Thread: Polishing old blade

I just obtained an old Geo. Wostenholm & Son razor, it appears to be in very good condition, but the blade could use a little polishing. My question is can I polish the blade with Maas polish and not destroy the engraved or photo-etching on the blade?

Some pics might be useful in making that determination.

IF IF IF it's truly etched/engraved then the etching will stay, but any ink will fade or disappear.

If it's only painted on it will be history unless you take detailed pics before hand and paint it back on.

If it's engraved in and you like the inking you can get jewelers ink and a very fine jewelers brush and paint it back in. Just be very steady with the hands .

I hope this photo is helpful. the etching if thats what is, is very light grey in color and when I rub my finger over it I can feel it.

Unless you go with more aggressive abrasives (like flap wheels), you should be fine. Dremel felt pads should make your life a lot easier either using Maas or the Dremel red polishing compound.

maas and a dremel will do the trick .
but be carfull with the dremel dont go perpendicular to the edge you might catch an edge and crack the blade. take it from me i just did it on a near perfect Henckle and im sick about it .thought oh i can do it i wont catch an edge and whamo there goes a perfectly good blade. dam.
live and learn
good luck MIKE

You can go perpendicular as long as the direction of the spin is away from the edge and not into the edge. Be VERY careful about this and even then you'll ruin about 1 blade in 10.

Thanks for the warning guys but unfortunately I've already broken a blade, although not the one I've asked about. It polished up very nicely.

The 'softest' cleaner I know of, that will not take away the gold plating on some razors (Goldedge included) is to use the renaissance wax and a tissue. The wax grabs the dirt as it hardens. I'd recommend some mild dish soap and water (keep the scales and pivot joint dry) then after drying, use the wax.

Almost all of your chemical cleaners (and my favorite to use is maas) will remove the plating and painted embelishments.

If in doubt, use the renaissance wax.

As for a dremel, be careful that you keep the direction rotation of the wheel AWAY from the edge, so that the wheel is turning UP off the edge. If it's turning DOWN it will grab the edge faster than you can react, and most likely destroy the thin lil' razor.

C utz