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Comment by John Bamford on August 7, 2016 at 1:57

You are right Dale about the heat treat and it should be easier to get that right on razors as they only have to cut one thing unlike a knife . They say that some of the restored ones that are for sale can be damaged by the use of Dremel's when removing rust over heating the blade .

There was a mention on the web the other day about removing rust with nail block's, as in ladies nail's , I meant to check that out yesterday but forgot .

I don't have a lot of vanity I may have had at one time but I am now overweight and going bald and walk with a stick . Vanity is best reserved for the young and foolish .

I can never work out those number plate things , I often sit behind cars at the lights and wonder what that plate is supposed to mean !

In Memoriam Comment by D ale on August 6, 2016 at 16:41

John

Re: My philosophy on this is if it works it works ...

I have a similar philosophy .. "If it aint broke .. don't fix it !!"

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I believe the difference is simple semantics. I can honestly state .. it is a philosophy that has served me well.

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I daily observe the negative effects of vanity. There is wisdom in your stated philosophy. I have observed vanity as the cause for both unnecessary & excessive expenditures.

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Case in point .. I've a customer who's vanity plate reads .. NVMIJP. Now .. it really is a nice Jeep Grand Cherokee. And .. I'm confident .. it has all the amenities available @ the time of purchase. However .. “Envy My Jeep” ?!?!? I think not. On a personal level .. I know I don't. It does however speak volumes to the owner's personal values.

Re: your latest acquisition .. a long as the steel is properly tempered & a high level of hardness has been achieved .. then you have simply to attain & maintain the required level of sharpness to have a very serviceable tool / razor.

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Enjoy

D ale

Comment by John Bamford on August 6, 2016 at 12:44

I picked up this razor on the bay a week or two ago unused no makers mark very cheap ! 

Seems to have taken a good edge though I haven't tried it yet was going to have a shave with it tonight , it's 6.30 pm now but may just wait till the morning now . 

The razor cost me £5- $6.54 how can you lose at that price a good new razor will cost £75 at least and if this old girl proves to be no good , which I doubt , well it's no great loss .

I am led to believe that back in the day Sheffield and Solingen were turning these things out in such huge numbers you could get them made at minimal cost and just stamp anything you wanted on them .

I guess it's a little like the situation in China at the moment . They are selling Gold Dollar razors for very little , some people say they are not very good I wouldn't know when you can get a decent older razor for these prices why would I bother buying from China .

Comment by John Bamford on August 6, 2016 at 1:36

I don't think that the razor shows it's self off that well on the picture Dale , it is a really good looker . The scales have come up really well with just a little cleaning and are very see through now . I find that very attractive for some reason .

You are right about the sharpening now I am not an expert and have a bunch of stones that some of the well known guys would no doubt laugh at . They like to call themselves " Honemeisters" !

Anyway back to the sharpening the angle is achieved by lying the razor on the stone so that the back , or spine, and the edge of the blade are both touching the stone . Then just the same as sharpening a knife you use your coarsest stone , around 1000 , to sharpen the razor and then polish with finer stones or on a series of pastes . The pastes can either be traditional ones , cheaper option and has worked for a long time , or modern diamond or similar , expensive but may be of benefit on more modern steels .

The razor is usually moved across the stone edge first and then stropped spine first , but I am sure you knew that . The razor people get very touchy it seems to me if anyone should suggest , specially a "knifey" , anything different . Murray Carter seemed to upset a few people when he put out a video of him sharpening a razor , yet I am told that the guy is pretty good at sharpening and he seems to be able to shave with just about anything. His crime was to strop the razor   on the stone, would you believe, with the spine leading . Usually the stropping is only done on a dedicated strop usually leather but some use other materials . My philosophy on this is if it works it works , it is his skin that he is rubbing that thing over after all .

In Memoriam Comment by D ale on August 5, 2016 at 20:09

John,

You've no idea how happy this makes me.

It's great to know it will see some genuine use. And the fact that the blade steel is of good quality means it should hold an edge for awhile, i.e. less frequent sharpening required.

I figured from the leading edge sill having a good right angle corner present that it had seen little use. Am happier still to think that it has seen either no prior use ..or.. not been sharpened before.

I believe you base that on the observation that there existed no wear along the spine edge of the blade. If I correctly understand the sharpening procedure for a straight razor .. it is lain flat upon the stone .. with both the spine & cutting edge in contact with the stone .. during the sharpening process. If this is true .. then indeed .. no wear along the spine would indicate ..at the very least.. that it has not been sharpened before.

