Good Deeds Never Go Unpunished - "Bengall" Restoration

rbscebu

rbscebu

Member
A few weeks ago the very generous @psillypsimon gave me a few Cadman "Bengall" SRs to clean up and PIF on P&C. One was done and PIFed to @thorpef1. One of the others was a 6/8 "bengall". Here it is as-recieved.

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The first thing I did was a dye penetration test to check for any cracks. All looked good.

This morning I started to clean the blade up ready for honing and PIFing to a worthy member. While cleaning it up, I suddenly had some choice words to say. Here is why:

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This got me thinking why. Upon very careful examination, I found that I had missed noticing an ever-so small crack in the blade during the dye penetration test. The crack started at the edge and only extended about 300μm up into the bevel. Lesson learned is to use good magnification when performing a dye penetration test.

All is not lost (yet). I will grind this blade's point back (about 20mm) and make it a 6/8 shorty with Dutch point. Once all is completed, including honing, this SR will be PIFed on P&C. It just may be later than I originally anticipated. If no takers, I will keep it for myself. I have always wanted a large shorty SR.

I will keep a record of this SRs resurrection in this thread.
 
Using a Demel, flexible extension shaft and mini diamond wheel, I have cut off most of the waste steel. This was done underwater so as to keep the steel temperature down to below 200°C.

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Next will be to grind a new Dutch point. This will also be done underwater.
 
Using Dremel, flexi-shaft and a small diameter (to reduce the circumferential speed) grinding wheel underwater, I ground the point close to what I was after. I then finished the the point grinding on the side of a 400 grit then 1k grit whetstone. All was looking good so I spent some time cleaning up the blade. Six hundred, 1k and 2k W&D, finishing off with an Autosol polish, produced this:

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Not too shabby, if I say so myself. That's enough work on a razor that is going to be PIFed. All that, so far, has taken me about 4 hours.

Tomorrow I will polish up the scales and hone it to shave-ready, another half hour or so. The PIF posting will be on Monday.
 
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Now that this razor's blade has been shortened by 20mm, the scales could also be shortened by the same amount. I won't be shortening the scales for the PIF. That is something the winner can do if they feel so inclined.

If the PIF is not claimed, I will keep this razor for my personal use. Then I will unpin the blade, clean the blade up in the pivot pin area and reduce the scales length at the pivot pin end before putting it all back together. If I do this, I will post in this thread.
 
Nicely done!

I don't see many Bengalls here, they seem to be fairly common in Australia.

Is that because they were made for export?
 
Jaco said:
Nicely done!

I don't see many Bengalls here, they seem to be fairly common in Australia.

Is that because they were made for export?
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Bengalls were not readily marketed in the UK. They were mainly exported to AU, NZ and Poland (of all places). They were also, in their time, standard issue in the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy.
 
That is a very nice shorty, well done. (y) Most people tend to assume that a longer blade is more efficient/effective, but forget that the curvature of one's lineaments imposes a tangential restriction, so only a small portion of a blade is in use at any time. (Unless you're using a smiley.)
 
I gave this shortie its first shave test this more. Now I am a shortie convert!

This shortie its a pleasure to shave with, particularly due to the shape (hollows) of my neck. The only downside is that the shorter blade holds less lather compared to a "full-size" blade. This means I have to wipe the blade on my sponge a bit more often. No biggie, it hold about as much lather at my 4/8th blades.

It is going to be disappointing to have to PIF this SR but I am a man of my word. If no one takes it, I'm a winner. If taken, I have another full size 6/8 Bengall that I will shorten, so all is not lost.
 
rbscebu said:
The only downside is that the shorter blade holds less lather compared to a "full-size" blade.
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My travel razor is a Feather SS. Two reasons - less baggage and I don't want to risk damage/theft of my favourite razors.

I don't think the Feather's blade is longer than your shortie, and yes initially it takes a bit of getting used to, more strokes, more clearing lather, but no real issue.
 
rbscebu said:
I gave this shortie its first shave test this more. Now I am a shortie convert!

This shortie its a pleasure to shave with, particularly due to the shape (hollows) of my neck. The only downside is that the shorter blade holds less lather compared to a "full-size" blade. This means I have to wipe the blade on my sponge a bit more often. No biggie, it hold about as much lather at my 4/8th blades.

It is going to be disappointing to have to PIF this SR but I am a man of my word. If no one takes it, I'm a winner. If taken, I have another full size 6/8 Bengal that I will shorten, so all is not lost.
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Which of the 2 sizes do you think is more suitable to a complete novice.

If you are going to shorten another standard Bengal, maybe give the winner of the PIF an option to decide either the standard or the shortened.
 
Garry357 said:
Which of the 2 sizes do you think is more suitable to a complete novice.

If you are going to shorten another standard Bengal, maybe give the winner of the PIF an option to decide either the standard or the shortened.
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Personally I think the shortie is a little more easy to shave with, however I am just one person and all of my SR students only shave with full-size SRs.

I will start another thread and see what the masses think.
 
Another shortie in my collection is an American (square) point 504 Le Grelot by P. Hospital & Co., Thiers, France. This was PIFed to me by an American friend Still needs a bit of work to clean up the point and a honing to shave-ready.

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Will probly need to make a new custom set of scales for this one :giggle:.
 
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