Thread: Restoration Rust Removal

What do you guys recommend for removing surface rust on a razor, like a vintage duck.
I have a dremmel tool, and several types of polishing compounds, Black, Jeweler's, brown, white.
I may spring for a bench buffer at Harbor Freight, but other than buffing, what else can be done to restore razors. I'm new to restoration, I'm a fair mechanic and tinkerer, done some milling and drilling.
I have all kinds of tools and Jeweler's tools too, even dental picks.
Would scale removal be adviseable? Would that be accomplished with a punch? Are the pins like roll pins? Any help is appreciated.

If the rust is on the shank, then scale removal is best. I have a small "rats-tail" jewllers file that I use for this purpose. You have to file off the peened end of the pin. The pin is just a length of brass (or other metal) rod - the ends of which are rounded over the washer by gently tapping. You may choose to anneal the pin to soften it (I don't - this refers to pining rather than un-pinning, but if you do one you will most certainly have to do the other). Peening it expands the width, so it most often grips the washer (there may be two washers present - domed washer over supporting, smaller washer). Keep filing until the washer becomes free. Inspect the end of the pin - if it is still larger than the hole, or has a thin lip on it, file a bit more. A bit of tape over the work area may help, but once you are this far if you slip you will likely go through the tape and mar the scale. Anyway, we are talking of getting right up to the surface of the scale, so the tape may be more of a hindrance than a help.

When you have filed enough, you have to punch the pin through. I use a bit of nickel/silver pin because it is hard - I file down the point, though - the modern 1/16th inch pin is often a bit wider that the older pin stock. If this is the case, you will also have to enlargen the holes in the scales to accommodate the new pins upon re-pinning. Try a few test taps. If it doesn't want to move, the pin may have flared enough to grip the sides of the hole in the scale. If you persist you may beak one or both scales. You must then file a bit more, or "cup" the pin so that the edges fold in on themselves when you punch it through. The cupping can be done with a small round diamond burr in the dremel. Offer it up a bit at a time though - it generates a lot of heat and may melt celluloid or platic scales. After this, don't punch it all the way through - just enough to free the top scale. Move the scale aside (if it can move - sometimes both sides of the wedge have been glued), remove the blade and clip the pin. Pull the pin out.

I don't use dremels to remove rust. Like Bruno (a master hand-sander: look at the archives for his tremendously helpful posts on this subject) I handsand. Don't start with too aggressive a paper (wet&dry/silicone carbide is the type to use) but try to assess what will remove the rust. For really bad blades I use 80, 100, 120, 180, 280, 320, 400, 600, 1200, 1500, 2000 and 25000 grit paper. Make an educated guess. Say it looks like 400 will do the job and it doesn't - then go one ower. This way you will not introduce scoremarks that will take forever to sand out. You don't need all the intermediate grits, but it saves time If you don't have intermediate grits, you will have to spend longer at the next grit size to remove all the scoremarks from the previous grit.

After all this, you will probably see a distinct scratch pattern emerging - to avoid this, instead of going up/down vary the angle a bit, and use the next grit until all the scratch lines are gone. Towards the very last grits, revert to up/down again. Don't use your fingers - buy a modellers support or craft one from a bit of timber - wood faced with a bit of leather works really well. If you use your finger, get used to the effects of RSI!

After all this (quite a few hours for moderate rusting) you might be ready to polish with the dremel. Let's hope it can operate on slow speed though - a high speed is death to the edge - overheating. Find a way to place the blade so that it can't be flipped over by the tool - if the dremel can grip the edge it will do so when you least expect it, chipping it or throwing it in your face. Some sort of eye/face protection is advised. You will find that it grips one way and not the other - try to work along the line of least resistance.

What will you polish with? I don't think the brown stuff is any good - it may be tripoli compound, which is mainly used for scales - won't touch steel. The jewellers stuff might be OK, but not if it is designated for silver or gold. Black (or grey) should follow handsanding but first on a sisal wheel, then a soft mop. Then you can move up the progression, probably finishing with white. You might want to throw in a green first though.

Bear in mind that none of the dremel polishing will remove the pits left by the rust. They might end up as polished pits. but pits they will still be. Rust is a funny thing - it might look like nothing at all, just a light powdering, but when you begin to sand it the brown turns to black and there are pit marks all over the place. If the edge is affected don't even try to hone (you will have some serious honing to do!) - breadknife the edge until you hit good steel, tape the spine, and take it from there.

Regards,
Neil

Thanks so much for all the info, I appreciate you taking the time. Rich

Greetings,

I'm new at this, so I don't claim to be any expert, however, I can tell you what I have been doing.

I have elected to remove the scales from most of the razors I have been working on. To get them off I have been using a small Melin drill/mill. You can use them in a mill or drill press, and the point makes them easier to center on the pin. I tried using a drill bit, but the mill seems to cut better. Once I have one end of the pin cut away, I tap the pin out with a 1/8" pin punch on a plastic bench block.

To remove actual rust, I have just been using abrasive paper. I tried Evapo-Rust, but I don't think I waited long enough for it to work. Once I get the rust off, I have been using finer grits of abrasive paper and/or craytex wheels in my flex-shaft tool to further clean up the razors. After they look pretty good, I have been throwing them in my vibratory tumbler for a while. The tumbler doesn't do much scratch removal, but it gets them pretty shiney. If I don't use the tumbler, I buff them on an 8" sewn muslin wheel with green chrome rouge.



PS; Excellent post Neil. You typed yours while I was still working on mine.

thanks guys!

regards,
neil

Excellent write up Neil...

BTW guys you might want to browse though here, there is some really detailed addtions to what Neil wrote out for you and even better there are pics...

Category:Tutorials - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Awesome write up. Been doing a lot of what you wrote myself.

I have used a product called Naval Jelly (by LocTite) to remove rust from any steel (which includes steel and stainless steel). It is considered a rust dissolver and is very environmentally friendly. In addition, it won't harm your skin, so it's a very safe product. I have used it to prepare samples for failure analysis since it does not attack the base material. It is readily available too.

Maplerunner - sounds like an interesting product. I think it was withdrawn from the UK because of its ingredients. I know it contains phosphoric acid - very nasty in higher concentrations. Could you tell us what is on the ingredients list? I'd be particularly interested in the %age of phosphoric acid.

Regards,
Neil.

Originally Posted by Maplerunner

Naval Jelly

Thanks Maplerunner. I totally forgot about Naval Jelly.