Thread: 3 Old Blades

Found these old blades in an antique shop in Houston the other day. Worth restoring? Don't know, but I intend to give them a go for practice as well as to fill a few empty hours when I return to my job in Nigeria - there ain't much on TV anyway...



Both sides of a Wade & Butcher; "Fine India Steel" on the blade; some rust on edge near the toe; no chips/other damage to edge; bugs have chewed into what I think are bone scales.


Another Wade & Butcher; "The Celebrated Medium Size Hollow Ground Razor" on the blade; in original coffin; no rust, but some staining; no chips on edge.


And a George Wostenholm & Son - "The Celebrated Extra Holow Ground Pipe Razor No. 149" on the blade" this blade aslo shows staining, but no rust with only one micro chip on its edge; came in original coffin, too.

The only thing I can do is try. Got all the "tools" for giving them a hand-job. We'll see. At 40 bucks can't be all bad.

Some nice blades, should clean up well. Don't know what you got them for, but I always like Sheffields. Congrats.

If you got those for $40 you made out really well.

Those'll clean up real nicely, and shave good to boot.

The bottom two are definitely restoreable. As for the top one, I think it should be able to be done up, but you won't know for sure until you sand that rust off and look at how it's affected the steel near the edge.

Scales are in decent condition too, except the top one - shame about the blade chunks out of them, otherwise you could remove them, buff them up, and then repin with the original scales. All three razors look to have horn scales to me, although I'm not an expert.

Regardless of all that, you've made yourself a great purchase there, three very well known and respected Sheffield razors.

Originally Posted by Shangers

Some nice blades, should clean up well. Don't know what you got them for, but I always like Sheffields. Congrats.

I am going to try and clean them up to see what I got. If I can make them shave...
Success!

Originally Posted by mosley59

The bottom two are definitely restoreable. As for the top one, I think it should be able to be done up, but you won't know for sure until you sand that rust off and look at how it's affected the steel near the edge.

Scales are in decent condition too, except the top one - shame about the blade chunks out of them, otherwise you could remove them, buff them up, and then repin with the original scales. All three razors look to have horn scales to me, although I'm not an expert.

Regardless of all that, you've made yourself a great purchase there, three very well known and respected Sheffield razors.

Yeah, the rust worries me some, but I will give it a try and see what happens. Really like the blade though. I don't think the damage scales are due to the blade. Looking closely it is more like something has eaten them, some kind of bug. I think "horn" scales also.