Thread: Razor Questions!

Well I just got this new razor, for my collection of knifes...Im not shaving with it for right now haha. but my real questions were about the year(decade or so) it was made in. and any other facts you can tell me about it.
here it is.

W&B's are great shavers, and the Special is no exception. They were, I think, towards the later end of W&B's production. The England mark means after 1892, but I would guess more like 1920's, though I'm not very good at dating razors. With that rust on the bevel, you may have to do a significant amount of honing to get to good steel - the only real way to know is to try.

Gotta agree here. The lettering on the box, 'razor' is a very stylized art deco look that took off in the '20's and didn't let up until about half way through the second world war....I vote for '20's.

Ok well now my questions are...is there a specific tool i need to hone it...Is it very complicated or a learned skill...and about how much is it worth in the condition it is in now to the condition when it is honed and restored.

I have that same razor but with yellow scales, good kill

Originally Posted by Aethis

Ok well now my questions are...is there a specific tool i need to hone it...Is it very complicated or a learned skill...and about how much is it worth in the condition it is in now to the condition when it is honed and restored.

We don't do appraisals here, so I'll skip the part about what it's worth.

You will need to clean off the red rust before you start out honing it - it could well be that there is too much deterioration near the edge and that it's not worth honing, or maybe she just needs a minor cleaning and then she'll be ready to hone. I'd say start with a single edge scraper to get most of the surface rust off, then go at it with metal polish (I like MAAS) and toothpicks and/or qtips. Be careful - try not to damage the edge and don't cut yourself. Just cause it's not shaving sharp doesn't mean it's not "sharp."

When you get ready to hone, check out the wiki. I'd say start here:
Beginner's Guide to Honing - Straight Razor Place Wiki
And browse
Category:Honing - Straight Razor Place Wiki
as necessary.

flitz is great for a final polish

well now...as you can probably tell, I dont know much about razors, im a knife guy, to hone it im guessing i need a honing stone? idk what they call them...I have a wetstone, but im guessing i cant use that...were can i learn how to hone and get a "honing stone"

you can use whetstones but the ones used on knives are normally too coarse for razors. If you look through the honing wiki that Holli posted a link too it does mention the Norton 4k/8k combo stone to start out with and there are plenty other options out there that are mentioned in the honing part of the forums.

what can i use to get the rust off? wet dry sandpaper was mentioned to me, i have alot of different grades of it too... any ideas?