Thread: Wanted a restoration project...here's what I got!

First time attaching a photo on this forum, will probably be asking for help/info on each of these as I decide what to do with them.

Upper Left (Black Scales) - The Torrey Razor Co. - Came with it's original box. Thinking I'll just clean this one up a bit with some polish and send it out to be honed.

Middle Left (Clear Yellow Scales) - Wade & Butcher - Came with it's original box. It's in decent condition, I like the scales, but am afraid I'd mess them up if restoring. Blade has a little surface corrosion/discoloration, and the edge appears that it's not exactly straight. Would really like some advice on what to do with this one.

Lower Left (Off White Scales) - Clements "Machete" - I think this one is just going to be sent out for a honing and used as is.

Top Right (Pearl Scales) - Dubl Duck "Goldedge" - Scales are in nice condition. The blade needs some help though...the corrosion is sort of laying on top of the steel...not what I would call pitting. I really want this razor to be nice, but again, afraid I'd mess up the restoration.

Bottom Right (Red Scales) - Red Imp 132 - Came with it's original box. Think I can clean this one up without disassembly and send out for a hone.



My original thought is that I wanted to find a razor that I wasn't worried about ruining, but when I came across this stash, it seems that I found a pretty nice variety of desirable razors. Now I'm concerned about ruining one of them...my goal is to end up with nice useable razors to use, not starting a big collection.

I may or may not have paid too much for these...I'm in at an average of $45/each. I don't remember what each one was priced at individually...I didn't pay that...I negotiated a price with the seller on the lot. Again I felt like this was a good variety, and didn't want to pass them up...way to easy to grab them all in one shot.

Your advice? What would you do with these razors?

Thanks,

Paul

Seems like you have a good plan. The scales on the Machete appear to be ivory. If you wanted to learn to hone, the Imp 132 wedge is a good-looking candidate!

Hey MSPSTR8!
You have a fine bunch of razors there. Congratulations!
If it were me .... That W&B would go to a pro for full restore. I have one and they are just awsome shavers. The Goldedge i would send out as well as i understand the scales can be tricky.
IMHO if you want to practice honing find a "cheap"($10) one with decent geometry and practice on it before you graduate to one of your more desireable names.
Just my $0.02
Best regards,
Mike

None of them appear to be in that bad of shape. Start with just some metal polish on a rag(try to avoid any goldwash that is left on the DD). Once you see where you're at, if you want to try more, use the metal polish with some #0000 steel wool. This is usually where I stop. I don't mind a little tarnish on my blades. As long as there is no active rust I'm fine.Great score by the way.

Unfortunately here comes the bad news. Rust tends to hide pitting underneath so until you remove the active stuff you have no way of knowing what you have. The Goldedge has active rust over the entire tang from the looks of it so any of the remaining spine color will removed when cleaning up. Should still be a great razor though.
As far as honing practice start with a cheap golddollar and play on that. If you destroy it no harm done.
Paul

I came across this bunch, had same idea as you, found they where good shavers and ended up sending them to a pro (Maxi). Double O
Before and after.

By the way, Morley, Genco, Wostenholm and Torry.

Great, they all look like they will clean up an make great shavers.

Even if the Duck has some pitting it can be minimized.

All 5 would be worth of regular rotation.

wow that WH Morley is awesome