!! . All good things . !!

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Thanks for posting this update, John !!

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Do enjoy

D ale

Comment by Jan Carter on August 5, 2016 at 19:32

Hey glad it is a good user because it sure is a looker also!

Comment by John Bamford on August 5, 2016 at 15:25

Today I cleaned and sharpened the Clauss razor that Dale was kind enough to send me . That steel is hard I got the blade cleaned up pretty well though I was unable to remove all the pitting , I feel that it is good enough now I don't feel that an old razor needs to look new , there seems to be just enough markings on it to show times passing without there being any active rust .

It took a little while to sharpen not only because the steel seems hard but because I am sure that it hadn't been used before . I have seen a video where Mastro Livi sharpens a new razor in just a few minutes , alas it does take me a little longer than that . It is sharp now though and provided a very good shave indeed . I must confess that the square point concerned me a little , a lot , at first... that is quite a sharp point there and my face is old and rather saggy so there did appear to be a good chance of the point catching somewhere . Didn't happen though and proved to be every bit as good a shaver as the 4/8ths Osgar that I have adopted as my favourite this week .

Comment by Jan Carter on August 2, 2016 at 20:00

Allan,

You can always check the cites list

John,

You keep your accent and your spelling.  Being unique is not something we want you to lose

Comment by John Bamford on August 2, 2016 at 13:51

Interesting history you have there Allan I guess things got rough in Rhodesia in that period , at least if you were white . I know some people who have lived in South Africa and say it is a beautiful place , Geoff Boycott has a house there and often says , on Test Match Special , what a great place it is to live . But then I guess he has a few quid and that makes life easier where ever you are .

That warthog tusk is great looking stuff for a knife handle but not worth going to jail for , I hope you can get hold of it from your Mom . I can't see as how it's endangered but the again customs have their own way of seeing the world and it's not wise to argue with them .

I worked with a guy from Zimbabwe back in the 80s it was when I first moved down to the Midlands , you could cut his accent with a knife very few people around here could understand him. I think he got tired of repeating himself and disappeared after a while .

Most of my life I have had a knife but often it was a poor thing from the lack of choice or the lack of information , and often enough from the lack of money . I didn't know there were people who collected knives until I bought my first PC about 5 years ago , I have learned a lot in that short time but I still don't know much compared to most on iKC !

When I first started exploring this site I found some articles about straight razors , must go back and check on those , and thought you have got to be kidding there is no way etc ...and here I am now enjoying the mad idea .

Camel bone sounds good and I did hear about Giraffe bone for handles somewhere , now that must be a strong material .    Hope you have good luck with getting the Warthog into the country I would love to see what you can make of it .

Comment by allanm on August 2, 2016 at 13:18

Interesting John - I did not know of Arno Bernard knives. I know where their hometown Bethlehem is in the Orange Free State, or in Afrikaans - Oranje Vry Staat (abbrebiated to Free State or Vry Staat) but I have never been to the town. I was born in what was Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, lived through the bush war and moved to South Africa for New Year's eve 1980 - 9 or 10 months after Mugabe came to power. I lived there in different cities but mostly Johannesburg and Cape Town for 19 years before moving here, now actually 17 1/2 years ago.

In those days I had little interest in knives beyond most boys and men (and some girls I know!) liking knives and wanting to have a few, but most often being ignorant of real quality. Or more, being ignorant of hand made quality. I spent 10 - 20 minutes browsing their web site - they have a lot of really good looking knives there. Starting as I am now, I've been looking at different materials, and camel bone also appeals to me - simply because of the unique factor for me. Camel bone on a curved Persian style knife with the right handguard, maybe a well polished brass sounds really good.

A little while ago, I was telling my mom and dad who also moved to South Africa (along with my sister) about starting kit knife making and my first restoration attempt. My mom asked if I remembered she had a pair of warthog tusks, and told me that she would try to send them to me, or keep them for me the next time I go back to visit. I told her I would really like to have those - but I'm going to need to look into import laws and how they would be accepted here. I have no intentions of paying large fines or seeing the inside of prisons and jails for more than a few hours each week with volunteer activities I do!

So ... I have just made contact with the US Fish and Wildlife Management Services to ask that question.

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