Thread: First restoration advice needed

I picked up this W&B on ebay a little while ago and I'm wondering how best to bring it back to shaving glory. It is 5/8 heel and toe and 6/8 in the middle and almost a complete wedge - slightly concave though less so at the toe.

I've sanded it down a little to remove the black marks what I'm left with though is a large amount of what I assume is referred to as pitting and there is a line about 1/2 an inch long, running parallel to the edge, about half way up the blade that I can catch my nail in - I'm not sure if it is a crack since it doesn't appear to be that deep (looking through a microscope) and the blade is almost a complete wedge so I'd have thought cracking it would be quite hard.

So should I keep sanding and aim for the mirror finish that I so often see on Travellers blades or would it be best to just get on with honing it ?

Then there is the scales - these are black, very lite and if you hold them up to the light they are not totally opaque. I'm not sure what they are but unfortunately they are slightly warped ... if there is no major reason to keep them my plan is to replace them - does this sound like the right thing to do ?

Barney

Pitting is supposed to look just like that. Tiny little pits. If it is something you can get your finger nail under, I'd be a little worried. Try and post pictures. If it is a crack, I'd keep the razor as an experimental methods razor rather than something I'd post pictures of eventually.

That line could be a rust line that follows the top of scale that touches the blade when the razor is closed... the scale looks like horn so its not cell rot... sanding with low grit paper should remove this... eventually.
You could also polish the rest of the blade and leave the line for some "blade character"


edit:
Test for horn by heating a pin to red heat and lightly touching the scale. if the scale smells of burnt hair it is most likely horn.
If the scale is horn then you can put the scale in hot water for a few minutes then take them out and "bend" them straight then put in cold water to set.