A Joseph Rodgers in ivory

So. I got this little fellow recently.

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Ivory Joseph Rodgers Open by Zak Jarvis, on Flickr

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Ivory Joseph Rodgers 2 by Zak Jarvis, on Flickr

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Ivory Joseph Rodgers 1 by Zak Jarvis, on Flickr

Obviously it's going to need some tender loving care. Scales are ivory (I haven't done a pin test, but with that thickness, do I really need to?), tang is stamped Joseph Rodgers & Sons, Cutlers to Their Majesties, No. 6 Norfolk Street, Sheffield. England is stamped in a semicircle near the pin.

It's roughly half-hollow, has a small frown near the heel and is, shall we say, a bit tarnished.

I've read through some of the threads on ivory restoration, but if any of you folks who've done lots of work with the stuff have any ideas for a specific plan of attack, I'm all ears.

I would frown if I looked like that too. I'm sure she'll look great soon. Can't wait to see final pics.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y...04/s648/11+-+1

You win THIS round, oxidation. But I'll be back! You just wait and see!

Some combination of sandpaper, a dull razor (to cut off the worst rust), dremel with polishing grease, Mother's mag polish and a lot of effort put a sizable dent in the impressive quantity of crud on the blade. Some of that rust had turned into some kind of terrifying rust-enamel hybrid that could spew flame, throw cars and generally ignore the abrasives I beat it with. It took a lot of razor-scraping to get it down to manageable.

I'm left wondering if it had last been used to shave the pseudopods off a being of pure grime.

Thankfully, the blade is thick enough that even some deep pits aren't going to stand in the way of putting an edge on.

What's standing in the way of an edge is a slightly wacky spine.