L Wilder & Sons "Victor Razor" Germany 13/16th Extra Hollow Ground Very Very rusty. But, we shall see what is hidden beneath. I was curious about the scales. I was hoping they were bone. But it is so crusted and stained, it is hard to tell.
Step #1 Stainless Steel wire brush. I went to town on as much crusty rust as possible. I then scrubbed the scales, with soap, water, and a scouring pad. There were bone scales beneath. I will deal with the staining later. The scales turned out to be solid. Oh, a side note. After the scrubbing, I noticed the blade is a very thin ground Extra Hollow Belly Grind. The Belly Grind is a welcome plus.
Ok, time to work on it again. Been busy around the household. Wife sick, busy with work, spending time with daughter, yadda yadda yadda.
I spent part of the morning, wet sanding with 180 and 220 grit sandpaper. There is extensive pitting that will never be able to be sanded out. So, I stopped there, for now. I soaked the scales In Hydrogen Peroxide and bleached the bone scales a much lighter color. Much more sanding to come.
I would have started by unpinning the razor. You can get it much cleaner that way. The scales do look nice. A soaking in neatfoot oil would help the bone from being brittle. Watch the edge of that blade for pitting. Be sure to get clean steel along the entire edge before wasting too much time sanding and honing. As if you can't get good steel across the entire edge it will just flake away when honing. Still, It's a big project. IMO, I would have saved the scales and tossed the blade. But I have more than enough razors in my life. It is a good learning prosses to see what you can do to it so check that edge before going much further. Set a bevel.
I have done this, a few too many times. The edge looks very clean, so I will not toss it. It will not be NOS looking, but if the steel is good, I'm sure it will take a fine edge, and look decent.
