Great-grandfather's blades

[punch]

My mother has been going through family items and discovered my great-grandfather's straight razors. I'm an infant to the world of wet shaving, having just started using a DE razor.

I know nothing about these razors and would like to gather information about their quality, history, value and whether or not they could be refurbished.

The first blade is stamped with "The Celebrated Razor" "Royal Keen Kutter" on the blade and "Simmons HDW. Co. Inc. St. Louis, MO" on the tang.
The scales cracked and broke apart, but the blade seems to be in decent condition with slight tarnishing on the spine.

The second blade reads "Celebrated Extra Hollow Ground Razor." The tang reads "Wade and Butchh Sheffield."
The blade has quite a few nicks in it and the spine has a lot of rust. One of the scales is cracked.

Thanks for any information about these blades and whether it would be worth it or not to undertake them as a refurbishing project.

[smalltank]

umm..send em out..looks like they will both need a restore..my wifes grandfather was restored by Max Sprechter..did a fantastic job..lost the gold etching etc on the blade..but the makers mark info was intact 100%

[HLS]

Put oil or something on that rust as soon as you can. Sand it down first if possible. I dont know what tools or skills you have to suggest anything beyond that.

Jim

[Drybonz]

Those both look fixable.

[Greybeard]

They're both definitely worth restoring.
As a coincidence I have a set of bakelite scales that came off a Simmons Royal Keen Kutter. They're in good but not perfect condition with a few small scratches near the pivot.
If you want to keep the razor close to original and want the scales PM me your address and I'll send them to you with a couple of pins and washers.

[Krodor]

Both absolutely restorable. I'd hesitate to check the "mirror finish" box when restoring. Why? Those are your great-grandfathers razors. My goodness how cool is that? Would you want them looking new? Maybe, maybe not. Underneath that red rust will be some craters and lines of black pitting, in my experience. It'd be cool to keep some of that in my opinion, allowing the razors to show off the age that they have earned.

Just my opinion.

[Giant Kiwi]

Both definitely look repairable.

@greybeard that is an awesome offer.

[MileMarker60]

For the most part both look fine (at least from the pics you have).
The rust can be removed from the spine and the edge seems to be pretty clean.
Since these are your grandfathers I would recommend not to do anything yourself other then maybe spraying them down with some WD-40.
You don't want a family razor, such as you have, to be your first go at restoring. Matter of fact I wouldn't even recommend sanding the rust off. Spray or oil it down and set it a side until you decided what you want to do with them.

Both should make great shaves. Be happy you have a couple of family pieces to hold on to.

[tomjr]

they are both great blades, well worth a restro. greybeard you are a generous soul.

[Jporco]

+1.
Take that offer from greybeard, an excellent show of gentlemanly generosity!

[punch]

Thanks for all the support and advice. I'm going to start searching for someone to restore them.

[Greybeard]

punch, check your messages please.

[zirrow]

I recently sent a similar razor off to Whipped Dog/Mason Razorworks for restoration. I wasn't looking to keep things completely original, so I can't comment on their ability in that regard, but I am very pleased with the results.

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