My Other Hobby

[Jerrimy Snook]

Thank you Mark and David for the introduction to straight razors. Looks like I'll have to continue my education over at b&b.

Jerrimy

[Mark Yundt]

Oh , you'll get an education there. Some of the guys are a wealth of info on any aspect of wet shaving. They can get intense! Check out the stickies for info. as a heading on each area. You're stepping on a trail that has so many directions. Use, history and research, custom work, blades, brushes, techniques, videos on how to actually use a razor ( DE or straight) which many don't use properly for the best results. Shaving,, go figure! I thought I knew how after how many years of doing it.

[Dustin Keys]

Really awesome work!!!! And would you believe I just clicked over here from B&B.... and would you believe I just read a thread on restoring a vintage fountain pen....

Anyway, I love all of these razors, and the rehabs that were headed for a dumpster are really mind-blowing. I've been wanting to try my hand at a straight razor restoration after seeing a few that others had done (none as impressive as yours), but all the ones I've found at antique shops have been overpriced. They seem to run $30-$75 in my area, and the prices seem to have no real basis other than it sounded good to the seller. I'll find a good candidate eventually though and give it a try.

I'm into single edge razors currently, but I will eventually try a straight. I've been using the SEs for a little over a year now and really love them. Never tried a DE.

Your carving looks great, and I hope to be as succesful at it as you one day. Do you carve the resins the same way you would carve wood? Same tools?

D

[Mark Yundt]

Thanks Dustin, I appreciate the comments. While at B&B did you see the pens I've restored? That's another hobby of mine as well.
Single edges,, well , needless to say, I have a "few". My collection of Schick razors is well rounded with all the editions of the E series. Then there are the Gems,, where I think I have most of them if not all. Well , I could go on for some time about them.
Check the 'bay to find some decent razors to play with. Or, become a member of B&B and pick up something from the classifieds.
I like taking the junk razors and breathing new life into them. If the piece is restorable I'll go that route,, but if it's a mess,, then I'll go whatever direction I please.
No, I can't carve the resins the same way as wood. Chisels are useless. I use power, diamond bits etc. then polish. Here is a link to some other brushes/razors I've done which you might find interesting.
www.flickr.com/photos/markyundt
and you can find more here
www.woodcarvingblog.wordpress.com

[Dustin Keys]

Thanks Dustin, I appreciate the comments. While at B&B did you see the pens I've restored? That's another hobby of mine as well.
Single edges,, well , needless to say, I have a "few". My collection of Schick razors is well rounded with all the editions of the E series. Then there are the Gems,, where I think I have most of them if not all. Well , I could go on for some time about them.
Check the 'bay to find some decent razors to play with. Or, become a member of B&B and pick up something from the classifieds.
I like taking the junk razors and breathing new life into them. If the piece is restorable I'll go that route,, but if it's a mess,, then I'll go whatever direction I please.
No, I can't carve the resins the same way as wood. Chisels are useless. I use power, diamond bits etc. then polish. Here is a link to some other brushes/razors I've done which you might find interesting.
www.flickr.com/photos/markyundt
and you can find more here
www.woodcarvingblog.wordpress.com

Well I've spent several hours today looking over your restorations and your blog. From the pens, to the brushes, to the sraights, they're like nothing I've ever seen before. Before I clicked on this thread, I thought I was good at bringing old things back to life. Now, I'm not so sure lol. I've got a long way to go to say the very least.

Thanks for sharing all of this! I've read some of it several times now and look forward to trying some of it myself.

D

[Mark Yundt]

My pleasure Dustin. But the greatest compliment you can pay is to say you're going to give it a try! That's the spirit. And if you get stuck or need a bit of a direction or whatever, you know where to find me. Drop a line, I'll be glad to help someone who is willing to give it a go.
I love restorations and here is a bit of a larger project I did myself.Frame off,engine rebuild,brakes etc. all welding, body work, paint, new wood bed. It was fun. You should see the photo list of this. Makes me tired looking at it. So if it's a resto of most any sort, I'm game.

[David Weaver]

Mark - what do you use for strop hardware? Do you do something simple like a dowel or metal pin, rivet and some rawhide?

I've cut a few strops, but I'm lacking hardware. I just zipped a piece 28x3 piece of horse butt out last night, and if I can't find hardware, I'm just going to pein some 1/8th brass on each end. That'll make it feel stable.

[Mark Yundt]

David,
I've since found a guy on flea bay that has swivel snaps for strops. But I've used a few different ways. The one with the wood handle has a 1/4 inch brass rod with the leather wrapped around it and that is what the snap attaches to. Then I just made the mahogany handle. The others I used brass D rings and since they were narrower I simply cut the leather to slip through them.
On the first I used copper rivets ( and that mark is my initials, an M sitting on a Y) and for the others I used chrome hex screws that fit into what looks like a T-nut.
I only use the 3" for CrOx. The wide ones tend to want to cup a bit more. It seems like it would be the right size since razors are 3 inch, but actually I ( and most guys it seems from the sites) prefer a 2 to 2 1/2 inch strop.
The reddish ones are Latigo leather.
I've also made some cloth that I'll used with diamond sprays or CrOx prior to using the leather. Here you can use a canvas or most any twill material. It really does a great job of polishing the edge after lapping films.
I'm sure you're prepping the leather prior to using it right?

