Thread: Should I restore this Anton Berg?

Hi!

First of all I have to say that I've never shaved with a straight razor yet. I got interested in them just a few days ago when I stumbled upon an article about them in the Art of Manliness blog. I've been reading quite a bit about them now and thought I should give it a go. I'm on a very low budget so buying a decent kit would have to wait for a bit. That's when I remembered that I saw this old rusty Erik Anton Berg straight razor lying around somewhere.

Pics: Erik Anton Berg - Imgur

So I thought maybe I could restore it. The question is how expensive and hard it would be? Is it even doable? As you can see it's pretty rusty and I have a bad feeling it's been used for cutting wires or wood for some time as I found it in a toolbox. Would I be able to get it good enough, so it won't ruin the first straight razor shaving experience? Or would I be better off buying a decent kit in the future?

It all depends how deep the pitting is once you removed the superficial rust. If pitting is not too bad it can be restored. Blade width is about 4/8 I would guess. It is up to you to decide if that razor is still worth the effort. You can also look at her as a practice razor.

I would definitely take the rust of the tail.
You will find deep pitting there, but it looks like that rust is active (red) and not inactive (dark brown).
Active rust will continue to eat metal, where as pitting is just the holes left where the rust was.
The blade looks like it has minor pitting but the edge looks clean for honing.
Pitting, patina or stains can give a razor character depending on the razor and the extent of damage or discolouration.
Active rust is never good.
The smart, cheap and easy way to remove rust is with oxalic acid.
Sweedish steel takes a very keen edge

Thanks!
I'll give it a go then and see what happens.