Thread: How to clean engravings?

Hello All,

I'm currently restoring my first razor, and so far I've come a long way. The blade looks really nice now, but the problem I have now is the engravings. How to clean them? How about the teeth under the shank (see picture)?



Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

If you're doing it by hand a you can use a toothbrush and some toothpicks to clean it up.

I tried a toothbrush with no luck so far, but I can try again. What cleaning material would you recommend?

I've always found some simichrome and a toothbrush worked just fine. If it was really tough stuff a cape cod polishing cloth did the trick.

I use a Dremel with a wire brush, wear glasses. Invaluable tools in my shop are bamboo picks, chopsticks, skewers & toothpicks. All can be purchased at Asian markets for pennies. Bamboo toothpicks are stronger and thinner that regular wood toothpick.

Bamboo is fibrous, very durable and relatively abrasive great for hand work and getting into hard to get areas. For example if you are cleaning a razor you don’t intend to unpin. Shave a chopstick to fit between the scales coat with polish and clean the inside of the scales and the crusty part of the tang between the scales. Also works great for engine turning with a drill press. Or to polish pins, drill a shallow hole in the end of a chop stick dab some polish on the end chuck in the drill press and carefully buff them smooth and gleaming.

Great for maintaining your razors and infinite uses in the shop. Last night, used a couple of chop stick to suspend some stones I put in
the slow cooker to soak and clean. Allows the Simple Green to access the bottom of the stone and keeps them out of the gunk.

Once you got it buffed out, you can spray paint the engraving/stamping wipe off and rebuff. The stamping will pop.

If you invest in a Dremel, buy some Cratex tips. They are rubber impregnated with various silicon carbide grits and shapes that screw into a dremel mandrel. They can be used for buffing but leave an inconsistent finish on large pieces, but work well for something like the tang. Again wear safety glasses they do come apart occasionally.

For Cratex or wire wheels slow speed is best. I just picked up another Dremel at a swap meet for 2 bucks. I see them all the time for cheap I have 4 now. I keep different tips on them so I don’t have to keep switching bits. Buy an old extension cord, swap meet again and put a 10’ cord on it. You will find thousands of uses for it.

I have a couple of Dremels. However, I thought the wire brush would scratch the blade badly... no?

lol @ the chopstick recommendation. I do the same thing. Need to shim a sword handle, long thing chopstick shaving and some wood glue. Use it to push steel wool to enhance the design on patina'd fittings.

No, it’s all about pressure and speed of the wheel. Light pressure slow speed. It will polish some. I use the Dremel’s slowest setting for wire wheels. There are also brass wheels but steel works best for what you want to do. The first thing I do on a rusty blade is scrape the rust off with a couple of old ¼ & ½ in Marples wood chisels I keep on the bench for just that, scraping.

Dig all that rust out then wire brush. Then the buffer. Saves a lot of time and you know just how far you need to go to remove the pits. Lay the blade on a piece of ¼ in foam – crafts supply, Wally mart to hold it steady and protect your fingers.

If you do get some scratches the dremel and a buffing mop & rubbing compound will get them out. Rubbing compound, a paper towel, (I like the blue shop towels) and your thumb will do the job also.

You could also sand with various grits of wet dry sand paper with water then buff. The blade is very hard.

And yes LameBMX, bamboo shims are life savers, can’t count how many wood screws I’ve repaired with a drop of wood glue and a few Bamboo slivers tapped in to the hole.

I have a couple of ideas left. I'll try a scrub brush tonight. Stiffer than a toothbrush, so we'll see. If it doesn't work, I'll try the ultrasonic bath at work tomorrow.