A Difficult Restoration

So as I am surfing eBay, I come across this lone blade for sale that looked like it was lying at the bottom of the sea for a couple centuries. But the fact that is was "over 8/8" made it intriguing. So I got it. Big mistake. When I took the top layer of junk off, I saw pitting on top of pitting. Not a space unaffected. It took a long time but I sanded up to 600 grit and I think it looks good. There are some fine lines that I still need to take out but I'm happy with the result. The scales are Black & White Ebony and the wedge is black horn. Below are some before and afters.

Man you've got some patience! You really deserve to enjoy that. Nicely saved!

WOW!!! how many hours did that take?

More of a resurrection rather that a restoration. It's always nice to seeing something stunning come out of something that looked like a goner. Beautiful job.

where did you get that Masur Birch?

That's from hand sanding? If so, it's one of the most overall impressive blade restorations I've ever seen.

In order of everyone's questions...
I started working on it about 5PM and got done halfway thru the night. About 8 hours work from soup to nuts.
No... it wasn't hand sanded...greaseless compound.
Getting nice Masur Birch is a crapshot. You never know what is going to appear after sanding with 150 grit.
And lastly.... thank you for the compliments.

By the way, the blade has "GB" with an anchor sign. Anyone know the maker? I've seen it before but cannot remember.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zomax

In order of everyone's questions...
I started working on it about 5PM and got done halfway thru the night. About 8 hours work from soup to nuts.
No... it wasn't hand sanded...greaseless compound.
Getting nice Masur Birch is a crapshot. You never know what is going to appear after sanding with 150 grit.
And lastly.... thank you for the compliments.

By the way, the blade has "GB" with an anchor sign. Anyone know the maker? I've seen it before but cannot remember.

---

Brad (Undream) restored a razor very similar to yours.
Even with greaseless, it's very impressive. A buffer makes restoration easier, but it doesn't make it easy

WOW !! and they always told me "you can't polish a turd" well that just proved them wrong!!!! JK JK JK

Bravo! Whatta save!

Wow. That was some NASTY pitting, great save.

Ye gods, that's extraordinary! It's been quite a while since I was last so amazed by a restoration job here - bravo.

A real phoenix. Fantastic job.

That's a beauty! Great job :tu

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zomax

By the way, the blade has "GB" with an anchor sign. Anyone know the maker? I've seen it before but cannot remember.

---

About as the tang stamp on your blade, this one looks very similar; try asking Philadelph if he found out about his.

Wow that looks great. A labor of love.

well done!
The blade is beautiful.
Thanks for sharing this pictures.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zomax

By the way, the blade has "GB" with an anchor sign. Anyone know the maker? I've seen it before but cannot remember.

---

W&B used the anchor symbol at some time, but I couldn't tell you when or why. I just know I've seen that same stamp on the occasional blade that also has the W&B stamping.

The anchor is also a silver hallmark for the city of Birmingham. That may have an influence.