Should I leave good enough alone on my Kingcutter?

So I just received an old Boker Kingcutter that I took a bit of a gamble on. It could have come in better condition but it also could have been a lot worse. The hone wear, while present, is pretty minimal and the goldwash is in pretty amazing condition. There are some microchips in the edge but I'm confident they'll hone out without issue.

The debate I'm having is this: there is some nice patina on most of the blade, but on a few other spots (the pivot and the toe of the back side in particular) where the rust is prominent and maybe an issue. If I go ahead and sand or polish out the problem spots it also means losing the overall patina and I probably have to do the entire blade and very very carefully work around the goldwash.

What do you folks suggest there? Hone it up and otherwise leave it as is? Go through the grits and take out all the rust and patina? Something else?

Thanks in advance for your expertise!

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This might seem a strange suggestion but hey, it's me. I would de rust the tang, polish the beegeebies out of the tang; same
treatment on the non show side and leave the gold wash and the rest of the show side totally intact. Then set about the needed
honing. Good luck with it. I shaved with a Boker this morning.

I know I sound like a broken-record, but you have some frowning to deal with.

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

I know I sound like a broken-record, but you have some frowning to deal with.

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Yep, gonna loose some blade width.

You could scratch away the rust with a single edge razor and a dental pick. Tedious but effective if you’re trying not to screw with the patina. A good brushing with a nylon brush or a tooth brush afterward will help get loosened rust off. Make sure to get it all off the blade otherwise it ends up in your strop. I won’t make that mistake again.

Thank you for your replies. It's interesting, there is a very slight frown but actually nothing like those first pictures make it seem.

Based on Learner's initial suggestion I pulled the scales off and started sanding the tang and backside of the blade with 320 w/d. There is a bit of pitting so I might drop down to 220, but getting it this cleaned up with 15 minutes of sanding gives me hope. I'm still not sure how to handle the goldwashed wide, though. jfk742's suggestion of just using a pick and/or razor to pick off the rust might be best option here.

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looks like the stabilizer may give you the most trouble. Definitely less frowny looking in the last two pics.

Yes, it does look like you will have to reshape the heel to get the stabilizer out of the way and prevent a heel hook from forming. Especially as you will loose some blade width honing the frown and chips out. If you have to do it, this will give you an idea of how to do it. The blades edge should be lower than where the stabilizer ends. A look at a new razor will show you what I mean.

https://sharprazorpalace.com/honing/...file-heel.html

On the show side of the blade you could tape over the gold wash and polish around it.

Bob

You could also recreate the patina with hot vinegar, maybe on just the areas you sand? I hate rust but I like the patina on an old razor much more than shiny polishing.

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Originally Posted by BobH

Yes, it does look like you will have to reshape the heel to get the stabilizer out of the way and prevent a heel hook from forming. Especially as you will loose some blade width honing the frown and chips out. If you have to do it, this will give you an idea of how to do it. The blades edge should be lower than where the stabilizer ends. A look at a new razor will show you what I mean.

https://sharprazorpalace.com/honing/...file-heel.html

On the show side of the blade you could tape over the gold wash and polish around it.

Bob

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I don't think I would have even picked up on the need to reshape the heel but you're absolutely right about it. That was a really interesting thread to read.

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Originally Posted by NittanyGator

You could also recreate the patina with hot vinegar, maybe on just the areas you sand? I hate rust but I like the patina on an old razor much more than shiny polishing.

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Hot vinegar is a pretty great suggestion too. Down the rabbit hole!

See if it will hold an edge, before you invest a bunch of time, and find out it won’t.

Hone it.

So, just looking at the gold wash will thin the gold and eventually make it disappear.

Almost true. Metal polish, let alone steel wool or a buffing wheel will strip it off in a blink. Patina is rust, not active rust but rust none the less. If you get it on your strop, it is abrasive and can/will affect you edge.

You want to remove as much “patina” as possible. Decide if you want to try to save the Gold Wash, I do not know any way to brighten it without removing some of it.

