Thread: Ruined a Le Grelot - be careful with CLR!

Hi all,

I read somewhere that someone had a blade with active rust and gave it a soak in CLR to neutralize the active rust before refreshing the blade. I recently picked up a Le Grelot - Le Canadien with gold plating and cracked scales at a local shop for $15. Smart me, I put the blade into a ziplock with CLR and promptly forgot and went to sleep. In the morning, the blade was etched and gunmetal dark, and the plating wiped off like so much lather!

So just be careful with CLR and don't get carried away.

My apologies, it read "Royal Canadien"

Now that hurts, sorry to hear about your trouble. Just underscores the fact that you have to be extremely careful anytime there is gold wash involved.

Bob

shouldn't be totally ruined, just cosmetically. at least it still can be made to shave.

That blade is far from ruined. Start with 400 grit sandpaper and go up as high as you can go. You might be able to put a mirror finish on it.

Something to keep in mind: it would have been really hard to keep the goldwash and remove the rust. I think you would have lost the goldwash anyway.

Thanks, Bordee. I haven't given up yet, but it's a shame to lose the character. Other than that spot of rust, it was pretty clean.

It looks like you just washed the etch off. The blade should still be ok. In the workshop I have seen it written many times, "rush a restore and ruin a blade". Which tells me we are not the only two to have stumbled while doing restores. It may feel bad now but I think that blade will live to shave again.

If you have access to a vibratory tumbler (the kind for reloading) try it with polishing media and let it run for a day or so, check it occasionally. If not try metal polish and synthetic fine steel wool. I would try this before I would sand if possible

This is the stuff I use, and it really produces some stunning results, it's a great first attack against existing rust, and saves an awful lot of hand sanding.

It's completely safe, and from my perspective, I've had some awesome results with it, available in both the US and Canada.

Evapo Rust:

Evapo Rust :: Rust Stop Canada

Cheers!

Originally Posted by Phrank

This is the stuff I use, and it really produces some stunning results, it's a great first attack against existing rust, and saves an awful lot of hand sanding.

It's completely safe, and from my perspective, I've had some awesome results with it, available in both the US and Canada.

Evapo Rust:

Evapo Rust :: Rust Stop Canada

Cheers!

I use Evapo Rust, too. In fact, I started using it based your recommendations... thanks!

But I haven't tried it on a blade with gold wash. Do you have any experience with it in that scenario?