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I bought a Joseph Elliot a few weeks ago,and the steel is so hard a 120 grit stick wont phase the pitting/oxidation on the end of the blade.Is this steel normally this hard? It did appear slightly black on the end.If this had been overheated,could a good blacksmith anneal it to make it workable and then re-temper it?I hate to think this old blade is toast,it has some unique angles on it and the jimps underneath are as sharp as a new one,also the brand stampings are very good.
Yup those Sheffield razors are tough; the steel was hardened and then tempered through a complicated process. It has to be that way to hold a shaving edge.
Unfortunately when it comes to removing the decades old pitting there is no simple way to do it…
Annealing and re-hardening steel (especially an already manufactured razor) is not a job for the faint of hart. For one; the process will cause the surface of the razor to become deeply oxidized and you will have to clean it up again, that may remove the stamping and any engraving on the razor as well as removing a good percentage of the razor’s material… much more than sanding the razor as it is now.
You will have to continue with more wet/dry sandpaper to clean it up… you will get there.
There are many threads on this subject… check out the Handsanding howto thread in the Restoration Forum Essentials & FAQ.
And post some pics so someone can give some pointers
Good luck my friend.
Annealing and heat treating again would be much more work than removing the pitting with sandpaper.
And at best you'd end up with a much smaller razor. Worst case the razor will warp in heat treatment.
If you don't have a belt grinder or something similar (dremel with a flapwheel) then handsanding is your safest bet. It will take a lot of time though. Removing pitting takes the most work, and 6 - 10 hours is not exceptional.
Silver Steel has an astounding carbon content up to about 1.2%, makes it very hard.