Thread: Petina vs. restoration

I am fairly new to straight razors in the means of collecting and have brought together some 20-30 W&B... what I collect.

I am ready to start restoring the razors and craft new scales... but as I was looking everything over, I thought of the tv show Pawn Stars.

With old guns and knives, collectors are looking for the petina that has built up on the gun over the years (per the show).

I dont think that I'll be reselling these razors anytime soon, but I am sure when I am gone and dead my kids will want to get rid of them.

So where is the money? Do I leave them as is... or do I learn to restore and build scales?

for a collector the value would be as close to original as possible(no restore)
I rescale if i feel its needed and keep the patina
you can always shine away the patina but its not so easy getting it back

but again this is only one opinion

I don't go by where the money is. (My wife can attest to that.) I go by what I feel is best for preserving the razor. If there is patina alone and no rust, then I'd rather leave the patina. Unfortunately, that nice patina is often interrupted by patches of crud and you can't remove one without removing the other.

When I see an old razor that is polished and shiny, I don't like it. It doesn't feel old, and it makes we wonder what flaws were hidden by aggressive polishing.

(I ran into a razor that had a very nice looking blade, but didn't hone as expected. On close examination with a microscope, it was pitted with rust. This was not readily apparent to my eye.)

I go on a case by case basis.... if I'm replacing scales I'd be more apt to do work on the blade a bit more than one I was saving the original ones..

So it seems the only blades I will work on are the ones that have some rust. Any thoughts on the best method and materials to use to remove the rust?

I am trying to get an idea of what I need to invest for the restoration of the blades... bench grinder (using polishing wheels etc)???

I am not going to end up sharpening the razors as I am not interested in investing in $$$ wet stones at this time. I dont know if that matters.

Originally Posted by LarryAndro

When I see an old razor that is polished and shiny, I don't like it. It doesn't feel old, and it makes we wonder what flaws were hidden by aggressive polishing.

(I ran into a razor that had a very nice looking blade, but didn't hone as expected. On close examination with a microscope, it was pitted with rust. This was not readily apparent to my eye.)

I seen a razor like that on ebay recently. It looked too shiny and just didn't look right for such an old razor.

Richard