Thread: First Restoration Need some help!

I didn't mean to kill the etching bur it was close the surface of the blade and came off with the rust. I wish I could save the etching and other good details.

too late now but i think you should have stopped after the first round of sanding. the etch would have still been there. I think it is better to keep the etch than to make it look pretty as the etch is part of it's identity.

it could also be that i am just lazy and prefer to stop when it is 'clean' enough.

great job on getting it cleaned up.

I did my first pin job this past weekend. getting the razor to center was not easy. i would suggest to pay attention to the assembling part if you need to use washers for centering. that is what screwed me up (i put them on the wrong side).

Thank you mate, This is my first restoration and I made couple mistakes, I wish I would stop there and save the details but as you said it's too late. The scales damaged while trying to take of the pins and washers and I'm waiting new scale and pins and washers. When they arrived I will be very careful and ask opinions from here to make it right.
Thanks again.

Originally Posted by lostinhk

too late now but i think you should have stopped after the first round of sanding. the etch would have still been there. I think it is better to keep the etch than to make it look pretty as the etch is part of it's identity.

it could also be that i am just lazy and prefer to stop when it is 'clean' enough.

great job on getting it cleaned up.

I did my first pin job this past weekend. getting the razor to center was not easy. i would suggest to pay attention to the assembling part if you need to use washers for centering. that is what screwed me up (i put them on the wrong side).

As I stated above its a gradual learning curve. you did pretty well with this one so far IMO. Keep up the good work.

Just from my own experience, I always started off with a 320 grit. If you start with anything coarser, you will leave deep scratch marks that you will have to sand out quite a bit with 320 or a finer grit sandpaper. Use wet or dry & WD 40 or an equivalent lubricant. It does look a lot better already so you definitely have done some good. Like the others have said, sand in one direction only & keep at it. It will take a lot of elbow grease but it will eventually look better than it was. I do like your results already but I would have started with a 320 grit & then progressively move up to a 2000 grit but that's just me. Then in the end follow up with 0000 steel wool with WD 40 on it. It should come out with a nice shine to it.

I would think starting at a higher grit 600-1000 would make more sense.

You did good starting with 120 grit. I'll remember that in the future. Starting out at 600-1000 you would be there all day long trying to remove the rust. I saw the article by Bruno in which he started with 150 grit & progressed on up to 2000 grit, so you did nothing wrong with what you did. You did a great job on your first restore & that is all that matters. Keep up the good work & you'll be on top of it! I had one I started with 320 grit & worked my way up & it was great when I finished it. I may have done a little more work but I got the job done. I now wish I had started with 150 grit but next time I'll know.
Great job Chinaski, I can't wait to see your finished project after you get new scales on it. Keep up the good work my friend.

The point of Starting higher is ' to clean the crud off' so you can see if you need to drop down to the lower grits to remove any deeper blemishes or decide to leave well alone. A wise old man told me something. I never forgot " let your work peace guide your actions nothing is set in stone" I never forgot it and that has served me well. ;-)

Originally Posted by razornut

The point of Starting higher is ' to clean the crud off' so you can see if you need to drop down to the lower grits to remove any deeper blemishes or decide to leave well alone. A wise old man told me something. I never forgot " let your work peace guide your actions nothing is set in stone" I never forgot it and that has served me well. ;-)

I agree. I said what I said because he had already gone & started with a lower grit. If it is black, then that is usually rust so I will start with something like 320 grit. There is usually pitting down below the black & ifDickWhiman is reading this, I wasn't trying to bad mouth ya my friend.

No offense taken. I have no qualms with the low grits. I just usually try the least invasive first. Didn't see that the OP started that low. All good.