Thread: How much shine is too much shine?

It varies a fair bit.

Many old Sheffield blades had two different surface treatments, one for the tang and tail and another for the blade. The most common there was full crocus (mirror, and a mirror with no visible striations -- it's hard-to-impossible to do with hand tools) with a glaze on the tang & tail. A glaze finish is roughly the same as 600-800 grit sandpaper.

Fancier razors were fully crocus polished.

Razors with blade etches were often crocus polished with the very notable exception of Wade & Butcher's 'Celebrated For Barber's Use' razors, which used a glaze finish on the entire blade and a dark etch (most older etches were done with an etchant that didn't darken the metal, but instead left microscopic pits that gave it a frosted look).

Very cheap & cheerful razors weren't polished at all and retain the original grinding marks, which are about the same as 100-300 grit sandpaper. I see those mostly from Sheffield razors made after 1890, but here and there I see earlier ones.