If you remove it, 000 steel wool and WD40 will remove most of it, 600 -1000 grit steel wool will remove all the patina and gold and ready for polishing. or a buffing wheel with 600 grit will do it all in minutes.

If you want to try and save the wash, you will have to cover it with tape, experiment with masking or scotch tape, I would first try good low tac, blue masking tape, take a small piece on a corner and put on the gold lightly, carefully pull it off and see if the gold comes with it.

If not cover the wash and with a razor cut out the shape of the wash, then you can use steel wool and polish to get as close as possible and preserve the wash. Do not leave the tape on any longer than necessary. And remove it if you have to leave the project for an extended time, (overnight). A hair dryer heat will loosen the glue for better removal, but it is old and thin so do not hold out great hope with this process, go slow.

Pick up an inexpensive electric eraser and extra erasers. You can get them of a couple dollars, battery operated. With a touch of a good metal polish, you can get up right to the edge of the tape and right to the line with the tape removed to touch up. Steel wool and wet and dry sand paper will get the rest, used with wine corks large erasers, chopstick, wooden coffee stir stick and pencil erasers over bits of sand paper will get it all eventually.

It is a lot of work, so before you start all this madness, hone the razor and make sure the razor will take an edge. If not, don’t waste your time.

Use nail polish to cover the gold wash, then your favorite metal polish.

Use acetone to remove the nail polish and enjoy.

As others have said though, make sure you can get a clean bevel before investing too much time

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Originally Posted by Doc226

Use nail polish to cover the gold wash, then your favorite metal polish.

Use acetone to remove the nail polish and enjoy.

As others have said though, make sure you can get a clean bevel before investing too much time

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That is a really interesting idea. I assumed that the acetone would actually pull the goldwash off too.

I took the above advice over the weekend and took it to the hones. I started with some light breadknifing to take out that slight frown and then went to work on setting a bevel. I had to even the edge out a bit using some selective pressure on one side of the toe. After breadknifing it, getting a bevel was a lot of work and it took me longer than I thought it would, but I stuck to it and managed to get the bevel set.

Now I'm working on sanding out the pitting. I tried packing tape first to cover the goldwash but it is simply too thing. Regular scotch tape, though, did a good job. It's tedious to cut around all the wash and I'm sure to take it off every time, so I'm just taking my time and when I find myself with a free hour I'll go through and carefully sand using 120 grit. I don't have all the pitting out yet. The plan going forward is simply to not rush anything and enjoy the experience, rather than getting over focused on the result and finishing.

Since the scales are already off I might also make a custom set on, but that's a ways away still and I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

In the 12 years I've been doing this, I have learned that whenever you ask yourself: "Should I leave well enough alone, or am I going to tweak it just a little bit more?"
The right answer almost turns out to be: "I really should have left it alone"
:)

https://picreator.co.uk/vulpex-liquid-soap/

on a German forum this is discussed to clean up etchings. But it's expensive!

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Originally Posted by Bruno

In the 12 years I've been doing this, I have learned that whenever you ask yourself: "Should I leave well enough alone, or am I going to tweak it just a little bit more?"
The right answer almost turns out to be: "I really should have left it alone"
:)

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One of my favorite sayings is "the enemy of good is perfect"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bruno

In the 12 years I've been doing this, I have learned that whenever you ask yourself: "Should I leave well enough alone, or am I going to tweak it just a little bit more?"
The right answer almost turns out to be: "I really should have left it alone"
:)

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Originally Posted by Doc226

One of my favorite sayings is "the enemy of good is perfect"

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Don't I know it! I've certainly done my fair share of pushing things too far. Every time I do, though, I learn something new and, since this is a hobby not a profession for me, that's just fine. Maybe the biggest lesson I've learned in the last few years is simply slow and steady, followed closely by no cool tricks or tools beat good old fashioned elbow grease.

No guts...No glory.
YMMV