Thread: How far to go?

How far do you go with trying to get rid of pitting and stains etc. Do you just have to accept that the etching will not be saved at all. As you can see in the photo, I have polished it up as much as I could using the dremel.

What grade wet & dry do I start with? Sorry about the photo, I will have to improve my technique The other one I took was way out of focus. But if you look hard you can see the etching or part of it.

John

Restoration is a very personal thing, almost as personal as initial choice.
You need to start out with some idea of the level of restoration that you want to achieve.
Are you out to produce something that looks like new? Or something more "sympathetic" to the way it looked originally?
I have a razor here that I have a similar issue with. If I was to do a full restoration on it the already faded etching on the blade would be only a memory.
What I decided to do was clean off the worst of the pitting (avoiding the etching where possible) and get the razor to a stage that shows it's beauty without removing the patina left by time.

Look at the attached pic of a Gotta and you'll see what I mean. If I was to remove all the stains and pitting the etching and gold was whould be only a memory. I do plan to lighten it a little more but not by much.

I hope this helps you some what.

Hi Lancer,

You are absolutely correct, and I guess I have to decide how far I want to go in regards to removing or keeping part of it's identity.

Given the very poor picture of mine and that the etching is hard to see in the photo, the fact is that the etching is fairly hard to see anyway( it's no way as clear as yours) . You can see it if you look hard and you can certainly feel it if you run the flat of your finger over it. So going with that theory I reckon I just have to accept that I will lose the etching at least on this one if I truly want to get rid of all the pitting. I need to practise on something so it may as well be this.

John

One other issue is how much metal you can remove without adversely affecting performance - for example, there's less metal to play with on a DD or an extra-hollow ground razor than a heavier grind.

This is a limiting factor in terms of how far you can go in removing pitting.

Another issue is where the pitting is - obviously, there's more room if the pitting is higher up on the blade.

Yes the pitting on this one is mainly on the lower half of the blade, but being an F R Reynolds it's fairly heavy so hopefully it wont be too bad.

I just re looked at my photo, geez it's hopeless I should just remove it. I tried with the flash but it just gave me white out, perhaps I should try again with the flash but on a dark background.

John

Ah, John, I know exactly what you're dealing with. I've got a W&B full wedge that had pitting virtually everywhere BUT around the etching. I started hand sanding with 1500 grit, avoiding sanding the etching, and worked my way down, all the while becoming more and more convinced I'd landed some sort of uber-cast metal never intended for anything more than display purposes. The sandpaper, used with the same pressure I've used with every other blade was not making a mark, even as low as 80 grit. I have to use serious scrubbing to work this one, and though I haven't given up yet, whenever I look at it I think about just sending it off to be reground. In my case, the fact that I haven't yet indicates how badly I'd like to keep that mostly irrelevant "CELEBRATED FINE INDIA STEEL SET READY FOR USE" that someone carefully centred over two lines in the middle of my blade probably a century ago. I haven't ceded victory yet, but I haven't picked it up in three weeks either. At some point a decision will have to be made. Let's start with yours...

Hey John,
You can get pretty good results scanning the blade rather than photographing it.
Cheers,
David

Originally Posted by johnmw1

...
I just re looked at my photo, geez it's hopeless I should just remove it. I tried with the flash but it just gave me white out, perhaps I should try again with the flash but on a dark background.

John

John -
Shiny objects are some of the most difficult to photgraph well. Joshearl had a great thread on tips for photographing razors here and in that thread, rtaylor had a great link to follow this link

You're certainly not alone in experiencing difficulties photographing razors.....


.....just look at eBay...sheeeeesh!

-whatever

-Lou

(nice lookin' blade - I like the shape, and I'll bet it cleans up nice!)

Hi Lou,

Very interesting stuff that, I'm tempted to have a go, thanks for the link.

Regards
John

Originally Posted by drsch3

Hey John,
You can get pretty good results scanning the blade rather than photographing it.
Cheers,
David

Hi David,

I did initially try using the scanner, but as usual too many other things distracting me in the background (meaning other people) and I should have manually scanned it, but not enough time (meaning what are you scanning that for) so I gave up in the end.

Regards
John