Now that I've been keeping an eye on razor boxes and razors when strolling through random farmers & flea markets, I was lucky enough to snag one to try my very first restoration on.

Came across a Butler, Hollow Ground from Sheffield, in mediocre, rusty shape (but blade was intact, no nicks) for $15.

So as soon as I got home, here's what I did (and this is all thanks to advice from this forum):

  1. Pulled out the Dremel with a soft wire brush and just went over the razor to remove the major rust (some on blade, some on jimps)
  2. Loaded the blade up with Autosol (polishing compound I used previously for a motorcycle frame)
  3. Put a polishing wheel on the Dremel and went to town, with two passes.
  4. Blade was now clean and almost mirror-finished.
  5. Then the honing started. I used the Norton 4000/8000 stone and the pyramid scheme described on this page, starting with 25 passes.
  6. Followed up by about 30 passes on a paddle strop loaded with 1 Micron Diamond paste
  7. Followed up by 200 passes on a laptop strop covered with newspaper
  8. Followed up by 40 passes on a laptop strop on the latigo leather.


Had my first shave with it later that day... and boy, that was one of the smoothest shaves to date!

Thank you for the really great advice and guidance on these forums!! Here's the "restored" razor:

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