Thread: Will the Scratches Ever Come Out?

I've been hand sanding a bunch of razors, and I can't seem to get the low grit scratches out. The progression I'm working with is 120, 220, 400, 600 - the only grits I can find in the hardware stores in my area. When I go from 120 to 220, I keep on going until the scratches seem to go away, but when I go up to the next level, it's almost as if I'm revealing the scratches from the first level.

Is there a solution for this? I have been going in perpendicular directions on each grit, hoping it will remove the scratches faster and be more obvious when I make progress. I know I'll need to get 1K or higher to get rid of the 600 grit scratches, so I'm not worried about that for now. I need to make a trip to an Autozone...

Yes they will after many many hours of sanding. You have to very patient between grits. Its s lot easier to use greaseless compound, but you need a buffer. Just keep at it and the scratches will go away.

Originally Posted by BingoBango

I've been hand sanding a bunch of razors, and I can't seem to get the low grit scratches out. The progression I'm working with is 120, 220, 400, 600 - the only grits I can find in the hardware stores in my area. When I go from 120 to 220, I keep on going until the scratches seem to go away, but when I go up to the next level, it's almost as if I'm revealing the scratches from the first level.

Is there a solution for this? I have been going in perpendicular directions on each grit, hoping it will remove the scratches faster and be more obvious when I make progress. I know I'll need to get 1K or higher to get rid of the 600 grit scratches, so I'm not worried about that for now. I need to make a trip to an Autozone...

Well hand sanding is far-and-away the most tedious task in restoration because it's so repetitive. The scratches will go away eventually and unfortunately the only solutions are either patience, or perhaps reading up on buffers with compounds.

I haven't had any really major pitting problems so my razors have all started at 400-grit. I do 400, 800, 1k, 1500, 2k and then polish. I can only speak for the, say, 2-dozen razors I've sanded but the 400-grit was enough to take care of minor pitting and rust. Just takes a little longer initially but the scratch marks aren't as deep.

get yourself a tumbler and with the right stuff adderd to the media you will get some great results:
read this all of it, it will give the idea how to etc
Tumbler thread

Ha! Yeah, well hand sanding is really the only thing that's going to fit in this pre-war apartment.

I think I've got 2 of 'em to a pretty good 600 grit "layer" so I'll see what happens at 1K. I can see some deeper scratches underneath, but I've resigned to having some scratches in the end. I'm not gonna undo 2 hours going back a couple grits.

Trey mentioned greaseless compounds - do I have to use a buffer? Will I be able to do it with a rag? I know, I know, just get a Dremel... But I keep spending money on razors!

Not only has my patience (kinda) grown during this process, but so has my appreciation for the really great restorations. If you want to know what it takes to do a restoration, try sanding for 5 hours.

personally I think the hand sanding looks better in the end over the dremel, (I don't have a buffer either). Sanding just takes a long time and I sometimes have to go back when I realize I didn't quite get some scratches out.

One thing you may want to consider is watching your pressure. If you don't let the sand paper do the work you can put deeper scratches in there that take longer to get out.

You could also consider not starting at 120 if you can avoid it. For some razors the damage may be bad enough to warrant it but in other occasions you might find it is overkill and costing you more time.

Originally Posted by BingoBango

Ha! Yeah, well hand sanding is really the only thing that's going to fit in this pre-war apartment.

I think I've got 2 of 'em to a pretty good 600 grit "layer" so I'll see what happens at 1K. I can see some deeper scratches underneath, but I've resigned to having some scratches in the end. I'm not gonna undo 2 hours going back a couple grits.

Trey mentioned greaseless compounds - do I have to use a buffer? Will I be able to do it with a rag? I know, I know, just get a Dremel... But I keep spending money on razors!

Not only has my patience (kinda) grown during this process, but so has my appreciation for the really great restorations. If you want to know what it takes to do a restoration, try sanding for 5 hours.

You don't need a buffer at all, but you asked for alternatives to hand sanding and that's really the only one. Dremels are great all-around tools but I don't see any reason to get one just for razors. Personally I just use mine for polishing.

A tumbler was also mentioned and they're great for polishing. It's a good alternative to the higher grit sandpaper, but a tumbler won't remove pitting. There's a massive thread by Glen about them and I think it was generally agreed that it could replace 1000-grit sanding and above.

Edit: Glen's thread on tumblers:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...mentation.html

Ignatz' great write-up on sanding:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...polishing.html

Try getting a better progression of s.p. I was dealing with some "scratch" issues with the razors I've been working on. I could only find certain grits at the local tru-value and ACE that are nearby so I went to fleabay. Got 50 sheets of wet-dry for $30something (less than $35 total with s&h). It's all the FEPA (European)"P" which is smaller grit than the CAMI (USA) but it's all in order so I don't have to try to go from 600 to 1500 (or whatever). Still takes a while but in the last approx 4 days of sanding here and there I've made more progress than in the last couple months. Check it out. Won't hurt to look and see if that's what you need.

Thanks for all the suggestions and links. I'm gonna take another look at greaseless compounds without getting a buffer. You're probably right Commie - a Dremel could be a bit excessive. I've gotten by this long without one...

Hornm made a good point about the progression I'm using, and it's pretty tough to distinguish between what scratches were made at what grit level. I'm also going to watch my pressure going forward and see if that helps any.

In learning to use my buffer, through my own minimal experience and talking to others, I have found the following seems to be very helpful in eliminating scratches. Before changing up in grit, you should be using only the lightest pressure in a single direction, and you should not move up until only scratches in that direction remain. This will ensure that you have the shallowest scratches possible from that grit. Then, when you move up in grit by one step, work perpendicular (or at least across) the previous grit's scratch pattern and eliminate it completely. Then, switch directions, reduce pressure, and eliminate those initial scratches. Rinse and repeat until you are back to next to no pressure and have a unidirectional scratch pattern. Then jump up again and do the same process.

By reducing pressure to make shallower scratches, you will have less work to do when you jump up in grit. By changing directions, you can always catch the blade in the right light to see if you eliminate your previous scratches.

It seems the trick next is to learn how to carefully control your pressure and vary your directions at each stage to minimize the amount of time you spend.

This is what I am working on with my buffer, but since hand sanding is essentially the same thing, but by hand, I figure some of it will probably translate. It's just too bad I can't bring the buffer to the meet - it would fit in the car, but I'm sure the proprietor would not appreciate the mess.