Thread: Restoring a blade while preserving etching

That etch looks fairly deep. You should get away with a light hand sand with some high grit wet and dry. Then a polish with some Maas or Mothers. JMHO.

Stu

For me if it were mine I would start with the least abrasive method. Mothers or MAAS. Should work great especially if you un pin it. If you start with something more aggressive you have a higher chance of losing the etch. Whenever I start a restore I'll use either black compound on a wheel or Maas. Plus if you un pin you can soak the scales in neetsfoot oil.

The thing most new restorers miss is what's happening at the bevel & immediately above it. Will you need to hone completely past the current bevel ? Will the steel above it support a new bevel.? Will the stabiliser become an issue if a lot of edge steel has to go ? It's advisable to at least try setting a bevel before any restoration or you may end up with a shiny letter opener. A magnified view of things really helps too.

On this one it looks like there is rust in the bevel & a potential for the stabiliser to get in the way if that rust is deep enough to need a lot of honing.

Guys, thanks for all your input. I have some flitz polish, heavy duty paper towels, and high grit wet sandpaper. I'm going to so slowly.
I thought about unpinning the razor, no doubt it would be easier, but I haven't yet acquired materials to repin the razor.

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by jwbharper

Guys, thanks for all your input. I have some flitz polish, heavy duty paper towels, and high grit wet sandpaper. I'm going to so slowly.
I thought about unpinning the razor, no doubt it would be easier, but I haven't yet acquired materials to repin the razor.

Thanks again!

See how things go and if you run into problems and are in the states I'd be willing to take a look at it for ya. unpin, clean it up and repin. It's fun doing your own stuff though so remember to have fun.
+1 to what ONI said.
Paul

These are some pictures after the first evening on cleaning the blade. Again, I started with metal polish and then used some wet sandpaper with polish. However, I didn't use sand paper over the etching. The upper part of the etching seems to have faded a bit but perhaps it was always that way. I need another couple evenings to clean this up some more but I don't think I want to get it to a mirror finish. Retaining some of the evidence of its age I think will add to its character...at least in my eyes.
I am curious about the etching on the tang. It says Joseph Allen & Sons/Sheffield. But on the top row it appears to says "ON [dot] XLL". XLL is 90 in roman numerals but "ON" are not roman numerals. Still researching what this line means.
Shooter- thanks for the offer to take a look at my razor.

In my experience, if the "patina" (i call it all pitting) is below the level of the etch you wont have an etch after resurfacing.
You get a calm mirror finish on a completely levelled resurface and a wavy on a "scooped" one, not much you can do... sanding off "King Cutter" would be devastating... but ....maybe it was never there .... hahah!

ON.XLL? I think an 'N' has worn off at the beginning NON.XLL meaning 'none excel'

I will be honest with you, that razro will never look new. Just clean it up to where you like it and either hone or have it honed. It's an old razor, let it be old & give you an experienced shave....

A True-isum of razor restoration...

"The deepest pitting will inevitably be deeper than the etching/stamping.. The more valuable the etching and stamping is to the overall value of the razor, the deeper the pitting will be...

Get over it and shave