Thread: Here is how I spent my weekend: Hand Sanding Blades

You made us clear what your priorities are.

Hmmmm women I'll never get to sleep with or razors I shave with every day?

Simply outstanding work, Vlad. Glad to see that you have mustered up some time to come out and play again...

Awesome, I wish I had half the talent and knowhow to do this kind of work.

That is an insult to straight razors everywhere!!! Just horrible! Those should all be sent to me for immediate disposal.

As usual Vlad your work speaks volumes for your patience and talent. Beautiful!! When you say hand sanded do you actually mean at no time did a machine touch those blades to restore them? That gives me a lot of hope if so. Personaly I would enjoy spending months sanding a single blade by hand in front of the television.

On these blades I "cheated" and used a coarse satin finish wheel (1") to cut down on the 120 grit sanding of the pitting. Otherwise I would spend an extra 1 to 3 hours per blade on 120 grit. I also used the wheel after the 120 grit to help the 220 grit get the sanding striations out, but not too much. Again, just the rough stuff to cut down on the amount of hand sanding.

I prefer to hand sand because I get more control. Not a limitation of mechanical restoration means just my own limitation of available tools and skills. Some custom knife makers like Bill, Joe and Peter (sorry if I left anyone else out) are more adept at using their equipment to restore razors. I am more limited in my arsenal.

If you decide to do it by hand then make yourself a sanding stick mandrel and look at the pictures of sanding progres in this thread (The Making of a MINTY W&B Meatchopper). The sanding stick/mandrel will save your fingers. The pictures may help you stay the course and not panick when you see your first blade rough sanded.

If you spend and hour a day sanding, you should be done in less than two weeks even for a pitted meatchopper and considerably less for smaller blades or ones in better condition. I look forward to seeing your project pictures in the near future.

...and used a coarse satin finish wheel (1") to cut down on the...

Got a pic of one of these, Vlad?

you gave me hope one the hand sanding thing. I've bought a range of sandpapers going from 100-2000 and have started on a few myself. The only thing I still do not dare to touch are scales and pins.

Originally Posted by urleebird

Got a pic of one of these, Vlad?

Bill, now that I checked it is a 7/8". I got one originally off your site. I just received a new batch from Rio-Grande. It is a mini fiber wheel in their Tools/brushes/More/Texture category.

Ahh... now I'm on the same page. Those things are great. The brown ones are stout enough to remove a lot of crud and rust. The light grey are good for surface imperfections, and the red and green are good for putting a "grind" pattern on the surfaces.

They also have 5 inch wheels with a similar fiber on them that are great for cleaning up metal and leaving a nice finished surface.

Thanks for the info Vlad/Bill.. I'll definitely be giving them a look-see.