Thread: To Restore or Leave Alone

I bought this the other day.
The seller said thus: "I purchased a group of Civil War items at auction recently, and this is part of that collection. The wooden handle appears to be a Gabon Ebony, with some expected age and fading. There is a legible inscription scribed into one side of the handle, it appears to have been wriiten twice over, both read the same "A E Edwards Mr." and "3/4"The blade is stamped "MANUFACTURED BY WADE & BUTHCER, SHEFFIELD" The blade itself is 7/32" thick by 3/4" wide. When unfolded, evrything measures 9 1/2" long."
With this being said the question is do I restore the razor and the scales or because of the history behind it do I leave as is?? What do you guys think??


You can see in the 1st photo the writing scratched into the wood..

Looks like all it needs is some neatsfoot rubbed into the scales anyways. I'd leave it as is. Not for the historical reason, but just cause it's not in need of anything requiring a teardown. Then again, I'm rather boring in general, and not prone to taking things apart unless they are broken.

if it were mine, I would use with scales as is! thats a cool piece of history! enjoy!

Are you sure the razor is Civil War period? it looks newer than that to me. Of course I'm no expert on this stuff.

Blade is clean and shiny, the scales are good looking and fully functional, hone it and shave

I would make certain of what the scales are made of first, if Horn use Neatsfoot oil, if Wood use a good wax...

All I have to go on is what the seller said. I know it's not 20th century.

What about Tung oil for finish on the ebony??

Oil finishes ie : Tung oil, Teak oil, Danish Oil, tend to get splotchy when applied to old wood with an unknown finish on there.. If you were going to restore it then any of those would be good, but if you are just planning on protecting what is there, my first recommendation is Renaissance Wax and second would be good ole Johnson's paste wax

If asked, I would guess more like 1880-1890 given the blade shape and grind. Scales look like horn from here..... sweet razor, I just don't think Civil War. Get it honed and enjoy it.

Tsunami : How do you know the scales are ebony? They could be horn which would make the time frame more accurate..
Wet a piece of sandpaper & sand a spot on the inside of the scales. If you get a pale sludge that smells like wet dog , they are horn.