I used my Dremel abrasive pads on the black stuff. Turns out it wasn’t corrosion after all, just some kind of stain that seems to come off fairly easily. I guess I lucked out on that.

I will have to be careful to avoid damaging the etching when I go after the stain on that side of the blade. I was thinking of masking the etching with tape or clear nail polish to help protect it before going after the stain some more.

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The scales are in good shape and do not appear to be celluloid. I’m not able to get them to show clearly in a picture, but they have a pattern that almost looks like a grain.

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I had seen that post by Glen about removing a chip, but wasn’t able to locate it right away. Thanks for providing the link Onimaru.