Thread: Help Identifying before I spend money to restore

Originally Posted by RezDog

You could clean it up into a bit nicer of a state and then send it out for honing. Really all you need to do is remove the rust. You could do it with steel wool and wd-40, completely non invasive.

yeah I was thinking the same thing but I would like to get rid of the tarnish and get it back to a near mirror finish if possible. I talked to classic edge and they said they could do it for like $15-$20 additional fees over the cost of a standard honing/sharpening service which doesn't seem bad. Has anyone heard of howard specialties company? I found a small bit of information on this about a rotary strop that looked kind of like a cigarette roller but larger and was curious if this may be the company that made the razor but its kind of confusing as they were a company in new york and my razor says worcester, mass.

There were a lot of small cutlery companies and many many barber supply and hardware stores that had razors produced for them. There is a high likelihood that if it is a branded for Howard Specialties Company that it will be fantastic. You would be surprised at how much you can remove with steel wool and wd-40, you can use steel wool and polish too and get pretty deep.

Originally Posted by RezDog

There were a lot of small cutlery companies and many many barber supply and hardware stores that had razors produced for them. There is a high likelihood that if it is a branded for Howard Specialties Company that it will be fantastic. You would be surprised at how much you can remove with steel wool and wd-40, you can use steel wool and polish too and get pretty deep.

Looks like it's time to go get some steel wool and wd40 then and I'll attemp to polish it up with mothers afterward! Hope it works!

Steel wool comes in different "grits" the coarse stuff is 0 and the fine stuff is 0000. It is also crazy cheap.


I almost forgot it take squire a bit of elbow grease!

Originally Posted by RezDog

Steel wool comes in different "grits" the coarse stuff is 0 and the fine stuff is 0000. It is also crazy cheap.


I almost forgot it take squire a bit of elbow grease!

I'll see what I can do with it then and see if I can't it back to a nice shine then with that before going with a tougher type of restoration. Thanks!

Rez brings up a great point on removing that rust. Hopefully no real deep issues into the metal but on appearance from your pictures it does not appear to be. But that is looking at a pic online of course.

I think that may turn into a great shaver for sure. The scales looked okay too. But depending on what you like you could get a new set of scales made for that bad boy as well!

I voted self restore, especially since you have worked on one before.

If I had one that was special personally or rare/valuable then I would send out.

Follow Shaun's advice & clean it up. I personally like patina, so I would only chase the active rust...it's an old razor not a new one. Pick up a strop, shave soap, & a brush. Once you have those key three items, send it to me and I'll get it back to shaving as it should..just cover the return shipping of a USPS flat rate box. This is the only way I ship razors. The idea that Torrey made it could be right on & if it is...that razor has some great steel in it.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Follow Shaun's advice & clean it up. I personally like patina, so I would only chase the active rust...it's an old razor not a new one. Pick up a strop, shave soap, & a brush. Once you have those key three items, send it to me and I'll get it back to shaving as it should..just cover the return shipping of a USPS flat rate box. This is the only way I ship razors. The idea that Torrey made it could be right on & if it is...that razor has some great steel in it.

Ok, I will get it cleaned up. I've shaved with the other straights, shavettes, and safety razors so all i need is a strop because i've got a nice silver tip badger brush and some taylor of old bonds street shave soap. I will try to get this rust off with the steel wool and wd40. if it works out well and doesnt remove a lot of patina I will just leave the patina and send it to you for hone and sharpening. Thanks shooter.

Get yourself a quality strop first, it doesn't have to be a high dollar one...just good leather. If you would like some advice so that you won't buy something that is junk (there is a LOT out there), please PM me. You won't need to strop before the shave as all I would want you to do is wipe the blade clear of oil, but after the shave stropping is absolutely essential. I strop after and before a shave.