Thread: How far should I go?

I won this tonight. Should I go for a fine finish, or try to keep the etching?

There's really not much left to the etching, and I've never restored a blade before. So in a way, it's more a question of whether I should try to go all out or just get rid of the rust.

And yes, I'm replacing the scales.

I would just go after the rust. It's an old blade and you would have remove a lot of steel to get it to a mirror finish. I would be careful with those scales too. It looks good enough to get into shaving shape but to save the etching and keep the scales intact I'd say go easy.

I was considering putting on new scales, since the old ones are cracked and torn up. Are they worth keeping, just for being horn, or is the missing back end of one enough reason to replace them?

Is there any particular advice for a starting point (at least) to remove the rust?

Those scales are done man. That being the case, take those suckers off and restore the whole blade but the front to a mirror finish. Or at least try. As for the etching, how important is it to you? I have one blade with nice etching but could go either way. I think I'm going to save the etching and make the rest of the blade mirror (cause my girlfriend likes the etching so much).

You could also try on a very corner of the face with etching to sand lightly with 2k grit paper. See if it helps the finish. If so, you can try it on a beat up etched section to see if the etching gets worn badly, if not, you could polish up the etch that way.

I knew the scales were done. It just kind of confused me in the first reply:

I would be careful with those scales too. It looks good enough to get into shaving shape but to ... keep the scales intact I'd say go easy.

I'm already trying to decide the route for the scales.

The etching isn't so much a priority to me. Though it's nice, I want to see all of it IF I'm going to specifically save it. Then again, I may see exactly the condition when the razor comes in.

So where's a place to start with the resto wor? Or should I just go for the DVD and follow that?

Starting out on any blade, a lot of guys polish it with some Maas or whatever. When you know there is rust though, I usually just start with either 220 or 400 grit sandpaper to see exactly how much damage there is to the blade (pitting). From there, you can tell if it's gonna need a lot of work or a little.

Thanks much. I have 220 and 400 grit already.

Remember that when sanding the face of the blade, go from edge to spine to recreate the original grind marking. Also, if you don't have some kind of "device" to hold the sandpaper with, your hands will be in for a workout! Actually they are still in for a workout even with a sandpaper holder...

I say go all out. That's the best way to learn.
The blade is a wedge so it can handle your inexperience, and a mistake won't ruin the blade.
Braek away the scales and remove the pin with pliers.

I just found our my handsanding guide didn't survive the crash so I'll have to re write it.
In short, start off with 320 grit sandpaper, wrapped around a wooden finger.
Sand circular until the damage and the etching are gone.
Then sand the blade back and forth across the length until most of the scratch pattern runs along the blade instead of circular, and go to the next higher grit.

repeat until you hit 2000 grit, and then finish with a dremel and polishing compound.

Making new scales out of wood is not so hard either. Buy some 1/8 wood, cut the scales, sand the scales, dril the pin holes, pin the blade, and presto: a beautiful as-new razor.

Any suggestion for a source of high grit sand paper? My local Lowe's only has up to 600 grit, but I didn't really expect to find much higher.

I'm also working somewhat on a set of scales. It's more an experiemnt that's going well.