Thread: Need some help

Alright boys,
I started with 600 grit and I am not making a whole lot of progress.

Using WD-40 and sand paper. I would like to do this by hand but I feel like I am at a stand still.

Originally Posted by Redcane

Alright boys,
I started with 600 grit and I am not making a whole lot of progress.

Using WD-40 and sand paper. I would like to do this by hand but I feel like I am at a stand still.

Well, to me it looks like you are making pretty good progress! It is SLOW going, especially when you are using higher grit sandpaper in an attempt to save etchings. But that is the trade off. In order to take off as little material as possible, in a controlled way, its going to take a while to remove that much neglect. I would be happy that the really deep pitting is away from the edge - that at least is a plus! Keep at it brother!

My father, long ago passed on, told me, "Patience pays....". Keep at it, slow and steady wins the race....whenever I get impatient I ruin something that I can't undo.

Thanks guys. I am getting ready to go to dinner so I will hit it for a bit when I get back. The good news, it is coming along, the bad news, I broke the scales. I bought it for this very reason....learning. Hopefully it will take an edge. I will keep you posted.

Joel that Colapa gunmetal still shaves like a dream. One of my favorites. Thanks.

The pits are always 20 minutes of sanding deeper than the etch. Going the way you are , you will come to a point when you have to decide to live with some pits and save the etch or go on. This is always the hard part for me. Save the etch and if you get it all polished up and can't live with it you can always go back at it.

It looks like your method is paying off so far.

From looking at your photos, it appears that you have some pitting away from the etching areas. I notice some pitting on the shank, tang, and spine. For your project, you could cheat a little. You could drop down a a 200 or so grit, and then work upwards to remove the scratch marks gradually, on the areas away from the etching. This would improve overall the appearance on the non-etching areas. The lower grits remove pitting deeper and more effectively. Plus, this would be a heck of a lot faster than grinding away at 600.

Patience is what it takes. The first time I did this, I could not believe how long it took. This is something that you do a while and then walk away for a while. Maybe take a couple days, depending what else you got going on. This is a hobby right? LOL.


Mike

In the areas without engraving, I'd drop back a grit size or more.
For the engraved areas, you just have to keep at it and ever so slowly you will get it.
I know that on one razor, I spent about 20 hours to save the etching and about 4 hours on the rest of the razor.

400 grit is as low as I go when doing restores personally, the rest is elbow grease. 10pups is dead on the $ when it comes to the etching, I've seen his work and he is a master restorer when it comes to ducks. For my personal razors, I look at the razor and try to decide: Is this etch cool enough to leave a few pits or would the whole razor look better to just remove all the pits and etch. This is only a question you can answer as it's your blade, I have done both. Don't you worry about that razor taking a edge, as long as the original heat treatment hasn't been damaged with heat (power tools), it will take an edge just fine.