First straight (W&B) in rough shape, is it restorable?

[cjcs]

I picked up my first straight razor off of eBay the other day (breaking the rules, I know), and it's seen better days so I'm looking into restoring it or having it restored. It's an old Wade & Butcher that cost me a little under $20 and had a nice deep stamp on the tang. The razor came with both the original box and a paper insert advertising the Wade & Butcher brand. I figured it wasn't a lot of money to spend, and at worst I could clean it up and keep it around as an interesting historical piece (my grandfather was from Sheffield). I'm still relatively new to DE shaving, and thought restoring the straight razor would be an interesting side project while I work on improving my lathering and shaving techniques. With that, I have a few questions I was hoping get some help on:

- Is this razor in a condition to be restored? There seems to be a fair amount of wear on the blade from honing, but I don't know whether or not there's a point of no return for restoring a straight to a shavable condition.
- What are the costs generally associated with restorations? The scales of this razor are also pretty beat (they look like horn with some kind of black paint over them), and I would ideally like to replace them. Are there steps I can complete at home to cut the costs down?
- Is there anyone recommended by the B&B community that specializes in antique razor restoration.
- Is anyone able to help me learn a little more about my razor? I'm interested in narrowing down the date of production. For reference, the blade reads, "The celebrated medium size hollow ground razor".

Cheers,

Craig

 

[cjcs]

Also, I happened to notice that the spine of the razor is somewhat magnetic, is this normal for vintage straight razors? It definitely surprised my when it stuck to the side of an altoid tin.

 

[Khay]

Is the blade wedge shaped ? it looks like it has a lot of hone wear on the spine, not to mention the wide bevel...

 

[cjcs]

The hone wear seems to be more cosmetic than anything else, as the blade still has a decent wedge-shape in my (admittedly amateur) opinion. I will try to take a side-on picture tomorrow morning.

 

[Mike H]

That is a neat old razor. B&B member undream has a series of videos that provide step by step restoration.
From the picture, the blade looks to be a near wedge. Does the blade say "The celebrated medium size hollow ground razor"?

 

[HLS]

Looks like it was once a semi hollow, but looks "wedgish" now because of the extensive hone wear. Looks as though the spine was deliberately ground down at the stabilizer end. There are better projects if you're going to pay to have it done. The scales will have to be replaced because of pin hole damage that has been "repaired" and the blade will need some level of regrinding.

 

[jred]

Blade looks like a slightly warped near-wedge, judging from the hone wear on opposite sides. It could still be made shave-ready.

Straight razors, cars, motorcycles, DE, houses, computers, wives, pretty much everything that needs to be restored: It will be cheaper to buy a semi-expensive one already restored, than to buy a cheap one & restore it. Unless you really love that particular razor, or it has some historic significance to you, I wouldn't pay to restore it.

You can, however, do a fairly decent amateur job replacing the scales yourself & pay someone to hone it up for you.
$20 Razor
$20 Wet/dry sandpaper to clean up the blade
$10-40 Scales/material to replace scales
$20 Honing service
$"free" Your time

$70-100 will have a nice, clean, shave-ready near wedge. Sometimes you can find them on BST for a little less, sometimes a little more, depending on who did the work, how nice it is, and how covetous the blade is.

If you're paying someone to restore it, that "free" item is the value-killer. The better they are at what they do, the more money you need to add.

 

[Kentos]

What is that grayish colored chip near the pin? Could those scale be painted plastic?

I would say it worth doing on your own, but not worth the money to have it done professionally.

 

[Doc226]

That blade has had a rough life, restorable sure, worth it likely not.

 

[HLS]

Looks like a filler/expoxy in an attempt to repair ruined pin holes.

Jim

What is that grayish colored chip near the pin? Could those scale be painted plastic?

I would say it worth doing on your own, but not worth the money to have it done professionally.

 

[onotoman]

To me anyway - that original Wade & Butcher Document alone is worth $10 so you have a very good brand of razor for $10 looking at things this way.

The blade would be better attacked by a light grind first, this would cut the honing effort significantly.

 

[cjcs]

Update - I decided that given the historical value of the razor to leave the blade in its current condition. I'm not really a big fan of mirror finishes on 100+ year old blades. It's beat up, but personally I feel that it adds some character. I took it to a local knife sharpener who works with straight razors, and he's going to be resharpening the edge, and I am looking into either buying or making some replacement scales.

I picked up a second straight from a local antique store that's in much better condition (Geneva Cutlery Co. 7N Pyramid), that I plan to use as my first razor. I will maintain the W&B as a side project until it has new scales, and a shave-ready edge. Thanks for the advice and insight gents, I really appreciate it.

Now onto ordering some beginner hones and a strop. Hm....

 

[robellison01]

I've read quite a few stories that started with "I took it to a local knife sharpener who works with straight razors". None of those stories had happy endings. Curious to hear if your local guy has what it takes to hone a razor.

 

[cjcs]

Got it back today, it's definitely sharper although I'm afraid he may have gotten the angle wrong. He sharpened it on an 800 grit stone, so there's still a lot of work to be done. I can't complain too much for $4 though. I'm going to be looking into honing stones to see if this is worth continuing on my own, or if I'm better off (read: cheaper) sending it to a honemeister to get it done properly. Thanks for all the help lads.

 

[Doc226]

Got it back today, it's definitely sharper although I'm afraid he may have gotten the angle wrong. He sharpened it on an 800 grit stone, so there's still a lot of work to be done. I can't complain too much for $4 though. I'm going to be looking into honing stones to see if this is worth continuing on my own, or if I'm better off (read: cheaper) sending it to a honemeister to get it done properly. Thanks for all the help lads.

Gotten what angle wrong? there are no angles to guess on a razor-the spine edge contact gives you your angle.

800 grit stone? that is just for bevel setting multiply by 10 then you will have a shaveable edge (just barely IMO)

 

[HLS]

Well, we all knew that was going to happen. Always does with a knife sharpening service. Geeze 800 grit and done . After you learn to hone go back and teach that guy how to also.

Jim

Got it back today, it's definitely sharper although I'm afraid he may have gotten the angle wrong. He sharpened it on an 800 grit stone, so there's still a lot of work to be done. I can't complain too much for $4 though. I'm going to be looking into honing stones to see if this is worth continuing on my own, or if I'm better off (read: cheaper) sending it to a honemeister to get it done properly. Thanks for all the help lads.