Thread: Hand sanding diminishing returns

I have been sanding this Morley and son's razor for about 30 minutes by hand with 180grit wet/dry and mineral oil.
There is still quite a bit of deep pitting that I am pretty sure will not come out even if I keep sanding the rest of the month. But since this is my first time doing this sort of thing, I'm in need of some advice.
Should I keep going with 180grit, or call it good and deal with the pitting that remains and continue on with the sanding progression?

I am not quite sure, but there may be a point of no return (meaning you take the scale down so low that the edge is very thin?) I seem to remember reading somewhere that the pits are sometimes "unresolveable". I am sure others can chime in.

Depending on the hardness of the blade and how deep the pitting is, it could take very long time to completely clean up the blade.
You can use a belt grinder for that job, or a Dremel type tool for faster results.

If you have pitting along the edge bevel you need to sand it out so that it doesn't interfere with honing. For any other pits, it's up to you to decide whether or not they bother you. Personally, I don't really mind light pitting or discoloration on the blade. I think it adds character.

However, for deep pitting that I want to remove, I find that a belt grinder (at very slow speed) is the most reasonable way to go. Hand sanding would just take too long and would not be worth the effort to me.

try hitting it with a 120 or 80 grit. my second (and current) restore job there was bad pitting on the top of the spine, I went as low as 60 grit and it still took hours upon hours to get it somewhat reasonable. Still has pitting but It's down to where I don't mind it so much.

nate

I've have to spend an hour tonight on 220grit sandpaper just to take out 100grit paper dremel scuffs.

Expecting to remove pitting by hand in under 30 minutes is sadly overoptimistic I fear... Maybe very light, almost invisible pitting. But the one time I hand-sanded a badly pitted razor, I spent 2 hrs on 220 before I gave up at about 50% removal.

Frankly, unless the razor is REALLY valuable to you, I'd use a power tool to remove the pitting. At some point your time becomes worth more than the razor.

I'd say either stick with the 180 grit or go with a lower grit. Either way after spending a few hours on a blade I think it is a good idea to put it aside for a day or two to prevent yourself from going crazy or doind something stupid. 'Hmmmm, that grinding wheel would remove pits'

That would only be stupid if you weren't skilled with a grinding wheel... and if you aren't... then why would you own one?

Hate to break it to you, but 30 minutes is nothing when it comes to handsanding. Keep it up for an hour or 6.

Also, when handsanding to remove damage: use something in the 80 - 120 grit range, and keep sanding until either all pitting is gone, or you are prepared to live with whatever pitting remains. As soon as you go up in grit, you are sanding to remove sanding scratches, not pitting.

If you want to know more about hand sanding, then have a look for my handsanding thread here in the workshop, or in the wiki.
Handansing is fun, and a good learning experience, and delivers high quality results. But it ain't quick

I would go with what ChrisMeyer said. I hand sand but some pitting is just part of that razors history now, get it bet you can with the lower grit then refine up to at least 1500-2000 Im sure you will like the results and definitly read Brunos wiki on sanding. Be carefull of how much pressure you use when sanding the thinner ground razors can and do bend or warp if you really push down while sanding. just have fun with it good luck