Frederick Reynolds 7/8 wedge

Got this for eleven bucks at an antique shop. Cracked wooden scales and a lot of rust, but the cutting edge had no rust, just some caked on funk. Figured it would be ok after some sanding. The pits turned out to be deeper than I expected, so it's still a little marked up, but all in all, it's fine. I'd love it if it were immaculate, but not much that's this old is. http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...32bd8d54d6.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...48ebcbf5a2.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...004cc64871.jpg

And as per my usual, sorry about the quality of the photos.

It looks like it is missing some of the fine lines. I really like the ones with a few marks showing there age to have a little false patina put on them. It allows them to be aged a little more gracefully than the straight polished finish. While it is un avoidable to polish the blade while getting all the active rust off, once you get it all gone then choosing how to finish the blade to keep the character and perhaps even enhance it is the tricky part. There is also the full satin finish that looks great with the old girls too. At this point you still have many options.

Yeah, I like the lines on the blade like you're talking about, but I don't have any wheels or anything like that, I just do it all by hand, so I can't much get that effect.

It's funny, I was just thinking exactly what you wrote a couple of hours ago while looking at restored old razors.

If you always use a hard backer on your sand paper it makes it easier to maintain the fine lines, however sometimes they arrive with those lines gone, from work done a long long time ago. Once they have been removed, rounded or blended they are very difficult to get back. I am sure that the guys that regrind blades have the skill to regain them, still a little ahead of my skill set. If you are looking at forming a patina to get the nice grey and black look but don't want to wait that long you can do it easily enough with bluing and bleach and vinegar. It is in some of the threads here and Charlie Lewis has done some videos showing some of his technique. I have played with it a bit. My wife said what the hell, you worked hard to get the razor all shiny and clean looking again just to make it look old again. Yup. Let me know if you are thinking of heading down that road and I will walk you through how I have done it.

Let me think about what I can do with the texture and then I'll hit you up. I really kind of like that idea.

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Here is a couple I have done.

Both very nice! I like the way that looks quite a lot.

That blade cleaned up well! I am torn at times when I am restoring about the finish that I put on the blades, but I usually go high grit because it makes them more resistant to future staining.
By the way nice find for $11!!

Thank you. I wish I could get those last tiny pits out, but they just weren't coming.

I generally prefer a mirror shine, but I think I've changed my mind on this one and I'm going to go with more of a satin and light patina. I think RezDog has won me over on that one.