Thread: Is this still useable?

Found this while surfing the ebay. What do you guys think cause the staining? Can it still be restored to a nice shiny blade without damaging the gold leaf?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-BO...#ht_500wt_1155

p/s: Sorry, totally forgot the link earlier

Depends if your imagination is the same as mine ? No link ......

It's hard to say. The scale rot looks pretty bad. If it's a hollow grind then I think it's finished.

From those pics I wouldn't touch it. Shame, once upon a time it was a great blade.

Hard to tell from the picture. It could all be surface stuff and it might all come off easily. On the other hand it could be toast and the rust may be hiding pits. A real leap of faith to buy that one. Of course if the price is right it may be worth the chance.

I got nothing to add other than that was beautiful (and perhaps could be again...but it's hard to tell).

Sad, and a classic example of Razor Abuse and Neglect....

As to trying to save it, that would be a case for the "Dirty Harry Rule" ("Do you feel lucky?"....(with gun pointed towards your head))...

What do u guys think of the size? Seems like a fairly large blade...

From a restorist's POV:

it is a 7/8 most likely, might be an 8/8 but I don't think so
the gold is toast regardless
that IS cell rot in my professional opinion (I have seen it a few times hehehe)
the scales are toast
the blade may be able to be buffed "clean" again
it will never be perfect or even close there isn't enough steel it remove on that hollow grind to get below the pitting that is there (trust me it is there)
after a ton of work that edge still may be bad because of the pitting

I kinda know what I am doing with restorations, and have fixed a couple of razors here and there and IMHO that razor gets a wave

Now in the "can it shave" department the answer is "I couldn't say until I had it, and a hone in hand at the same time"


Stole the pic for later reference when the link is dead

What causes scale rot, and can anything be done with the scales or the blade once it starts?

Just to my untrained eye, those look like perfectly good scales, though I can see all the rust where the blade rests in between them. What causes them to go bad?