Thread: Inherited blades. Restore or not?

My grandfather recently gave me 3 razors. Two of them are upwards of 100 years old while the third is older having being used by my great great grandfather and my great grandfather. Two of the blades are in pretty good shape but the third is rusted. The handles on all have be broken at the pivot. I would like to have one to use as well as have all of them cleaned and restored so my grandfather can see them.

If you have or can take some pictures to post, that would give us all a lot of help in terms of restorablity. Some of the guys in here can seemingly work miracles with old beat up razors.

Welcome to SRP. It would help if you post pictures. That makes evaluation easier. All of them can probably be restored for display. Whether or not they can be restored to working condition depends on the condition of the blade. It's a great feeling shaving with equipment that's been in the family. I hope it works out for you.

If you're looking for someone to do the work you can find them here:

Member Services - Straight Razor Place Classifieds

And while you're waiting for them to be restored, you can start educating yourself about shaving with them here:

Straight Razor Place Wiki:Books/Beginners Guide - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Ill try to have some pictures up by tonight

1st razor







2nd razor







3rd razor

You should have them restored if possible. I have several razors that belonged to my grandfather. Two of the razors were in good enough condition to have them restored and made shave ready. One is a Frederick Reynolds that dates back to the late 1800s and has become one of my favorite razors.

I have a nephew who has started shaving with a straight razor and I will pass them on to him with the understanding that when the time comes he will pass them on and keep them in the family.

I say restore them. The first one has a LOT of rust, but even if you just have the rust removed, they would love you for it

Anything to keep them from getting worse

The 2nd one (with the etching on the blade) is awesome

Do your best to save the etching if possible!

You're lucky to have razors your great, and Great-great-grandfather used !

Wish I had something as special as that...

They can all be saved.
As you read the rest of this post please bear in mind I have a preference to restore razors to original condition… that is: reuse the original scales and fittings whenever possible, others will have there own opinions... that's good, the more opinions you get... better for you… so here goes.

The first one has quite a bit of rust around the tang and without careful restoration the manufacturers mark may be lost, but until one has it in hand it is difficult to tell for sure. Scales will have to be replaced. The blade face however will easily clean up and should make a great shaver.

The scales on the second one appear to be Bakelite. Bakelite is brittle material, and though there is a very small piece missing from the scale at he pivot area the scales can also be saved and when polished will look very nice. The blade looks solid, and though there is a slight smile at the toe end of the edge, with careful honing in that area will sharpen up nicely. The etching appears to be deep and can easily saved so you will still have the dark contrasting tint to stand out against a polished steel face.

Third, the steel looks solid and will clean up nicely, the scales will have to be replaced… looks like it would be a nice shaver.

Incidentally you didn’t mention the names of the razors.

As these are heirlooms I would not recommend you attempt to restore them yourself, but if you insist I suggest you pick your favorite and send it to a professional for restoration.

Hope this helps,

I know that I dont have the skills to restore them. I want to learn but I dont want to do it on these. I agree with you on using as much of the original razor as possible. The razor has a history and I dont want to lose that. Where can I find a professional who does quality work?

i would really try and restore those. it is always great to shave with a blade that is that old, especially when it was someone in your family from years ago. i would check with some of the other members on getting help with the restoration and good luck. post some pics here if you decide to get them restored