Some of you may have seen my post a couple days ago about picking up some new (to me that is) straights from an antique store. I have began the restore on the W&B and am at the point where I need to decide how much I want to sand it. As you will see from the following photo's, If I decide to continue sanding I will likely completely lose the "DiamondEdge" etching on the blade. At this point the etching is very faint and I am leaning toward sanding/polishing to a mirror finish. I have sanded with 500 grit W/D on the blade, and 320 grit on the tang so far. When I took off the scales I noticed the pivot hole appears to be oval and worn, probably will need a sleeve.

So my questions are:

Any idea the date on this W&B? I am not finding much on the Wiki that actually dates them.

How would you finish the razor? I am currently looking at new scales.