help and advice needed please....blade etching

[screaming_pig]

Hi all,

Well this restoration bug has well and truly gripped me by the scruff of the neck and wont let go
I snagged this Gotta razor from ebay, only paid £8 which I thought was a steal!
The blade has rust spots on it right where the etching and gold wash is....bugger Is there any way to polish out the rust without removing the etching? Never polished a blade with this sort of detail before so just wondering how resistant it is to the restoration process? The blade and scales (apart from rust) are in fantastic shape, to be honest I dont think its ever been used as I cant find any trace of hone wear
So just a little help needed please
A few pics to help...

 

[DavyRay]

That is going to be a challenge. I can think of two ways to try. Both will require good magnification and are just for the problem rust in the gold-plated area.

1. Chemical etch. Paint the surrounding area with nail polish or other resist first.
2. Steel wool in the finest grade available. Sounds goofy, I know, but people claim that you can use steel wool to remove rust from motorcycle wheels without removing the chrome. Chrome is hard, gold is soft, so that may not work.

I expect either will leave a flawed spot in the gold plating. That may be more attractive than the rust, though. It may also be possible to get some spot-plating on that little area after you minimize the rust.

Good luck.

 

[mainaman]

you can't remove the rust under the gold wash without removing the gold wash itself.

 

[screaming_pig]

so as I suspected, looks like the gold is going to take a hit once I remove the rust.
Well not to worry I plan on restoring so it can become a daily shaver, I really like this razor, great weight to it and easy on the eye!!

 

[mainaman]

so as I suspected, looks like the gold is going to take a hit once I remove the rust.
Well not to worry I plan on restoring so it can become a daily shaver, I really like this razor, great weight to it and easy on the eye!!

depending on how deep you have to sand, the the Hamburg ring markings (in black) are very likely to stay although faded, because they are actually done into the steel unlike the gold leaf which is on the surface only.

 

[honed]

0000 steel wool & a light hand is what I would have used.
I don't think you can save the goldwash, but with that method you can probably save everything else.