When to retire?

[amcardon]

Hy guys, I'm fairly new to straight razor shaving but like most hobbies have jumped in feet first, no *****-footing around... Anyway, I have a couple blades here that I would like to restore but I don't know if they have lived their days and are ready to retire or if they still have some life in them. It's primarily the hone wear that I'm worried about.

So can one of you more experienced guys fill me/us in on how to determine if it goes in the scrap pile or to the "in-process" pile?

The two razors I am specifically referring to are a Wolsty and a Lord & Harvey's:

But a general idea of when they are just no long worth restoring would be really nice.

 

[superbleu]

Maybe not worth the time/effort to do a full restore on these, but if they hone up and shave ok, I'm sure someone would like them as everyday shavers.

Much better to put them to use than to toss them in the garbage.

 

[Drybonz]

I'm no expert... but I have seen "before" pictures in restoration discussions that look a heck of a lot worse than those. I would say go for it and have them restored.

 

[Will P.C.]

First one def and the second maybe.
It seems that the second one has a ton of pitting. Make sure you can set a bevel on both of them before restoring in order to save you some heartache

 

[Nerdman]

Im with Will, the first is for sure restorable. The second one is kind of iffy, looks like it has pitting on the edge. Maybe use that one to learn sanding and polishing techniques.

 

[honed]

The Pipe is such a good razor that it is certainly woth saving, despite heavy honewear.