Put the Dremel down boy!

[Fnord5]

OK, started getting into my W&B, was attacking it with my dremel, felt wheel, and black emery cake.

Would not cut the dark stains, and was hopeless against the pitting.

So, I got out the 120 grit flap disk.
Same story for the pitting, but cleared up most of the stains.

However, I was concerned that it would take too much metal off, and if it hopped/caught, the blade would be toast.

So I went out and got myself some diamond lapping film, 15, 5, and .3 micron(yay for local woodworking shop!)
Then I hit an ACE hardware for wet/dry sandpaper.
Got 400, 600 and 1500 grit.
Working nicely, but this is going to take me AGES!

On the up side, it will be hand restored by me, and a wicked cool shaver.

 

[Seraphim]

yup, there are no shortcuts.....

 

[Pudu]

Sounds like you're well stocked. However I would suggest that you'll want to go lower than 400 to get pitting out.

 

[Sticky]

Have you tried Toxik's sanding drums yet? They've been working really well (and fast) for me.

 

[Fnord5]

Sounds like you're well stocked. However I would suggest that you'll want to go lower than 400 to get pitting out.

It's working, just slowly.
May grab a sheet of 300 tomorrow.

They have suede paddle strops at the same place I got the lapping film, and a sheet of burnished leather too to make my own.

 

[Limey]

Good luck! It does take some effort. The only shortcut is buying an expensive grinder!

 

[Fnord5]

This is what I started with.
The rust is now just a small patch of pitting.
No pics of its present condition, but will be posted tomorrow morning/night.
Thursday is going to be a day long sand-fest!

 

[bman40]

from what I have read - and my own experience sanding an old Greaves barber notch (out for honing as I type) is that you need to start with a much lower grit - 60 or 80 and then work your way back up.

I hand sanded: 60, 80, 120, 150, 180, 220 , 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000. I think I spent about 9 hours on it.

I went all the way through once, and decided that I had not got rid of enough pitting, so I started it over. I got rid of most on the blade, but left a bit on the tang, because to get it all would have obliterated the stamp / company name...

good luck...

 

[Fnord5]

Mwha ha ha ha!

The evil pitting is slowly succumbing to my will (and 150 grit sandpaper)

I didn't have leather handy, but I did have an unopened bottle of wine, and I was thirsty, so I am using the cork.

The 150 is working well, and slowly. I would rather put in extra time, and not cut too much steel.

The scratches come out easily with the 400 grit too, so that is good.

 

[ambrose]

Hit up the Home Depot Pick up some 400 grit aluminum oxide 3M sanding sheets. pick up more than one grit I think it goes from 150 -800.

They cut three times as fast and aluminum oxide is much much smoother than silicon carbide that is in most sanding papers.

Ive taken on the same project and this worked out the best out of all of them.

Ive now sold the straights I cleaned up but man If I had known better in the beginning it would have taken me haf the time.

 

[Fnord5]

One side of the blade is looking pretty sweet.
I still have a tiny bit of pitting, but I don't know if it would be worth it to keep going. May just be getting impatient.

Still some deeper scratches from the heavier grits, but here is a progress shot.

 

[Suzuki]

Looks good so far!!

 

[mdunn]

looks good - On a rusty ebay beater I normally go 180 to 1200 then hit up the polish (though I dont go for mirror finish, not my cup of tea)

 

[Fnord5]

Thanks for the compliments

I know I am going to do it to a mirror finish, because I want to make a slick set of scales (blood red micarta, with black linen) and I don't want the scales to outshine the blade.

Speaking of scales, I need to pencil out a design.

 

[Dharion]

With what grit do you go on the blade after it looks like the blade in the 2nd picture? 400, 800 ?

 

[SilkySmooth]

A very nice job indeed!

 

[Fnord5]

With what grit do you go on the blade after it looks like the blade in the 2nd picture? 400, 800 ?

The second pic is after 80, 150, and 400. I am going to go back a little to remove the last remnants of pitting.

After 400, I am going to go to 600, then 1500, then either a felt wheel with black then white rouge, or go to the 3 and .3 micron lapping film for the final polish. (may do some hand polishing with the white rouge on a cotton cloth.)

Keep in mind, this is my first experiment with hand sanding a razor, and other than a somewhat intuitive working relationship with metal of all sorts, I am totally unschooled.

 

[Seraphim]

As mentioned before, be careful when buffing, as it can easily heat up the razor's edge and lose the temper....

 

[Seraphim]

And remember...

If your razor loses its' temper.....YOU lose your temper!