[David Weaver]

Thanks, Mark.

Yes, I'll probably treat the horse butt with neatsfoot oil. I have some veggie tanned 8/9 ounce cowhide that's extremely smooth that I've also used on bench strops, and it has performed better bare than it does once I've oiled it (with strop dressing, a tallow based soap, or oil - i've made a few of them to try).

I will probably make a hanging strop out of it, too, as i don't want to use it in the shop - it's too nice, I can use other leather that i've gotten that's just a tad rougher. I don't have a hanging strop of it bare yet.

For supple leathers, I've been OK with 3" strops as long as every two weeks or so, I just take the leather and cup it the other way quickly once and run my hand down the length of the strop. Otherwise, it does cup, as you say.

If this horse butt doesn't get soft enough to do that, I'll just cut some off. It's dead flat thus far, but thinner than the cowhide despite the fact that it's the same weight. I found it entirely too hard for a bench strop. Most importantly, though, the surface of it is totally smooth and devoid of tooling marks or any other imperfections. I'm sure I'll get it to work well one way or another.

I don't use a lot of powders, as the finisher that I was able to luck into is extremely fine and somewhere close to 0.5 micron powder (as opposed to the unspecified woodworking bar stuff that leaves scratches here and there) finish. It might even be just a tad finer. I go straight to leather from it. I have a couple of razors, though, that have a bit of warpage, though, and they would be better off on a chromium oxide treated strop. Sooner or later, I'll get to it.

[Mark Yundt]

It sounds as if you know your way around these things well enough. I'm sure you know that you can sand the rougher leather to make it silky smooth. The oils will go a long way towards softening leather and something I add to the oil is a bit of a hand lotion but it has to have a high percentage of glycerine and lanolin. It's a trick I learned from a friend who did high end leather interiors for cars ( Deusenbergs,Chords etc.) for shows

[David Weaver]

I agree about the sanding. The first couple of strops I got a few years ago needed a lot of sanding. Not right away, but they needed after a bit of my use

They have since been retired to the worskhop where the quality of the surface isn't so critical. The only thing that keeps me from sanding the new leather is laziness and that my supply of smooth stuff hasn't yet run out.

I'll note the lanolin and glycerine. Something a little extra to do with the mitchell's wool fat, and some generic glycerine soap early on that I got (while trying to be pennywise) that I don't like that much.

I wonder what's in the fromm strop dressing. I purchased that early on, too, but I haven't used it. I think I've settled into liking a medium draw, and I don't want to use it and mess that up.

An aside comment, The horse butt, before it's treated, gives the sensation that the razor is running across a very smooth abrasive. When the razor hits it on a bench strop, it resonates with a clean pop just like hitting the wood itself. It would be no good at that for a hanging strop, for sure.

When I got into this, I thought it would be nice to learn how people shaved 150 years ago, because it's sometimes nice to have an appreciation for how things were done in the past. I never really intended to shave with a straight razor every day, because I was afraid I'd fillet my face or be fiddling with razors all the time. Now, it hardly takes any longer than it did to shave outside the shower before, and I don't fiddle around trying to extend 3 or 4 blade cartridges to feel like I'm getting my money's worth. It is so much more interesting to shave now that it's incredible, and I have lots less razorburn and the razor is always sharp at no extra cost.

[Steve. Purcell]

Outstanding work!

[Mark Yundt]

Thanks Steve, right back at you!

[Dustin Keys]

My pleasure Dustin. But the greatest compliment you can pay is to say you're going to give it a try! That's the spirit. And if you get stuck or need a bit of a direction or whatever, you know where to find me. Drop a line, I'll be glad to help someone who is willing to give it a go.
I love restorations and here is a bit of a larger project I did myself.Frame off,engine rebuild,brakes etc. all welding, body work, paint, new wood bed. It was fun. You should see the photo list of this. Makes me tired looking at it. So if it's a resto of most any sort, I'm game.

Well I picked up a straight yesterday to give this a try! Mine isn't in too bad of shape really. Some light rust, but I don't anticipate much of a pitting issue. The etch is still there and really clear, so I'll be trying to clean it up without losing that. The scales are really boring, so once I get it cleaned up and learn how to use it I may try to make some more interesting scales.

Thanks for the push, I've been wanting to do this for a while now!

D

[Mark Yundt]

VERY COOL! It takes a bit of getting used to it and developing the skills to do it effectively. It's a steep learning curve. Many suggest using the straight to hit 'easy' areas first and complete the shave with a DE or other razor until you start to feel comfortable with the straight in your hands.
The biggest challenge though is getting it sharp enough to be shave ready. I don't know what tools ( hones, strops etc.) you may have , but that's a key to having a shave ready razor.
There are Honemeisters that get blades shave ready for a nominal fee so you know what sharp really is.
A quick test is the hanging hair test. If it passes this , generally you have a shave ready razor. It's only a guide and not a definitive test, but it's a start.