Thought I'd drop by and share my first restoration experience.
After a couple of months with a contemporary 5/8" Boker, I went full vintage and bought a 6/8" Wade and Butcher from a contact of mine; apparently it's dated around the first half of the XIX century. [Pics 1 and 2]
First things first, I scrubbed it thoroughly with a toothbrush and some delicate dish soap.
It wasn't in a terrible condition, so I cleaned the blade with Arexons abrasive paste and then polished it with Sidol, and it cleaned up pretty nicely, I guess. [Pic 3]
Then I looked at the scales.
They didn't look celluloid or bakelite, and some savvy friends suggested the possibility of it being blond horn.
I wet-sanded with 600, 800, 1000 and 1200, then switched to 2000 and finally 3000.
A terrible smell of burnt hair assaulted my extremely sensitive nose.
Yeah, it's probably blond horn.
It was quite dry, so I let it soak 24 hours in cooked linseed oil; I haven't used neatsfoot oil because it's hard to find, apparently, and I already had the linseed oil.
You can see the result below. [Pic 4]
Any further advice is extremely welcome!
After a couple of months with a contemporary 5/8" Boker, I went full vintage and bought a 6/8" Wade and Butcher from a contact of mine; apparently it's dated around the first half of the XIX century. [Pics 1 and 2]
First things first, I scrubbed it thoroughly with a toothbrush and some delicate dish soap.
It wasn't in a terrible condition, so I cleaned the blade with Arexons abrasive paste and then polished it with Sidol, and it cleaned up pretty nicely, I guess. [Pic 3]
Then I looked at the scales.
They didn't look celluloid or bakelite, and some savvy friends suggested the possibility of it being blond horn.
I wet-sanded with 600, 800, 1000 and 1200, then switched to 2000 and finally 3000.
A terrible smell of burnt hair assaulted my extremely sensitive nose.
Yeah, it's probably blond horn.
It was quite dry, so I let it soak 24 hours in cooked linseed oil; I haven't used neatsfoot oil because it's hard to find, apparently, and I already had the linseed oil.
You can see the result below. [Pic 4]
Any further advice is extremely welcome!
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