Old blade staining

[Sweeney Todd]

I recently picked up a couple of old eBay cheapies to practice honing on. One was an old Loeffler & Sykes Crescent with scales that pretty much fell apart as soon as I opened the blade. I 've sanded off all the rust and dark patches, but there are still stains, if you will, on the blade itself. They look like water marks of the sort you might find on your car windows after a heavy rain, should you be parked near a construction zone. It's not dirt and it's not discolouration; just a random spattering of swirls and pocks.

I would imagine the ideal is to start at a low enough grit to get all this off so one would eventually have a perfectly smooth blade, but is the goal of getting them off more than one of aesthetics? Also, while I'm here, anyone familiar enough with Loefflers to say whether or not having it rescaled is worth the cost or effort?

[FiReSTaRT]

Abrasive flap wheels from www.widgetsupply.com will take off those stains and gte you up to a 400 grit satin finish. Get the 1.5"x0.5" ones. Once the rust is stabilized, the only reason to remove the watermarks is to make your razor look good.
IMO unless the blade is very unique, you should either replace the scales yourself or give/sell it to someone who will.

[Joe Chandler]

Removing the watermarks is more an aesthetic thing than anything else, IMO. The small pits may make the razor more susceptible to rusting, but if you take reasonable care after shaving, and stop any active corrosion, it should be fine. I would, however try to remove anything near the edge, as this weakened, corroded metal can contribute to bad shaves by chipping out. The flapwheels work pretty well for light work like this.