Thread: Can I remove the pitting?

Hi all, I'm really new here so bear with me. I just bought my first straight as a project at a local antique store. It's a Joseph Allen & Sons 5/8. It looks like it has the original scale. I think it's a 1/4 hollow grind. I was wondering if the pitting on the back side of the blade could be remove safely. Some of it is pretty close to the pointy part of the blade. If it can be remove, I was planning to do it by hand. What grits should I use. Here's some pictures:

Hand sanding a blade - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Also check the restoration section of wiki and the workshop area at the forum. Good luck

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

It doesn't look too serious, so with a bit of elbow grease, you should be able to get the pitting out, and polish that razor up nicely.

O_S, I don't know about that. The pitting looks pretty deep from the mid line to the edge of the blade. Could it be to deep for the blade thickness?

Some of them look horribly deep to me - I'd hate to find a lot of pinholes beneath the surface, as one or two are quite near the edge. If too much metal doesn't have to come off the edge it's probably not much of a problem, but I can see someone being easily discouraged with trying to hand-sand them out.

Regards,
Neil

I doubt that you will be able to remove all of the pitting, but you can certainly clean it up and make it a great shaver nonetheless.

it's really hard to tell without doing it. You might have enough steel to easily remove all the pits.... you might not. I'm thinking you probably do, but you never really know just how deep the corrosion has gone until you've removed it all. If you've got the time and the energy and feel like taking a whack at it, I don't see how you can do any harm. It's just a lot of elbow grease and not get them all out.

Have a go. Any razor with corrosion will usually have some remnant pitting after restoring but good steel deserves an attempt. it may not look perfect after finishing but you will have at least partially "future proofed" a fine shaver... if the edge is sound.
Attempt to establish a bevel & check under magnification for the "swiss cheese" effect. If the edge looks good go for it. Even if there are some pinholes you may be able to hone past them.