Looking for my first project razor. How about these?

I'm looking to buy my first straight after looking around and having the urge to buy an older one of good quality, clean it up, send it out to get it sharpened due to my lack of experiance, and create some custom scales (due to my MacGyver like behaviors.) I figured ebay would be a good place to start and have found a couple good starts or at least from what I can tell. By the way I'm a total newb to all of this but have plenty of the ability to make it up and have shaved with straights in the past. I also have noticed several razors up from this guy. Anyone have any experiance with him?

Or if anyone has any helpful thoughts on the situation please let me know. I know I'm a newb and if I'm going into ocerkill with this project let me know. After looking around I felt like it would be a simple project but if you have something different holla at me!

Thanks Mike



http://cgi.ebay.com/GEO-WOSTENHOLM-S...QQcmdZViewItem


http://cgi.ebay.com/J-A-HENCKELS-TWI...QQcmdZViewItem


http://cgi.ebay.com/J-A-HENCKELS-TWI...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-HORN-HAN...QQcmdZViewItem

If you're good enough to manage re-scaling, the last one (wade and butcher) seems like the best bet from what I can see of the condition of the blade. The seller also has a great rating, but the lack of a pic of the other side of the blade is somewhat worrysome. Either of the other two razors(links 2 & 3 look to be the same one) seem to be a much bigger project than you're likely to want to handle. I'm still a newb, but I've been reading the forums fanatically for the past few weeks and have picked up a few things. The presence of that much tarnish/rust is going to involve some restoration work and you may or may not be equipped to take care of it.
Also, based on the pictures, I'd bet that the edge on the wade and butcher blade is less likely to be nicked or chipped than the other two. Warping could be an issue with any of them, but it would be hard to tell without the razor in front of you. If it were me, I'd go for the W & B for sure and send it to one of the honemeisters to have the bevel checked and possibly have it honed. Mike_ratliff, a member here, offers an evaluation for free as long as you handle the shipping ([url]www.thewellhonedrazor.com). You could always send it his way and get his opinion. If he thinks it's got a usable bevel and any minor nicks in the blade will likely be taken care of by honing, it shouldn't cost you more than 15 or 20 bucks to have him or someone else hone it to shave-ready. You might even be able to hone it out yourself, but I'd at least get someone's opinion beforehand. Cosmetically speaking, there might be more to it than this, but if you're looking for a quality blade to shave with, then this might be your find.
All three are brands with quality steel, so if you have the disposible income to just throw into a project or two, I'd consider getting one of the other two as well if you'd like to try your hand at restoring. They're priced well enough that, assuming you have the necessary equipment, it wouldn't be the end of the world if something went wrong. The W&B blade looks like it is good enough to definitely be saved, and you might want to leave any restoration up to the pros. Opinions too might best come from them. Sorry for the long post.:o

$.02

Adam

So I ended up with the last of the four. All paid up and shipped for $37. Hopefuly this first time attempt will turn out good and not too much of a nightmare.

Mike