Thread: Lots of rust on a W&B

I got a bag of old rusty straights and a few pocket knives from a gal on the Bay. They ain't pretty...



I bought these just to mess around with.. See what it takes to knock out a stuck pin (it sucks), do some rust scraping/wire wheel work..

Well i popped the scales off the middle one, scraped some rust off the tang and hit it with some WD40 and a wire wheel. Well the second i made the name out i stopped and figured i would come ask for advice.

Behold my first Wade & Butcher..



A face only a guy with RAD could love.

So is there any hope of restoring this blade or are those chips in the blade a death sentence??

To be perfectly honest I think it is not salvageable. What a shame.

my guess would be that by the time the chips and the rust are removed there won't be any thing left.only chance would be if it's a wedge and a lot of steel can be removed. rust goes amazingly deep. don't spend too much time on it till you know the bevel can be set.

Only one way to find out if it salvageable is to start sanding.......
If it is too brittle or the blade becomes "worthless".... Ya could always make a necklace charm from the tang? ( If that can be sanded down and readable again)

Just my 2 cents.....

When I see a rusted Wade and Butcher...........I weep.

Four shaves from now my Wade and Butcher is next in my rotation. I can't wait.

It looks well beyond saving as a razor IMHO. By the time you get to solid steel, the geometry of it will be all out of whack. It's not just a matter of dealing with the chips because the rust will extend into the steel beyond the visible chips. So by the time you get to good steel, it will likely be quite a bit narrower than the top of those chips would suggest.

People joke about buying razor-shaped objects (i.e. unusable cheap garbage razors) that could only be used as letter openers. I say turn that on its head: do what you can with the blade, make some nice scales, and intentionally turn it into a kickass letter opener. It would be good practice for future blade restoration work, and you'll end up with a functional and possibly beautiful tool that you created yourself. Nothing wrong with that.

Ouch... I think that one is too far gone, sorry

A candidate for an overnight soak in Evaporust, then see what left.

I’d put all 3 in Evaporust. Were the WB scales salvageable?

Yeah i think the writings on the wall for this one, at least for a shaving razor.

Originally Posted by Cangooner

People joke about buying razor-shaped objects (i.e. unusable cheap garbage razors) that could only be used as letter openers. I say turn that on its head: do what you can with the blade, make some nice scales, and intentionally turn it into a kickass letter opener. It would be good practice for future blade restoration work, and you'll end up with a functional and possibly beautiful tool that you created yourself. Nothing wrong with that.

I like that idea. Ill try to come up with something. Im not gonna toss it. Heck i just oiled it up for storage

This one is cleaning up a bit nicer.



It reads to the effect of 'bester deutscher, silber___tal' with a large '2' stamped next to it.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

A candidate for an overnight soak in Evaporust, then see what left.

I’d put all 3 in Evaporust. Were the WB scales salvageable?

Evaporust here i come.

No unfortunately the scales were wood and they were warped and splintered. I did save the pins, the wedge, and a few tiny inner washers. The same on the one above.. wooden scales beyond repair. The yellow scales in my first pic are ok and i am trying to save them. That operation is on hold until i can drill a few appropriate holes in my jewelers block. I need some fancy drilling bits.

I have often found razors like those to be particularly valuable for learning experience. They are all pretty much done as far as functioning razor go, but you can always use them to find out what not to do and how you can effect different things. Looking to see if you can re-establish some lost line, want to know what a diamond file does to a razor, it's a great tool.