Thread: Removing pitting from blade

I recently bought a 1/4 hollow Joseph Elliot 11/16 silver-steel razor with barber's notch and nice bone scales. I have bleached and polished the scales, cleaned off all the rust and, finally, honed the edge to perfection. Today I had my first good shave with it and it is likely to become one of my favourites.

The honed edge, about 1 mm. wide is now like a mirror and completely free of pitting, but though the whole blade is now bright, I'd like to remove all trace of pitting. I've made some progress just using abrasive paper (3M Fre-cut) backed with a half-cork but it would take several hours to get rid of all the pitting that way.

Can anyone recommend the best way to bring the sides of the blade back to a glass finish?

Thanks.

sorry brother.. it is going to just take hours of sanding... you could get into the dremel or rotary tools, but you really need to know what you are doing... basically you will have to sand the blade evenly until the pits are gone, then work to finer and finer grits, then hit the buffing compounds and MAAS. Do you have any pictures?

Originally Posted by Del1r1um

... you could get into the dremel or rotary tools, but you really need to know what you are doing...

Perhaps I do! I wasn't born yesterday. I thought of fitting something to the die-grinder, which is more of a tool than a Dremel.

Originally Posted by Del1r1um

basically you will have to sand the blade evenly until the pits are gone, then work to finer and finer grits, then hit the buffing compounds and MAAS. Do you have any pictures?

I've left the camera at work, but I'll take some pictures of this one and my other two 1/4 hollows, which are practically free of pitting -- one is a 7/8 Cokkhill (for kk read ck) and the other a Thomas Turner with the special groove on one side. I must say I am far more comfortable with the near-wedges than the full hollows; I prefer to shave in silence!

Originally Posted by eremita

Perhaps I do! I wasn't born yesterday. I thought of fitting something to the die-grinder, which is more of a tool than a Dremel.

Yeah, if you are good with these tools then that would save time... and please don't take it as an insult if I say that plenty of people with experience have really screwed things up (blades, fingers, etc.) by trying to save some time with a power tool. Also, you may not want more of a tool...just my thoughts.

And I would really hope that you weren't born yesterday if you are on SRP, or you are probably going to be one hairy teenager

Originally Posted by Del1r1um

Yeah, if you are good with these tools then that would save time... and please don't take it as an insult if I say that plenty of people with experience have really screwed things up (blades, fingers, etc.) by trying to save some time with a power tool. Also, you may not want more of a tool...just my thoughts.

You're quite right, of course, and I generally dislike power tools anyway; but this Silver Steel is tough, and the fact that it probably contains silicon carbide makes work with silicon carbide paper or similar things rather slow.

Originally Posted by Del1r1um

And I would really hope that you weren't born yesterday if you are on SRP, or you are probably going to be one hairy teenager

Let's say I bought my first razor (a 6/8 Kropp) and a good Belgian stone in about 1962.

I guess you probably already know this but just in case, be really careful if you use any kind of power tool. That thin steel heats up incredibly rapidly, and it doesn't take a lot of heat to turn a nice razor into a useless nicknack
It can literally be a matter of seconds.