I've been cleaning up some old razors I've accumulated, and while some are really nasty, with lots of rust, some are just dirty, with only patina. In this case, what I want to do is polish up the blade (get rid of the patina) while keeping any (shallow) pits. I know, this sounds nuts, but I kinda like the look of pitting sometimes - keeps the razor "vintage" looking.

So I'm wondering what grit I should start sanding at for this? Or should I skip the sandpaper all together and just use some polishing compound? Of course I could just try it out, working my way backwards until I figure out what works, but I thought I'd maybe save myself some time and ask around first.

I've got these grits of wet/dry sandpaper available to me: 220 400 800 1000 1500 2000, plus 3 different "grades" of polishing compound. My goal would be to get the blade pretty darn shiny, while still keeping the shallow pitting.