Thread: Joseph Elliot, my first for restoration

Long story short, I found this at the local flea market for $.50. After looking at the pictures in this section I would say it's in quasi rough condition with some rust and pitting near the tip on the spine and some splotches on the body of the blade. I'm going to assume (although I don't know for sure) that the scales are celluloid as they look pitted and chewed and by the appearance of the dark splotches on the body. I don't see any cracks or chips though, so that's a good sign .

So after some reviewing of the threads I'm going to start out with the tin foil trick that some people recommended. I could never really find out the "why" or "how" that works, would anyone care to explain? The next step after that is to hand sand starting with some 400 grit and working my way up.. what better way to do a little work while listening to Radio Netherlands or Havana on the shortwave?

Pics follow.. anything you guys can recommend would be greatly appreciated . Oh, and excuse the quality of the pictures.. the iphone is great and all, but it's camera could use some work, lol.

Driador

The blade could be gorgeous, the scales are sh4gged!
Honestly, the blade is a beauty, well to me anyway. Square point, nice size blah, blah blah.............sort her out!
BTW has a bit of wear.............but, so do I!

When you make tin foil into a ball you get a lot of little ridges. Folded tin foil is harder than rust.

I use balled tin foil to clean out the inside of my Big Green Egg grill but I have never used it for a razor. Unless you have tremendous success with the foil, I would suggest that you use a lower grit sandpaper to start out. If you have any residual rust, it will take forever to get rid of it with 400. I usually start with 180 or 240 grit to remove all rust, then all subsequent grits are used to progressively remove the lower grit's scratch marks.

Not that it matters, but the scales are(were) either bone or horn, looks like bone from here. There is some kind of bug that likes to eat this type of material. They were nice at one time.

It's rather odd that the scales are chewed up on one side and untouched on the other. I wonder if the two sides are made of different material? Aside from their difference in condition, they look like they might be different.