Restoration Advice Needed!

[Noam]

I picked up some goodies at the flea market this morning:

Joseph Elliot 7/8
Joseph Smith & Sons 7/8
J A Henckels 5/8 square point

Photos here:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...etrazors03.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...etrazors01.jpg

I'd like to take them on as restoration projects, and could use some tips.
Bear in mind I've never restored a razor before, and haven't worked much with tools.
However, I'll try anything one and I'm eager to learn.
Here's the skinny on the blades:

The Henckels is in the best shape...mostly just rust on the blade. It's snug between the scales, not much hone wear as far as I can tell.

The two meat-choppers are gonna need way more TLC. Both show signs of pitting and rust. The Blade on the Smith is balanced between the scales but pivots rather loose. The Elliot's scales are shot...badly chipped around the pivot, the blade is loose and unbalanced and tends to close onto one of the scales (heavy blade, so that scale is showing nasty cracks where the blade hits it). I'm guessing that new scales will be needed. I'm not especially sentimental about the ones on there.

So making new scales...not gonna happen. I figure I should probably get a crappo razor with nice scales and swap them. Most of the work is blade restoration.

I guess the main question is how much should I take on if this is my first restoration attempt? Should I just worry about doing the blades and get somebody more experienced to handle the scales? Or is this something I can feasibly take on?

If I do go eBaying for new scales, what should I be looking for? What are the important factors to consider when matching scales to a blade?

As for the blades, any good tips on what kind of tools or materials I should be using? What to avoid?

Thanks folks!


--Noam

[FiReSTaRT]

I recommend browsing through the restoration forum for starters. It contains tons of great info on restoration projects. By the way, definitely keep the horn scales as long as they don't have any worms.