Thread: Geo Wostenholm & Son Restore

I worked on another SR restore project yesterday. This was a Geo Wostenholm and Son, Sheffield England. The beautiful etching in the original photo disintegrated fairly quickly once I started trying to clean up the water staining. And yes, I was careful! So I decided to clean it down to a near mirror finish and have a plain blade. There must be some trick (which I obviously don't know) to clean up this type of fine etching on the blades. Still, I am not disappointed...I like a clean look. There was a dark stain on the scales that I could not remove as well. Again, this was done all by hand...no machines. I like the heft of this razor...feels good in my hand. Paid $20 CDN for this one.
Here is the before image:


And the after (both sides):

Although what you did looks great, and you did a fantastic job, personally, if there was no ugly hone wear that needed to be blended away, I would have done minimal restoration and left that beautiful etch intact. A wise man once told me, once it's gone, it's gone. These old razors are old, and sometimes trying to make them look new again is a mistake. At least in my opinion.

Originally Posted by HARRYWALLY

Although what you did looks great, and you did a fantastic job, personally, if there was no ugly hone wear that needed to be blended away, I would have done minimal restoration and left that beautiful etch intact. A wise man once told me, once it's gone, it's gone. These old razors are old, and sometimes trying to make them look new again is a mistake. At least in my opinion.

Your point is well taken. I should have done a minimal restore and left well enough alone. There was a sticky sort of tarnish on the surface and I tried to remove this carefully, skirting around the etching, but then it looked very unbalanced...one part clean and the other still tarnished...tried to touch up the etching and I found myself on a slippery slope....and well, the results are clear. I won't do that again. The etch is still visible up close, but not like the original. I certainly welcome advice on how to preserve this kind of etching and still do a reasonable restore.

Like I said, you did a great job with what you did. I also don't have the razor in hand, who knows, with what you've described, I may have done the same in the long run. Just wanted to put my opinion in your head for the next razor.

To preserve etching, I take scotch tape and put it over over the etch. I then trace it with a utility knife and remove the outside tape leaving only tape over the etch. Then proceed with Polish. If your going to sand, I would use electrical tape in place of scotch tape. Just transfer the cut out scotch tape onto electrical tape and cut it out accordingly.