1890's B. Worth & Sons restoration, my first!!!

Hi all,

I just have to show off my first ever restoration.

Here is a B. Worth & Sons 1890's (I know from the family I bought 7 other 1890's razors from) hollow ground razor that I got in pretty rough shape. Since it was my first resto, I managed to destroy the original scales removing the pin. However, the scales were in VERY bad shape to start with. Talk about gross....

So, I have about 10 hours of hand sanding, followed by 3 hours of hand buffing with three compounds, black, brown and green. This was followed by about 3 hours of dremel buffing to achieve the mirror finish.

Some dummy (Names not mentioned) tried to remove some really bad pitting on the tip caused by resting on the scale wet. The pits on both sides were terrible. However, the well meaining idiot who tried to dremel away the terrible pitting left a nice patch of super deep scratching that would have been better had it just been left alone. The pits looked better than the scarring. The scars were so deep I could not sand them out. I was afraid if I did it would completely ruin the blade. I polished the scars as best as possible. You can hardly see them, but I know they are there.

The tail was really really rusty, and I'm sorry I didn't take any before pictures. Believe it or not, I thought this razor was not worth saving, and I started working on it as practice for the 'next' real thing. After a few hours, I was into it. What you see is the result. I had no idea I could this.

I did my own drilling, sanding, filing, buffing, etc.. I used the adjustable pins because my skill at peening is almost nil. However, I did a great job peening this down after I cut off the excess screw.

I hope the pictures look as good on here as they did at home!!

Feedback is always welcome gents. If you see something that sucks that I can fix, point it out to me please!
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ps.. In the picture is the fantastic razor roll I just got from Whippeddog.com. Larry's wife makes them, and I just love this fleece one. It is currently full of 9 razors, 6 of which are just waiting their turn.

Nice job! That looks like a "throwdown domino"!!!!

The man knows his dom's, hehehe... Thx sir.

Congrats on your first restore! It is not an easy task to do your first restore, and to restore a badly corroded razor is not a small task even if you already know the tricks. You did both, and I think it looks great, all things considered. Well done :tu

Congrats indeed!

That looks a very nice piece. A job well done

Really nice work, I like the choice of scale material.

You'd never be able to tell that this was your first. Judging from the looks of the blade, I'd say you'd been at this a while.

Great job. You should definitely be proud of what you accomplished.

Update on this razor:

Sadly, she would not pass a honing test, and the blade snapped just in front of the heel. I was sad, but it wasn't totally unexpected. I had to really work on a spot there to remove a massive pit. I guess I weakend it too much, and she couldn't take the stress. :(

I wasn't all that bummed out, cuz I have 17 other blades that require attention and those scales will work for any of them.

It was just my first, and I wish she had survived.

Life (and other razors) go on!!!

"Stuff Happens" Yes I know that isn't really the saying but that is the G rated version :)
It did come out nice :tu

Lots of hard work went into this one :bow. Beautifully done Hammer :tu. Nice roll too

Very nice! Great attn to detail. Sorry she broke, but you obviously gained priceless experience in the process. You've found your calling Hammer.