Thread: Saving an acid etched image

Greetings one and all,
Rediscovering the joys of DE wet shaving after many years of electric and multi-blade butchery, I decided to restore my great-grandfather's Wade & Butcher masonic straight edge that my grandmother gifted to me back in the early 1970s. To my dismay, the once very visible etching was now covered in patina and age (what did I expect for storing the item in its case for 37 years). My question, before I go crazy with greaseless rubbing compounds, is there a way to revive the etching or is a professional restoration better suited for the project? I can post pictures, if it will help.

Some mothers polish worked wonders for mine. I didn't go any farther than that though.

I know of some others that have used the Mother's Polish and it had rubbed most of the etching off. If it is a real light etch you might have issues.

Pics. That'll give us more to work with when coming up with suggestions.

Michael

There is no way to "revive" etching. If you sand the blade and if the etching is shallow it will be gone. Best to use some very gentle product there. Plain metal polish like maas or simichrome first then maybe some cape cod polishing clothes if they don't work. You just need to keep checking the area.

I apologize for the poor quality.

The good news is that the only "etching" I can see is on the tang (but stamped?) That area isn't bad, and the lettering looks deeper than the rust is likely to go. Glue or double-sided tape some abrasive paper (I'd start about 400 grit) to a piece of dead flat board or glass, and I think you can deal with that before the lettering goes.


Am I right in thinking there is no etching in the hollow faces of the blade? You will need abrasive paper there. I would glue small pieces of paper, starting pretty coarse IF there is no shallow etching, to pieces of stiff leather, cork tile or sliced-up pencil eraser, narrower than the blade. I've used a piece of brass bar bent at about 30 degrees, with a small chisel used to strike up rasp-like teeth, to make and applicator for those miniature pads.

Another possibility is to grease the blade and cast a small block of epoxy filler as a backer to your abrasive paper. The idea is to make the abrasive conform to the shape of the hollow grind.

There appears to be etching on the blade itself so you'll have to watch that. Of more concern if you are talking restoration is the very uneven spine wear on that piece. Honing that will be a challenge.