Thread: Worthy of Restoration?

I picked this Wade and Butcher up the other day for a very good price. I thought it may be a good specimen to attempt restoration. The blade is in good condition except for the rust and tarnish. The scales are in good shape. The edge is intact without any chips or blemishes. In your opinion is it work restoring or can it even be restored professionally?
I am new to this and don't want to attempt a polishing and sanding for days on end if there is no point.

Your opinions and knowledge would be greatly appreciated.




Thanks.

Evan

It's hard for me to tell from those photos.

Once you start, you will know soon enough.

Brown rust can be bad or really bad. Do you have any larger images including the scales and tang.

Unfortunately not at this time. The razor is currently at my parents place in Canada. I am living and working in Italy and thought this may be a nice project to start on when I am home for the holidays next month. I could see if I can get my dad to send me some better pictures and post them.

I suppose it depends on what you are after regards the finished result, I would start with some sanding to see how far the rust goes, I have restored quite a few razors which at first inspection seemed too bad for a restoration but have turned out really nice and honed up to be great shavers. If you are after an absolutley spotless, blemish free mirror finish on your razor you might be disappointed, but I rather don't mind the odd bit of slight pitting here and there on old razors, as long as it isn't detrimental to how it shaves, I. E, the bevel and edge are free from pits, dings, etc. I think it adds character to an old blade IMHO. After all, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Have fun and good luck

Take 80 grit get the rust off the edge, use some type of metal polish that's safe for chrome and clean the tarnish off. Take it to your lowest grit stone and try and set a bevel. If the bevel holds, continue, if you almost get it set, but it seems to just go dull suddenly, then chances are the rust has pitted through the steel completely and won't hold an edge...i.e. she's a goner (beeeeeeeeeeeep). Hope it holds an edge for you, fingers crossed!

I am not going for new. I agree. Some pitting, blemishes or marks, on a blade can give it character as long as the blade is ok. I am not hoping for a mirrored "like new" result. Something that could be brought back to life and made shave ready would be idea. If not at least its something to practice on.