Hello from middle Tennessee.

I am very new to the straight razor. i started with a Dovo, then i purchased a farmers beauty from ZOZO. the Dovo was not really shave ready and still is not as good as the farmers beauty. (Big Shout out to ZOZO) Excellent razor and edge. thank you. now i have purchased a IXL from ebay. i was planning to try my hand at a restoration. now that i have it in hand i am kind of undecided about doing it myself or sending it to a pro. then try it later on something that i am not afraid to mess up. Lots of wonderful info on this forum. now i am looking for a little advice about the IXL. the scales are horn with some chipping on the edges, but basically in pretty good shape. would it be best to try to keep the originals? thanks for any advice..

Welcome to SRP! glad you finally broke your cherry.
pictures, pictures, pictures. i always try to keep original scales when possible. chipped and delaminated horn can be repaired an will last another 100 years. if they are broken then you might as well replace them. just a matter of taste.

enjoy,
jim

well it has been a little while but here is a couple of pics of the latest wade and butcher 6/8 i got off ebay and polished up. and one with a george wostenholme and son's. i will be posting a couple of more on another post showing how the blade is kind of like a wave on one side. thanks for looking.

Just curious was that 'wave' line there before polishing or did it appear after? Ive seen similar looking lines on restores that just needed to be polished a bit more... mainly because the polishing wheel was small like sat a dremel and so it was done in several passes... have you tried metal polish on a cloth to get rid of it?
they look like some fine blades though and once they are all honed up you will be beautifully set.

enjoy,
jim

i have since done a great deal more polishing on the big one. but the wave that i am referring to is the shape or geometry of the blade. i am addressing that now with the rolling x strokes and a great deal of patience. this is turning out to be quite the learning experience. thanks, Brian