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here are my first two that I got done, the first one is a A. Witte gold bug that I picked up this past weekend, and a Fredrick Reynolds. I got both of these blades for $10 each at an antique mall. They were both pretty rusty. The Reynolds has some pitting that I chose to leave on the blade. It was all done by hand, all in all for hand sanding not too bad of an outcome.
That is the best way to learn and you did a great job! That Reynolds' spike has me drooling !!
~Richard
Congratulations on a nice save and welcome to the forum.
Thanks, yeah fingers are cramped up and sore but it was worth it lol. I have a blue steel razor that I have sanded down as well, and it's amazing the difference in the steel between it and the Reynolds, the Reynolds is a much harder steel and very difficult to get it where I really want it by hand. So I think I'm going to build a 2x72 grinder out of a old washing machine motor and rigg up a variable speed switch. I can't wait !!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Geezer
Idea:Quote:
Originally Posted by jtzx12
Clean the blade completely with soap and water and then with MEK or Acetone and dip it carefully and evenly into and out of a tall bottle of instant strong cold blue from your gun shop.
That will put the blue back onto the blade. Wipe it off with a bit of oil on super soft steel wool Four ouaght (0000) or five ought (00000) and you will match the original finish. tape the spine for honing and the bevel will gleam and all else just a glowing blue.
If you screw up the blue will come off with a polishing compound.
Oh yeah, if you are going to make blades, the 2x72 is a winner but for restoration, in most cases a Harbor freight 6" and four inch or less diameter wheels work well. The greasless compounds do a great job quickly.
I just tried the greasless at a friend's sop. I have used just the normal polishing compounds.
Above all, have fun!
~Richard
Quick question, I've hand sanded a couple of blades from 240 grit through to 15000 grit how do you finish to produce that shine?
I currently am using the sandpaper method by hand to restore a couple of blades myself. Moving through grit progressions and alternating between sanding directions has given me some satisfying results. However, I have yet to attain that level of finish shown in the above blades via sandpaper alone. Any advice would be welcome. Fine job on those blades!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony1954
What I do is start with a 240 grit and move to 400, 800, 1500. I rinse and keep the metal clean as often as I can. When I start the 1500 grit I just put on some mothers mag and aluminum polish as I'm sanding. Not too sure it does a whole lot but it's the way I have always polished, even my snowmobile aluminum tunnels. Then just wax on and wax off using fast Hand strokes with the blade pinched between your fingers. I will rub the blade down with mothers using my fingers until the polish starts to get dark then waipe clean. Repeat as many times as you can handle, LOL it takes awhile when you do it by hand.
I also stay away from doing any circular are change direction when sanding until I am at the 800 grit stage.Quote:
Originally Posted by jtzx12
Thanks for this help, I'm in the UK and have a product called MAAS, would this do the same job? Can you also elaborate on the wax on wax off comment.
Thanks
MAAS is an excellent product for polishing the blade, a somewhat clean rag and some MAAS and rub the entire blade.Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony1954
MAAS is a great product as well, I have heard of a lot of people using that as well. The wax on wax off is just a reference to the movie Karate kid .. lol just rub the polish on with your fingers rub it in a bit and rub off the polish with clean towel. When the towel gets dirty move to a clean part of the towel. There is some great videos on YouTube by Maggard razors, if I were you I would watch all 12 videos Brad is great at explaining everything step by step ... He even has posted a video where he hand polishes a razor. Good luck, and watch your fingers ! Lol I got bit a couple times :dropjaw: the only other advice I would say is take your time sanding. It makes a huge difference in the end. Practice and time makes the difference and I still have a lot to learn and try to pick up different sizes of blades in various conditions to practice on, if I have learned one thing it's you can polish a turd, but it's still a turd. Hope that helps !Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony1954
Many thanks for your time and patience really impressed with the blades you showed at the start of this post. Mine look clean after sanding but slightly dull so obviously I need your final stage. I've managed to locate some Mothers so that's on it's way.
Regards
Tony
The blades look great, hopefully they shave as well as they look!
Out of curiosity, did you purchase the blades without any scale, or did you remove the scales for the restoration process?
I've tried making a couple of old blades shine using "Peek" metal polish and this worked great for removing light rust and any tarnish or patina, but I could not get the area around the pivot pin, because I'm not comfortable removing and replacing scales yet. It is on my bucket list to make a set of wood scales from scratch one day...
Very nice work there jtzx12!!!! You got 'em looking really good!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin103
The Maas is a great polish. I use it with my Dremel & it comes out looking like fantastic!
thanks !! Yeah they had scales on them however the were cracked or broken so I had to remove them needless to say I wasn't really careful ... I'm thinking about buying a dremel to cut the pins and see how well it will polish up the blades. That's my next plan is to make a set of scales and see how I do !! Good luckQuote:
Originally Posted by shallard
Nice job on the polishing, just thaught I'd throw in a vote for Simichrome as an excellent hand polising compound.
Funny that you mentioned Simichrome. I just bought some on a trip down South but I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Never seen it before. I will have to break it out and give it a try. :D
Mike
Ohhh, those look nice! Next, make em nice and sharp...
All three products mentioned work equally well in my opinion. MOTHERS is easiest for me to come by so I use it pretty much exclusively.
I've also used BRASSO on aluminum and it works WONDERFULLY. Heck it might even work for a final polish on steel. Got a can around here somewhere if the kid ain't carted it off.
yeah Wullie, I have some Brasso I have used on a couple items & it works great. I have Mothers also.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wullie
Yeah about that .. lol I have to buy my hones yet, and experiment with that. I have watched Lynn's videos over and over and feel confident in jumping in head first !!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bentlink
Those look great to me. What scales are you going to put on them? Also what did they look like before?
Very nice job. Grats :chapeau
WullieQuote:
Originally Posted by Wullie
I have some Brasso & it says it cleans brass, copper, chrome, stainless steel & pewter.
