Thread: Removing light pitting

What grit paper do you guys like for removing light pitting? The kind of pitting that you find under surface rust, but it doesn't seem to be too deep. You almost can't see it really well straight on, but when you view the reflection at an angle, it stands out like a sore thumb.

Do you go lower than 220 grit?

For this type of (relatively light) pitting, how long do you generally expect to sand each side for before you're through it and moving on up the grits?

And this may seem like a dumb question, but you don't just sand at the pitted areas... you should remove steel as evenly as possible from the entire length of the blade, right?

And one last thing... the sandpaper is supposed to wear out very quickly, right? (I'm using 3M wet/dry paper from autozone).

did you check out the handsanding howto sticky? very helpful indeed.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...ing-howto.html

I recently sanded 2 blades with deep pitting. What I observed was that if the pitts were not too deep a low grit was difficult to remove them with (low being 80). It seemed like the grains of the sandpaper would just pass by the pitts and I would be removing blade material everywhere besides the pitts. I got tired of this so I moved up to 100 and then 150 grit. Since the grains on the sandpaper were closer together I was able to catch the pitts more effectively and away they went. Then I got to a point where the pitts were so small that I had to move up in grit again (now 180 then 220) to start sanding down the pitts again. All the meanwhile yes, I ended up removing material from the whole blade surface. I tried to spend as much time on other parts of the blade as I did in the region where the pitts are.

Please keep in mind that this was my first sanding job so take this with a grain of salt. Just telling you what worked for me...

Depending on your patience level, you could start much higher, say maybe 600. See what you can get rid of and then determine if you want to go lower. I would then step to 400.

Why drop so low if you don't have to.

Just my opinion though. I have lots of extra time....

You can't "remove" pitting, it's already gone. :P
I have nothing new to add.

Originally Posted by floppyshoes

You can't "remove" pitting, it's already gone. :P
I have nothing new to add.

Excellent point!

Originally Posted by floppyshoes

You can't "remove" pitting, it's already gone. :P
I have nothing new to add.

Hehe

I was trying at another razor last night and I went through quite a bit of 220 grit sandpaper and didn't seem to make much of a dent in the pitting on it. It's really just one spot that's pitted. It's not deep enough to catch a thumbnail, if that means anything. I spent probably 30-40 minutes on the one side with the pitting, continuously vigorously sanding it. I was definitely removing metal as I was using a magnetic blade holder (sorta like Bill Ellis' design) and I could see metal filings starting to "stand up" as they do when magnetized, but I really couldn't notice any change in the pitted area that seemed like progress.

Guess it takes a lot longer than I would have thought, even for what I would have described as "light" pitting. Or, maybe I need to step down in grit? I don't have any lower grit at the moment, or I would have tried already. I guess I'll run out and grab some and give it a shot.

I had originally asked these questions because I've worked at a number of razors and never really had any luck removing pitting. I can get them cleaned up very nice following the wiki, a nice mirror shine, except for the pits. They really stand out especially when the rest is mirror shined. I've never really even seemed to make any progress in removing them. Maybe I just don't have the patience for it

I think I am experiencing the same situation with patch-like areas difficult to blend away with sp or polish but I wondered if anyone has ever posted a picture of pitting; the link if possible please. This would be at a magnification greater than normal. I see a dark stain-like area when I remove light rust. I'm assuming this is pitting although the change in surface is not obvious if there at all.

Originally Posted by lordjohn

I think I am experiencing the same situation with patch-like areas difficult to blend away with sp or polish but I wondered if anyone has ever posted a picture of pitting; the link if possible please. This would be at a magnification greater than normal. I see a dark stain-like area when I remove light rust. I'm assuming this is pitting although the change in surface is not obvious if there at all.

Yes, that is pitting. Or at least, that's what I'm calling pitting in reference to this thread.

Originally Posted by lordjohn

I think I am experiencing the same situation with patch-like areas difficult to blend away with sp or polish but I wondered if anyone has ever posted a picture of pitting ....

The dark spots you see could very likely be pitting, Check out this picture below. The dark line running from toe to heal was a long line of pits. At first I thought it was gunk or tarnish, but after I sanded off the dark tarnish I was able to see the pitting.