Finally got back in the shed after a few weeks and made a 3/4 finished a knife sheath on Saturday then while the dye was drying,
I had to work on this 196 Le Grelot P. Hospital & Co which has been calling be for a while
Attachment 245418Attachment 245419
I gave it several soaks in EvapoRust a couple weeks ago, the original scales were a Faux Ivory type material that had shrunk considerably over the years (you can just see about 1mm shrinkage around the wedge alone) & were covered in cracks & blisters and went all stringy & crumbly when wet.
So I started with grey Tripoli polishing bar on cotton buffs but didn't like the finish so then when down to 400 grit compound still no right so then went back to 400 grit on the Belt grinder on my 1" wheel to get rid of the bulk of the pitting etc on the blade face only
the tang and spine is only polishing compound & buffing to maintain their history
Attachment 245420Attachment 245421
the new scales are the 1/8" Masecraft Imitation Ivory
and I found this to be weird stuff to use, in sheet form it is hard & stiff like any acrylic sheet, but when I was wet sanding it became flexible & lost it stiffness, will need to check tonight if it come back stiff when fully dry again so stay tuned
I went with collarless pins for practice and effect & they are 1/16" 416 stainless steel
ready for honing in the next couple of days
Attachment 245422Attachment 245423