Thread: Newly arrived from England

I bought this razor on the 'bay, mainly because I like the oblique point. The vendor didn't have much to say about it: "A vintage, English, black cased Straight Razor by 'Wood'. It is marked 'Wood, York'." I haven't been able to find any info on the manufacturer so far.

I was expecting a wedge grind, but it turns out that there's just a smidgen of hollowness to the blade, which measures just shy of 6/8ths, at 23/32nds. There are jimps below. There's no rust anywhere, and there's only a little bit of shallow pitting on the blade's faces, and a bit more on both sides of the spine at the point and on the shank; the rest of the blade is amazingly smooth! So, is the discoloration really just patina? The scales seem to be ordinary Bakelite.

My original plan was to make this my first effort at restoration; I figured that I couldn't mess up a wedge's geometry while hand-sanding; but a near-wedge? I've decided that I kind of like the patina, and am now thinking that I'll just try a little Flitz on it. My only concern is the pitting on the spine: it seems that it could damage my strop. But if I sand that off, I guess I'll have to do the whole blade, right?

Any advice on how to proceed will be appreciated!