restoration advice

[woosorio]

I just inherited my first straight razor, my great-grandfather's Genco 5/8 Wedge, and it needs a bit of work.

The scales are actually in quite good shape, near-mint I'd wager, but the blade looks as though it needs to be cleaned, polished, and honed--possibly more, I'm not sure.

Since this is my first straight and a family heirloom as well I don't dare try my hand at restoring it. I've read the restoration yellow pages sticky but I was curious if anyone has any first-hand experience with any of the gentlemen offering restoration services or with anyone else not listed who they would recommend or recommend steering clear of.

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated and if any of you gentlemen would feel more comfortable offering your unabashed opinions via PM, please feel free to do so.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Munxcub]

well 3 that come to mind would be nerdman and undream and billellis. I would trust any heirloom to those 3. I would suggest putting some pics up to get some advice on what you actually need to do to this thing.

Might just need to be honed. If it's not rusty, and just "aged" it might be cool to keep the history on the blade. It doesn't have to be a mirror to shave.

 

[dmcconnell]

I would add Bob Keyes to that list as well - congrats having a family heirloom restored back to working order is going to be very satisfying.

 

[Undream]

My advice is to possibly pick up another razor to even find out of straight razor shaving is for you. There is always risk involved with sending out an heirloom. If you aren't even sure if its right for you, then, you should not take the risks.

it could be lost in the mail, damaged in the mail, and I'm sorry but no restorer can guarantee that they will not damage a razor - anything can happen in the shop.

 

[Munxcub]

I can't wait to get ahold of my Great Grandpa's old razor. It has been located by an aunt and is trying to get to me. Like you I might not want to tackle it myself, but I will have practiced on a few straights before I try and just might.

 

[Malacoda]

Some of the restorers already mentioned - and others - can be found in the Member Services section of the StraightRazorPlace forums. Checking them out there will be a bit easier than trying to put out individual 'callouts' or PMs here on B&B.

 

[Davey]

Could you do it yourself if you practiced in some old ebay razors?

 

[Wid]

If it were mine I would send it to Bob Keyes , he does some top of the line work.

 

[mdunn]

OR put some pics up and we can help you do it yourself!

 

[Munxcub]

OR put some pics up and we can help you do it yourself!

+1! lets see some pics and see what you're dealing with.