Please advise on eBay find

[Thebestshave]

Good evening B&B family! So blessed to be here!
I recently picked up three vintage razors from eBay. One Banty, one Union Cutlery and one T Hessen Bruch Pearlicross. They look to be quite serviceable(see attached pictures). I would very much like some restoration advice. There’s some light rust, the edges seem to need light honing, and due to YEARS of being stored in original cardboard packaging, are encrusted with cardboard residue. Thanks in advance!

 

[LJS]

Restoration advice, sure, give it a shot yourself and try. When you get them, look for any cracks in the blades to make sure they are worth any trouble. One of those has already been broken and shortened it looks like. Those are going to need more than a “light honing” but that’s not a big deal. Razors like that are a gamble, so first just make sure they are usable as in not cracked and you can set a bevel. If OK there then you can start cleaning them up.

 

[SliceOfLife]

These all are sufficiently rusted/pitted they may be trashed. They probably will grind back into good steel relatively quickly, but you never know until you hone and scope them. Maybe one in every fifteen or so vintage hollow grounds I get with rust like that winds up with pitting through the entire blade you can't grind past.

When they arrive, I typically sand out all the rust with a fairly coarse sandpaper, then rebevel them and scope the edge to see if the pitting is punching through anywhere in the edge. If it is (or if there's pitting scars in the bevel very near the edge), grind back a mm and check again. Once it's not punching through, hone it up and scope again (as the edge thins this becomes more of a problem so a razor that bevels fine might have pits punch through on finer hones). Again, if there are problems, grind back a mm or so and try again.

 

[Thebestshave]

Hi Slice! I don’t have a scope, but did manage to sand off the rust using different grits of sandpaper. They now feel smooth to the touch. I put a light honing on one of them(not a thorough one) just to see if it would sharpen. Pretty good so far. I did notice a deep scratch near the heel. Could this be a crack? How can I tell?