Hello all,

I have been interested in Straight Razors for a while but only in the last couple of months has it become an obsession. Several weeks ago I got to take a close up look at a fully restored, mirror finish razor and I was hooked. I decided that I wanted to give it a try. Fast forward 2 months. After a lot of reading and research I was at a local auction and a table of knives came up. I bid $3 each for my choice on the table and I won. I picked up 2 pocket knives which I am now restoring (been doing that a long time) and a Shumate "Glide" razor. If anyone has any information on this razor, it would be greatly appreciated. The scales were some sort of celluloid that I did not find attractive at all so I unpinned it right away.

This looks maybe to be a mass produced razor and not one of the high dollar collectables, but I figure with only $3 in it I wouldn't be upset if I completely destroyed it while learning. It has a 5/8 blade and has a full hollow grind. There is very little staining on the toe of the blade and most of the discoloration seems to be on the surface.

I have done some surface sanding with 600 grit because it looked like it was in good enough shape I really didn't need to go lower. The hand sanding revealed some vertical scratches which I did not see before that you can see in the attached picture. There is some staining on the SHUMATE logo that does not seem to want to come off. I plan on getting it under the microscope tomorrow to see if I can do some micro abrasion to remove the stain without having to do excessive sanding. I know it sounds like over kill, but I am a perfectionist and I don't want to remove anymore of the brand engraving. I also plan on taking some micrographs of the cutting edge while I am at it to see what kind of shape the edge is in and what kind of work I have ahead of me. I am also going to take a look at that stain and see exactly how deep it goes. Have I mentioned I love technology?

So here is the picture of the blade, taken on my scanner, for you to see. I would love any and all suggestions as well as any information you might have on the Shumate "Glide" razor.

Thanks
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