1st Restoration Advice Needed

I got a Wade & Butcher in a lot of shaving stuff that I bought on Ebay a couple years ago. Now that I have started shaving with a straight, I decided to try restoring it. It was pretty rusty, and from the wear on the tang it looks like someone tried to restore it before me. The person who owned it before me must have used a Dremel on it, leaving a number of uneven areas, and grinding away most of the lettering. I hand sanded it with 100 grit sandpaper until I got all the rust and pits out, but now I am not sure what to do. In order to sand everything flat I would have to remove a lot of metal, and I am concerned that the blade might get too thin, and I would lose what is left of the makers mark. What is the best way to disguise the imperfections that are left? I am not expecting to get a mirror finish, but I would like something that looks nice.

You could go at it with 2000 grit wet sandpaper, this would be an extremely slow way of removing those imperfections (and would allow you a good measure of control). If you don't really care about the makers mark you could put it on a wheel, but a tear would well in my eye as you did this. you could also use an extremely slow method of hand polishing. this would be real slow again but with a high measure of control on your part.

If it's your first restore use the hand sanding method. Work your way up to 600 grit & see how it looks there. Any subsequent grits will not remove a lot of metal but will accentuate any faults.