New Restroration Method:Polishing

[GsSixgun]

The other night in chat an idea was hatched by ByronTodd and I, he brought up a Knife making trick that was being used which flicked a light on above my head!!!!
Being an avid shooter and reloader as well as a gunsmith I have several Brass Tumblers out in the shop more accurately called a vibratory cleaner I thought Hmmmmm I've used them to polish gun parts before why not a razor????? So I trudged over the snow into the shop and tossed in a old full hollow grind razor I figured that it would be the most likely to break...
Not exactly a controlled experiment but hey I am not a researcher
Right now after a few days of spinning we have mixed results.
1. The edge is fine no damage whatsoever...
2. The blade did show some promise of cleaning...
3. It was old corn cob media..
4. New Walnut Shell media with rouge is on the way, this is the cleaning media
5. New Corn Cob media with metal polish is on its way, this is the polishing media
6. I have 3 old rusted pitted E-bay blades on the way
7. I will run a controlled experiment and post the results in this thread....

I found and old thread on this, but it is about as vague as my first try, so before you go throwing all yer old razors in the spinner let's see what really happens..... Plus I was due for new media anyway so no big deal!!!
If any of the members from the old thread have done more research on this, please let us know.......
Anyone who does restoration, can see the time and finger saving possibilities here

 

[GsSixgun]

OK here are the results so far...
Keep in mind I am using the walnuts shells still as just a cleaner, as soon as all the rust, patina, and gunk are gone then I use the corn cob with a metal polish "loaded in" and go for a nicer finish... So far the results are very promising, almost all the rust is gone, the patina has disappeared, and the blade and tang are beginning to take on a satiny shine. Also though you can't see it, I can tell you that the blade still has a pretty good edge to it....
This is after 12 hours while I was sitting at work !!!!!!

 

[GsSixgun]

Well this has been going for 24 hours now....

Here is the good news:
There is no damage at all the the blade...
The edge still has a little bite left to it,not quite as sharp as when I dropped it, but the edge is by no means rounded or folded...
The finish is very smooth and satiny..
The jimps really came clean as well as the tail..
The etching is absolutely beautiful and clean

Here is the bad news:
The tang next to the pivot hole is clean but there is slight pitting that is still there...
On top of the spine there is tiny spot of that black crap that is so hard to get off (even with sandpaper)...

Continuing from here I used a piece of 400 grit paper and spent exactly 3 min cleaning by the pivot hole and roughed up the black spot...
I will check it at 7pm tonight and decide the next step at that time..

 

[GsSixgun]

I pulled the razor and decided that 36 hours of cleaning with the walnut shells was enough... Here are the results which I would call a success!!!!
The blade is clean and very smooth... The edge still is sharp, keep in mind that I am by no means saying that it is close to shaving sharp but for those that were concerned that the media would round or fold the edge that just hasn't happened...
I am loading the corn cob media with metal polish, there are 4 lbs of corn cob so my recommendation is one tablespoon of polish to each pound.... This will have to spin until tomorrow morning so that it loads nice and even... If you were to throw the razor in at this time the polish would stick to the blade and create a blackish ugly clump on the blade and possible stain the metal so we wait 24 hours while it "Loads".....

 

[GsSixgun]

The blade is mirror finished more like new than I have ever seen using sandpaper and dremmels to polish them out

 

[Ookla The Mok]

pix pix

 

[jlander]

Great report.

I can see if I'm going to keep trying to restore a few blades, a brass tumbler is in my future.

 

[FloppyShoes]

As a polishing method I think, judging by your pics on SRP, the tumbler works well. Sadly the walnut isn't abrasive enough to remove the pitting and deeper oxidation. I guess one can't avoid sanding for those bad spots.

I'll be conducting a test of my own in the coming days. I'll be using greaseless compound on a buffing wheel in 80, 120, 220 and 320 grit, then using black emery, stainless, white rouge and green rouge. Perhaps the least time consuming method would be to stop after the emery compound then throw it in the tumbler. That way the deep oxidation can be dealt with and the polishing will be even and less labour intensive.

 

[GsSixgun]

As a polishing method I think, judging by your pics on SRP, the tumbler works well. Sadly the walnut isn't abrasive enough to remove the pitting and deeper oxidation. I guess one can't avoid sanding for those bad spots.

I'll be conducting a test of my own in the coming days. I'll be using greaseless compound on a buffing wheel in 80, 120, 220 and 320 grit, then using black emery, stainless, white rouge and green rouge. Perhaps the least time consuming method would be to stop after the emery compound then throw it in the tumbler. That way the deep oxidation can be dealt with and the polishing will be even and less labour intensive.

I am in total agreement here I think the the tumbler is going to eliminate the sanding in my routine from 400-2500 grit the 220-320 might still be in the routine or in your case the buffing wheel...
Razor # 2 is in the Spinner right now it started off way worse then razor #1
excactly 10 minutes of 220 grit and in she went
This razor is looking as good if not better at the 12 hour mark

 

[GsSixgun]

Enough experimentation has been done on this method now that I would call it a method..
Some of the guys are even putting multiple blades in the tumblers... I personally have not tried this so do so at your own risk there..
I have now done 5 blades and have got the same mirror finishes out of all
It will not remove pitting that needs to be sanded out first...

Good luck and please post any other things that may come up as you use this