don't know what to do with it for now. Guess it will just be a neat show piece for the family. If you all can think of any other uses besides collecting dust let me know.

Many thanks,
JackofDiamonds

Best thing to do is put it on a bevel setter and hone past the corrosion. If it is deep into the blade the edge will fall apart as you go and begin to look like swiss cheese. If you can get past the corrosion to clean steel it can be used as a shaver. As mainaman said though, it looks pretty bad when you have that black stuff on a full hollow.

Don't bread knife the edge!! If you have a DMT Coarse (aka 325), it is a great tool to get past corrosion/pitting on an edge. Put 2 or 3 layers of tape on the spine, but start off with circles with the blade at 30 - 40 degrees. As you progress, lower the taped spine to touch the "stone". I have recovered a couple razors with pitted and chipped edges this way. If you are successful getting to good steel, use at most one layer of tape, set the bevel and progress through your honing sequence.

Good luck.

Call me weird, but I personally think that the razor will still take a great edge. Best way to know is to try honing it.
Decoloration doesn't necessarily mean that it's corrosion or pitting.

Well, just my 2 cents.
You'll see

I will look up this DMT Coarse, as I am not familiar with it. I believe I have seen several videos of people using the technique you described with the circles and the angle. As far as putting a new edge on it, can/should I do that with the nick in the blade? Shouldn't I made the edge flat first? This black stuff does seem more cosmetic, but as most of you have implied it could be deep into the steel. Thanks again for the advice and input, it helps put this project into perspective.

Sincerely,
JackofDiamonds