Thread: My first razors and other tools. advice?

Hi,

I've been shaving with a DE for 2 years now, and last year for my birthday, my brothers gave me a ivory/bone (not sure which) handled straight razor. a few months ago I entertained the idea of shaving with it, so I bought...

6 razors...initially to practice with because i didn't want to ruin the other one cause there isn't much blade left. for 15$ It was really a crap shoot, because the guy selling them didn't know what they were, and i couldn't tell from the pictures. I got 2 Torrey Razors, a George wostenholm, both of which I have heard of from reading around here. a "royal gold", a scetticher? & kellogg & co, and a W.H. Morley and sons (germany), all of which i've never heard of before.

the catch? they were dirty and rusty. So now having sanded the rust off of 4 of them, mostly with tips from reading the restoring section here, I don't know what to do. do I make em shine like a mirror or just leave the, i guess what you could call a patina on there? There is some pitting up high on the blades nowhere near the cutting surface, and 1 tiny pit on 2 of the blades on the cutting edge. Sanding through all of that seems like it would take alot of time, alot of metal off, and i think the flaws gives them a sense of age and character. So what do I do now? besides the messed up edges, will any of this black patchy looking stuff hurt the edge? It dosen't come off with any type of sanding or polishing so far...
I guess I'll send at least one out to get honed because Im not really sure what I am doing...but which one should I send?

My only other supplies are
a "8000 grit" hone...i don't know what brand, as everything it written in japanese. I once saw it for sale for $60 on a woodworking website, but i got it cheaper from...ebay.
A india stone and a hard black arkansas stone I can get from my dad.
And a carborundum strop, the only thing wrong with it is a small cut on the top end.
Is there anything else I should get?

I sharpened one to the point where it would shave hair off my arm, but it would catch when on my face...then I gave up and went to sanding the rest of the razors instead.

If I feel like it later, ill get some pictures of them.

Thanks

~Andrew

Update- the W.H Morley is still sharp enough to cut me without feeling it...I just cut my finger and didn't notice till it saw the blood...oops.
Update#2-pictures