Thread: any suggestions?

i've got a question, the dark spots on this blade


i thought they were just blemishes in the steel, after polishing it up, i've noticed that they have a texture.. i think that this blade had a serious rust problem with it( as evidenced by the dark sports near the edge) and was cleaned up before i got it. is there a way to take it down without taking out the poem on the blade?

Lightly sand it with 1500 or 2000 grit wet and dry to clean the surface then polish.

That is a really cool razor. I would send that out to one of the heavy hitters to mess with that. My skill level in refinishing is nil. The heavy pitting on the edge might mean that a lot of material will have to be removed to get it to where you can hone it to shave worthiness but even as a display piece it is great.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Lightly sand it with 1500 or 2000 grit wet and dry to clean the surface then polish.

This won't nearly get out much of that 'black stuff' though. It's hard to say without seeing the blade in person as to what the best approach would be. I doubt it would be very feasible to get out all of the imperfections and keep that poem though.

I agree with Alex on this one. It's or the poem or the staining. You could start sanding but imo you'll probably, if you're lucky, only see a glimps of the poets reflection on the blade after sanding down the staining completely. I would take a magnifier and see how deep the poem is engraved or if it's just a writing on the blade. Also look at the staining and try to get an estimate as how deep it goes.

It doesn't look like its any use for shaving with.

The dark spots may be pitting and this destroys the thin metal, because it eats all the way through to the other side. This in turn makes it impossible to create a bevel edge without holes in it. Any such razor can be very dangerous to shave with.

mmm.. i think you're right, English... the poem is fairly deep(2mm approx) but after i ran a felt dremel pad lightly over it with some good green compound, the shine came up. the areas that had the dark spots on it came up like orane peel(closest analogy) some one had previously taken some sandpaper to it, as you can see the scrachmarks from the grit. i'll probbably sent it to one of the Honemiesters here for an eval.

Originally Posted by Philadelph

This won't nearly get out much of that 'black stuff' though. It's hard to say without seeing the blade in person as to what the best approach would be. I doubt it would be very feasible to get out all of the imperfections and keep that poem though.

Agreed, he may have to live with some "patina", but I truly believe great improvement can be made, it may not look new again, but it can still be a proud piece. My biggest concern would be wether or not the oxidization on the edge has eaten so far that the edge will have to be moved upward toward the last line of the rhyme. I cant tell for sure wether those are chips or just oxidization.

so, got a loupe today, and had a realy good look at that blade.. yeah.. swiss cheese... so, i'm going to make it look as good as possible....

Originally Posted by Liam2112

so, got a loupe today, and had a realy good look at that blade.. yeah.. swiss cheese... so, i'm going to make it look as good as possible....

How bad is it an how far towards the rhyme?