Thread: Handsanding howto

You can mask off the goldwash with electrical tape & work around it but if there is rust or pitting on the goldwash its a goner if you abrade the area. Dovo & Gotta razors are good for masking as they have a lot of straight lines in the goldwash.

Just wanted to subscribe to this awesome thread! It's given me a lot of ideas and tips for when I get my sandpaper and start restoring a rusted/pitted Dovo 24.

Thanks onimaru. From what you said and looking around the forums, I realize that anything with a wash or darkened etching has two options: kill it or keep it. I'm really curious what some light buffing with compound would do, but (I guess) it would take testing and practice; too bad nice blades aren't a dime a dozen.

Btw, to those using a Dremel for buffing: I found a site which shows how to make what looks like a great buffing wheel. Here's a link to the page, I hope this is useful.

IME light buffing will fade the gold acceptably at best & kill it at worst but it will suffer some effects.

Originally Posted by Falafel

Thanks onimaru. From what you said and looking around the forums, I realize that anything with a wash or darkened etching has two options: kill it or keep it. I'm really curious what some light buffing with compound would do, but (I guess) it would take testing and practice; too bad nice blades aren't a dime a dozen.

There is actually an option number 3. I'll see if I can find it.
Way before any of you were here, we had a restoration demi God named Vladsch.
He took pics of the engraving on an 8/8 W&B before he restored it. Then he handsanded the blade until the engraving was gone, ending with 2000 grit I think.

And then he etched the engraving back in the blade, exactly like it was before. That is however not an option available to most of us, mere mortals.

EDIT:
Damn.
Here is the thread
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...atchopper.html
But the links are no longer working. Anyway it was a superb piece of restoration work.

He refers to 100 Grit sand paper. I cannot find anyone that sells anything below 150 Grit in the wet/dry paper. Should I use 100 grit plain paper to hand sand pitting?

It does not need to be wet dry.
In fact I've come to prefer the plain 'dry' paper. But make sure it is paper for sanding metal and not wood. The wood paper loses grit very easily which is not handy. Paper for metal also has sharper grit, which are better at scratching metal.

Originally Posted by Bruno

It does not need to be wet dry.
In fact I've come to prefer the plain 'dry' paper. But make sure it is paper for sanding metal and not wood. The wood paper loses grit very easily which is not handy. Paper for metal also has sharper grit, which are better at scratching metal.

I get my paper from a body shop supply and it is all for sanding metal. I'll get some 100 grit and give it a try, thanks.

Originally Posted by Bruno

There is actually an option number 3. I'll see if I can find it.
Way before any of you were here, we had a restoration demi God named Vladsch.
He took pics of the engraving on an 8/8 W&B before he restored it. Then he handsanded the blade until the engraving was gone, ending with 2000 grit I think.

And then he etched the engraving back in the blade, exactly like it was before. That is however not an option available to most of us, mere mortals.

EDIT:
Damn.
Here is the thread
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...atchopper.html
But the links are no longer working. Anyway it was a superb piece of restoration work.

The amazing Vlad was truly in a league of his own, however taking it a step further once the etch is restored via laser one can move to option 4 as per Aaronx's tutorial on gold washes.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...storation.html

All too much work for this mere mortal

Needed to subscribe, great stuff.
Can any of you respected restorers explain the difference between near mirror, mirror and true mirror?
Somewhere on this site I'm sure I read that to get true mirror, one needs to progress through the wet n dry grits and then through the micromesh range, crox buff.
I've stopped at 1500 wet and dry and polished with autosol/mass for ages and got something pretty darn reflective. However I'm begining to think it's maybe near mirror??
http://straightrazorpalace.com/forge...g-razor-6.html