A. Witte Gold Bug in progress.

[commiecat]

Got a Gold Bug (A. Witte) off eBay this past weekend and it arrived yesterday, so I took a few pictures of the cleanup. The pins came out without problem and the scales are pretty much done now. I was thrilled with just how easily they cleaned up with Maas. All the blemishes are gone and they're nice and clear now.

The washers on the inside of the pivot (do they have a specific name?) were intact and just cruddy, and the wedge was discolored to various shades of brown and green. Since the scales are clear I wanted to clean up all the interior hardware, so I lightly sanded the wedge to get it white again and ran the washers across a paper towel with Maas to get them nice and shiny.

I scraped off some pivot crud from the razor with my fingernail, gave it a touch of Maas and then put it in my new tumbler. The bottom image is after about 12 hours in walnut media with Turtle Wax rubbing compound -- razor went back in until the weekend. I've been seriously considering a buffer so it might be a while before this is completed -- but I'm also terribly impatient and might just put it together with Microfasteners and hone it until I get all the buffer equipment.

Enough yapping. Here are two before pictures. One full blade and then a closeup of the pivot.





Here are the scales/washer/wedge after about 30 minutes of disassembly and cleanup, and the razor after 12 tumbling hours.



Can't wait to get this one finished!

[1971Wedge]

I too am a believer in the tumbler...I got mine a short while back and it'd done a few etched blades wtih great success, though I should consider a buffer...
That's definately gonna be nice when it's done.

[shutterbug]

that's gonna be sweet.

[Oglethorpe]

Dude, you're gonna love that gold bug. I have an A. Witte also. They take an awesome edge and maintain it for a long time with good stropping alone. This thing still melts whiskers after months without a trip to the hones.

I don't do restorations because I'm about as handy as a double amputee at the elbows.

But check out this one from Max....

[commiecat]

Well here's the finished razor. Nickel rod with stainless washers and everything else is original. Razor tumbled for 2 days in walnut and then 1 day in corn cob. Gonna hone it up tomorrow and take it for a test spin.

[Oglethorpe]

Nice job CC. looks good

[commiecat]

Nice job CC. looks good

Thanks. Shaved w/ it this past weekend and it was wonderful. I had everything set up for my SOTD picture but the camera's battery was dead. Doh! Next time...