Thread: Help with an 8/8 Butcher restore

hello all, i recently picked this guy up for a decent price and have started to clean it up. It has some issues with rust/pitting, but it is not the worst ive ever seen. So my question is how much of it do i remove before i call it quits? I have only very lightly sanded the really bad spots and lightly hand polished the whole blade to get an idea of where its at and how to proceed. Im leaning towards just lightly sanding the whole thing, then putting it in the tumbler for a few days in walnut then a few more in red corn cob. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

How far to go is always a hotly debated subject here. I think it is a delicate balance between erasing the rust, both red and black, without erasing too much of the pitting and marks that make it look it's age. Everyone has their own level of taste there. Some want only mirror blades in their collection. One of the things to be careful of, and almost everyone agrees, is to make sure you don't round out or blow any of the lines, which is tough with an extreme case. If you look through the workshop forum there is a sticky at the top of how do I where do I. It is an important read. I hand sand a lot and use wine corks as my sandpaper backer, it helps to keep things flat. Wet sanding with WD-40 in the higher grits help keep the scratches shallow.

I've always been a minimalist and rarely went to sand paper on a restore. I love seeing it's life on the blade, but rust has to go... My weapons of destruction are still a dremil and a wire wheel. When it's bad enough or hard enough to withstand the wheel than I would resort to a touch of sandpaper on a small rounded dowel to only hit the hard rust. Than back to the wheel, polish with Maas and hone her up

I also like the signs of age. I do not see the appeal of putting a mirror finish on a 100+ year old razor. Just my opinion. I thank you both for your input, and I will be hitting the bad spots with the dremel wire wheel to see if I can stop the rust that's there. There are only a few spots where it still looks active so hopefully it won't be too difficult to get it. There are some black spots that have varying interesting features, they almost look like tree roots. Is this a bad sign?

All the black is also rust. If you just want to remove the black and not the steel use steel wool and polish. Start with 00 or 000 then up to 0000.

I also favor the minimalist approach. But I think that a soft, satin finish is OK in some instances. No offense to those who appreciate a bright and shiny finish, but it's just not for me.

RezDog is absolutely right: rounded out or blown lines is the worst... razor abuse IMHO.

Originally Posted by RezDog

All the black is also rust. If you just want to remove the black and not the steel use steel wool and polish. Start with 00 or 000 then up to 0000.

Ok, i started hitting the black with 00 steel wool, and i can not see any changes. I added polish and still not coming off. Does this mean i need to go to sandpaper?

Originally Posted by RezDog

How far to go is always a hotly debated subject here. I think it is a delicate balance between erasing the rust, both red and black, without erasing too much of the pitting and marks that make it look it's age. Everyone has their own level of taste there.

I agree. How far you go is a matter of preference.

I used to not like the sight of pits after a restore, but I started looking at it from a different angle of life. The pits stay, but all rust goes. I like to hand sand the rust and spots off. I don't try to sand down the pits, since that has potential to wear away material and damage the blade. I typically hand polish the blade to a shiny finish, but sometimes I'll give it a patina look with a vinegar wash.

I guess you can throuw in 5 at the same time when their edges are already damaged and will need a lot of honing anyway. (I don't have a tumbler so I don't realy know anything about them)

a 7/8" razor is still a verry big piece of steel to shave with

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So i was really frustrated after the incident with the tumbler, so i decided to take the scales i had made for the pipe razor, that snapped at the tang, and put in a nice W&B The Celebrated Boston Razor in its place. Im very happy with the end results, what do you guys think? Also, is there any hope for this pipe razor? It was in such good shape besides the tang snapping clean off at the pivot. The etchings are very clear and there is only like a miniscule spot of rust on the entire thing. Is it just trash now or can i do anything to salvage it? Thanks.