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Challenged with Removing Pitting

A couple weeks ago, I picked up a small lot of razors. Someone had posted a fuzzy picture of their old razors on a table, asked for a cheap price and a couple of them looked interesting. one of them was a Puma Special 68 (or 89, depending on how you read it) I oil it, sanded it with some wet/dry sandpaper (400 grit, then 1000 then 2000) and then polished it with some Mother's Mag Wheel cleaner. I then sharpened it on a 4000, then 8000 then 12000 stone and stropped with Chromium Oxyde then on plain leather. It shaves great.

I'm having challenges getting rid of the black pitting on the blade. I've been wiping Ballistol Universal Oil on it in the hop that the black-rust in the pitting will softened and will remove during a future sanding. I'm reluctant to try rust removers, since I assume they may be acidic but reviews of Birchwood Casey Blue and Rust Remover looks promising.

Does anyone have a recommendation? Should I simply move down to a 400 grit paper and sand harder?

Any input would be appreciated. Below are pics of what I started with and the improvement so far.

180_Puma-a.PNG
180_Pum-b.PNG
 
Pitting on a thinly ground blade is tough to get rid off. It takes a look of sanding to remove all of it.

I doubt you have enough meat on that blade to remove enough metal to make the pits got away.
 

Legion

Staff member
Personally, I have given up removing pitting on old blades. Hand sanding it away is just too much trouble. I used to do it, but now I just get rid of as much mess as metal polish will take off, and call the rest character.
 
Thanks for the input. The Puma blade is a very thin extra hollow ground, so I agree that aggressive sanding would more than likely compromise the blade. I can live with the character.
 
Sometimes you have to learn to live with what it is and ask yourself, is it useable. Most blade will never be perfect unless you pay a premium price or can be easily brought back to life if cared for and stored properly. I do have to say tho, what you did made a huge difference and you kept the etching in tact too. Your biggest issue with this one is you have to look at the edge with some magnification and see how bad the pitting is, you may have to take off a bit of metal to get to the good stuff to hold an edge.

Larry
 
Sometimes you have to learn to live with what it is and ask yourself, is it useable. Most blade will never be perfect unless you pay a premium price or can be easily brought back to life if cared for and stored properly. I do have to say tho, what you did made a huge difference and you kept the etching in tact too. Your biggest issue with this one is you have to look at the edge with some magnification and see how bad the pitting is, you may have to take off a bit of metal to get to the good stuff to hold an edge.

Larry
Larry, Thanks for the input. The edge, after just a bit of sharpening starting with a 4K stone (with tape on the spine) worked out perfectly. I took it down to a 12K stone then chromium oxide + stropping and it gives a great shave. I can live with the pitting. Thom
 
I had one blade that had quite a bit of pitting. I tried, but could never get the bevel smooth enough to prevent irritation to my sensitive face. Had my face been less sensitive, the blade might have been OK.
 
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