Heavy pitting-leave it?

Just got a nice 7/8" Wade & Butcher wedge, with "Celebrated Fine India Steel" stamped on the blade, however, it's got some heavy pitting near the toe close to the spine on both sides, and medium pitting along the top of the blade. If I were to sand it or get it reground, the stamp would have to go so I'm just wondering what most guys would do. Remove as much pitting as possible with going to deep to where it ruins the shape of the blade or the stamp, or get it reground? The edge has no pitting within 1/4" of it, so I'm thinking it should take a good edge. I don't mind leaving the pitting as long as I can't get it clean and polished so it doesn't stand out so much. I picked it up for $10 and it has nice horn scales in perfect condition(for the age anyway) so I'm happy either way.

That is totally up to you. I have a bunch of blades where I left the pitting on them. You can clean the pitting out with some metal polish like Maas and the tip of a tooth pick. If you leave the pitting I would stabilize it with some oil or Tuf Glide.

+1 to what Joed said. I've got a nice 'barber's use' W&B with some fairly deep pitting. Shaves good following a clean up with some lubricated 0000 wool and semichrome after that. More work than I would care to invest in it to get rid of the pitting.

Keep it. I have razors that are heavily pitted, and polished. Each razor has it's own character and so I say leave it and love it. If you are going to get rid of it I would be more than happy to take it off your hands :)

Most of the time with heavy pitting, even a regrind or sanding will not remove all the pitting, Residual surface pits is what we call them. Depending the depth of the engraving one has a little bit of play as to the removal of steel. But there's no miracle that will remove al pitting and keep the stamping at the same time. Many people I know are very meticulous and anal about their razors and cannot stand looking at a pitted razor. Others don't really care and would leave as is. Whatever you decide is up to you cause you have to live with the razor.

There are different philosophies. I don't like it when I buy a vintage razor that has obviously been buffed heavily, even when the result is a shiny perfect blade. What was hidden by the buffing? It doesn't feel old anymore either. For aesthetic reasons, I prefer a blade that looks vintage - cleaned reasonably, but not aggressively sanded, to a vintage razor that looks new.

From your description, if it were my blade, I would clean and then sand with fine abrasive to a moderate degree. But, then I would very happily live with it.

Cool, thanks. I agree with most of you. I'll clean it up as best as I can, leave the pitting and sharpen it. It doesn't bother me much and I kind of like it with some razors as it gives that old feeling. I'll post pics(before and after) when I'm finished with it.

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Originally Posted by Maximilian

Most of the time with heavy pitting, even a regrind or sanding will not remove all the pitting, Residual surface pits is what we call them. Depending the depth of the engraving one has a little bit of play as to the removal of steel. But there's no miracle that will remove al pitting and keep the stamping at the same time. Many people I know are very meticulous and anal about their razors and cannot stand looking at a pitted razor. Others don't really care and would leave as is. Whatever you decide is up to you cause you have to live with the razor.

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I think I'm more often part of that meticulous group*. Not gonna lie, lol

*I was gonna say "anal group", but didn't do so for obvious reasons