I decided to finish a couple of blades before starting on the scales. I find blade restoration to be more demanding on time and effort and I usually procrastinate until the scales are ready and I need a blade to put into them. This time I decided to get the painful stuff out of the way first.

So for the last while I've spent a few hours a day restoring blades. I spent most of the weekend doing the same.

All are hand sanded with a bit of assistance from satin finishing wheels I got from Bill Ellis so long ago when I just got interested in restoring razors. Never found much use for them because I did not like the finish they leave but now I got to use them to speed up pit removal.

I also discovered that a tiny drop of Sterol (the water soluble lubricant used to protect razors) on the blade during sanding goes a long way to make hand sanding easier.

1. The sand paper does not clog up as fast so it lasts at least twice as long.

2. All the grit and metal that is sanded off stays on the blade instead of making a mess around the workbench and hands.

3. This one is a great bonus. Because of 2. all that grit that breaks of the sand paper backing stays on the blade as a slurry and continues to participate in the sanding. The finish left is much smoother than sand paper alone. The scratches are less sharp and already a bit smoothed out for the next grit.

4. Because of 1 and 3 it is easier to create an even satin finish on the blades.

I left the faces of the blades satin and the spine and tang polished. Hard to take pictures to convey the shine but blades 2 & 3 really glow. It is the closest I ever got to a perfect mirror finish.

Here are the blades top to bottom:

1. Kropp 5/8" (I have a Kropp 7/8" that I will restore and make these into a two razor box set)
2. 5/8+, near wedge, No name, "Ready set for immediate and permanent use"
3. 6/8+ / 7/8 Geo. Wosternholm, IXL
4. 7/8 W&B Celebrated Hollow Ground for Barber's Use.



The scales below are for blade 2.



When the scales are done and the blades pinned I will use by father's camera to take some better pictures.

I am so glad all that sanding is out of the way.