Thread: Can I save either of these?

G'day mate,
I'm a newbie too and I picked up 3 straights yesterday in the same condition as yours.
I immersed them in WD40 for 24 hrs, occasionally scrubbing them with an old toothbrush to remove
the accumulated gunk - gently, gently does it !!....After that I used some 0000 steel wool and most
of the rust has gone. Not all, just most !!....The fine steel wool doesn't seem to scratch the blades.

They're now soaking in baby oil, which is just scented mineral oil and I've been
using this "technique" for years to restore knives and bayonets.

My next step is as Tiddle describes,in my case a LOT of hand sanding with wet'n'dry, especially in the finer grits
and then micromesh.

I have a dremel clone with a flexi-shaft and small buffing wheels, but I haven't decided whether to
leave a nice patina on the blades or try to polish to a mirror finish.
Good Luck,
Bongo