Hi gents, what can I use to remove rust and polish the razor before I hone it? What grit of sandpaper and what type of rust remover?
Thanks in advance for any advice
Tony
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Hi gents, what can I use to remove rust and polish the razor before I hone it? What grit of sandpaper and what type of rust remover?
Thanks in advance for any advice
Tony
Welcome aboard!
I would suggest that there is a lot of information here:
Straight_Razor_Place_Wiki
~Richard
Hi geezer
I've been on here a while thanks for the welcome but I'm just starting to get into honing so that's where I'm at in my learning processes right now!
The wiki is a great section to learn things may i add have learned a lot on my own from that section!
Any polishes that you can recommend for getting rust off a blade?
I use Mothers polish alot on my blades, but I don't think it will get rid of heavy rust. As for sandpaper I usually use 400-2500 wet/dry since that is all I can get locally. Micromesh goes up to 12k, but I haven't used that yet. I try to start with the highest grit possible that I can and still do what needs to be done. The lower you go the more it is going to take to get rid of the scratches. If you dare to use a dremel you could use a wire brush to get rid of alot of the heavy rust, but dremels can be quite dangerous with sharp objects. They can even be dangerous with rather dull objects not to mention can damage a razor quite easily if you don't know what you are doing. One second in lack of concentration can ruin a razor. I wouldn't recommend a dremel to someone that hasn't used one before.
That's the name I couldn't remember mothers polish! It's minor rust and pitting so should I use sandpaper with that or just a rag?
I've used a dremel before but I won't use 1 on my razors!
I would try just a rag at first and see what it does. You might have to spend 30min or more polishing to see the results you want, but a few minutes should give you an idea if just the polish will do what you want it to do. Mothers isn't very abrasive. You might have to sand out the pitting if it is an eye sore to you, but like I said I would try the highest grit that will still do the job fairly easy instead of starting low. Usually what I do is polish a razor and if I see a dramatic improvement in a few minutes I will keep polishing for awhile.
I was really surprised what this stuff did for a rather weathered looking old razor. Just a rag and a tube of this stuff. SimiChrome Polish. Worked great.
This removes pitting and light rust?
There are many different levels of restoration
Starting at the easiest
Patina (if there are any dark marks it ain't patina)
Stains
Light red rust
Heavy red rust
Black rust
Black spider rust
Devil Spit
Getting the top layers off does not remove pitting, how deep the pitting goes determines how far you have to go :(
Either Hand Sanding with wet r dry, using a Buffing wheels with Greaseless compounds, or a Belt grinder are the only ways to get out the pitting..
There is no "Easy" way to take out pitting
Thanks Glen!
You are most welcome :) figured answering here was better than by PM
Maybe I'll just have you clean them up and start honing from there!Quote:
Originally Posted by gssixgun
Nothing will "remove" pitting since its a loss of metal. As for rust, you can give it a shot but you may be better off with sandpaper of some sort for cleaning that away first. Don't take my advice on this level of restoration as I'm not an authority. However, if the blade is lacking luster, this stuff can get it back to a respectable shiny state with a little elbow grease. Rust may require an abrasive.Quote:
Originally Posted by anthogia
I do agree 100% with Glen, I have restored more than a couple of razors my self so depending on the degree of deterioration will determine how aggressive you would need to be with your polish/restoration. A picture would have been great. I would start out will some Maas polish this stuff works excellent, it will remove rust and blackening to a degree. Get it as cleaned up a you can get with the MAAS polish then you can better determine how aggressive you would like to go with any sanding or you may be satisfied with just the polish.
For heavy rust I just drop the blade in vinegar and it eats it all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anthogia
Have u tried maas metal cleaner yet?
Not yet I'm going to try that this weekend, Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by Airportcopper
I've never tried Maas but I've got some Autosol, anyone know how they compare?
I haven't used Maas, but I have used Autosol and Mothers. I found they worked more or less equally well, but Mothers is more pleasant to work with as the smell is much less pronounced. Sorry, I didn't really answer your question but I thought I'd mention that in case you're familiar with Mothers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur
I've never heard of Mothers, but thanks anyway!Quote:
Originally Posted by Cangooner
I've used mothers as well but I find that it leaves a sheen on it that then needs to be buffed off- some kind of reaction takes place- maybe I'm using the wrong kind of mothers compound
Maas works very well at removing dirt, rust etc.
flitz is my number 1. it eats up rust and black stuff like nothing. after that, polish again after a high grit sand job and you got a mirror finish if the razor is in half decent shape in the start :)
I have used that a lot on my big rigs. It has a grit in it that gets into some of the pitting but not all. I have been hesitant on using it on my straights because of the chemicals in it. Not sure what is in it but it is a miracle worker on aluminum for sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by OCDshaver