Brightening/Cleaning Lettering on Stamps

I bought this razor off the bay a while back – not sure why, exactly, other than that I wanted to try a Greaves and it was cheap. Unfortunately, the razor arrived in worse condition than I expected. I can live with the pitting and overall condition so long as I can salvage a decent working edge – a challenge I’m willing to take on. But removing pits and honing this guy is not why I’m posting.

REASON FOR POST: The patina is the darkest I’ve ever seen on a razor (or knife for that matter). The razor is almost black - yes, the razor really is as dark as it looks in the photos. I originally thought I’d try to remove the patina, but it’s so extensive that I’m considering keeping the patina to avoid the effort of removing it all (and, frankly, because the patina has grown on me a bit). I do, however, wish I could read the stamp better.

SPECIFIC QUESTION: Is there a way to clean and/or brighten the lettering on the stamp without disturbing the overall patina?

Thanks a million!

Brian

Im not having a hard time reading this stamp.

ManufacturedBy
W.Greaves&Sons
Sheaf Works

c1826-1850

Thanks for the quick response, TrilliumLT. Perhaps my post needs some clarification. I too can read the stamp. That said, I wish I didn't have to squint or catch the light just right to do so (it took several photographs to produce a legible stamp). I think the razor would look interesting, actually, leaving the patina in place and cleaning out the lettering to bare metal (i.e. resulting in silver lettering on a black background). I was just wondering if this is possible and/or feasible. Thanks again.

About the only way to do what you want would be to get that stuff they use to wrap wiring that shrinks to heat and then get an exacto knife and cut out the lettering. Fancy masking really, and then use some chemical bath. Personally I don't think it's worth the effort and am not sure it would even look that great.

How about a honed dental pick? I'm kind of asking as much as I'm suggesting here...

Another option might be to use the heat shrink, except instead of trying to get just the letters, carve an oval out of your heat shrink, around the stamp, and try to take the patina out of just that oval, with the stamp in the center. I think it'd look nice. Not sure it'd work, but I think it'd look cool. I'm sure it's been tried before. Maybe the pros will weigh in. Seems like it'd be tough to get that oval just perfect. But a steady hand and an exacto can really do some cool things. Might keep in mind that you're gonna scratch the patina eventually. Then it's gonna look really bad. I had a knife with a black blade once. Looked great until I used it once.

Rather than break your brains trying to figure out a way to clean the patina from within the stamped lettering, just clean and degrease the blade and then fill the stamping with some colored lacquer and wipe away the excess from the surface. Obviously, you have complete freedom in choice of filling color (red, blue, black, range of greys, silver, etc.) and so needn't necessarily end up with something that looks too strong or garish. Simple model builder's paint such as those from Revell and Humbrol will serve admirably

This filling of the stampiing was done with some production razors (the "Timor Blue" comes to mind), but whether or not you want to do this sort of thing is up to you.

In any case, this will definitely make the lettering properly visible. In addition, you will have saved yourself a heap of work and if you later decide you don't like the effect you can soak the blade in thinner and remove the lacquer leaving no damage.

Thanks, guys. You have given me several good ideas to think about. I like the lacquer idea. One thought I was contemplating was filling the stamping with black epoxy then attempting to grind the entire tang clean – assuming that’s possible. After honing, the result would be a black blade with a silver edge and a silver tang with black lettering. Add scales made of a jet black buffalo horn and an aluminum wedge and the razor would look pretty sharp I think.

Then again, this all could be a lot of work and it may be easier to leave the razor as-is. I’ll experiment and report back. Thanks again everyone.

[QUOTE=diyguy;865010]Thanks, guys. You have given me several good ideas to think about. I like the lacquer idea. One thought I was contemplating was filling the stamping with black epoxy then attempting to grind the entire tang clean – assuming that’s possible. After honing, the result would be a black blade with a silver edge and a silver tang with black lettering. Add scales made of a jet black buffalo horn and an aluminum wedge and the razor would look pretty sharp I think.
I restore/re-silver ships clock dials,mostley chelseas and howards,as a filler for the engravings we use rock hard black laquer sticks,is melted with a heat gun into the engravings and then sanded off,it stays in place,if you send me your mailing addy I will be happy to send you some.
Another method I have seen used (by less than steller purveyers of Vintage, so called gold letter Kamisori)Is to take a fine brass wire brush and scrub the lettering with it,it will deposit brass (gold color) into the engravings and it sort of bonds to the steel.
You may be able to find the laquer sticks at stationary stores,they call it sealing wax,comes in several colors,good luck.>>>>>>>>>>>>>

What about using a glass brush?