Thread: Restoring a Korten's Celebrated - worth it?

So I've got this spike-tip Korten's Celebrated Hollow Ground, perfectly serviceable as-is.



It's got surface blemishes where there was rust (I de-rusted using aluminum foil), and the spine is very rough (lots of de-rusting, so lots of raised metal). A good hone and it'll shave fine, the edge is in perfect order and it's painfully straight (a look down the barrel... even the spike tip is perfect).

I'm tempted to de-scale it, sand it, metal polish it, buff it up, and then drop it in red Dovo Pakawood scales. I'm not sure on the grits of sandpaper... 800 1200 2000 Emory? Also not sure where to get metal polish (home depot?), or what size rivet tool to use (If they come in sizes)... I'm assuming I need a tool like this:



A little metal bar with a hole in one end to mushroom the rivet out, and just tap with a hammer a lot until it's secure.

If this works out I'll go for cleaning up the US Army/Navy issue straight; but that has a few knicks in the edge and will need 1000 or 2000 grit honing to restore the edge, so I'll need a honemeister that doesn't mind doing a bit extra work....

Making either of these hunks of metal look like brand new high-end steel tools would be kind of Neo-esque though.