What's new

Removing rust and general cleaning questions

I have picked up a few inexpensive beaters off eBay to practice honing. If the honing works out, I would like to keep these for shaving or as gifts to others. Some have mild rust. I know i can sand it off and polish back to a nice luster. But that usually removes the original grinding marks and leaves me with a less than authentic finish. The origninal grinding leaes a nice brushed or satin finish.

Is there any safe way to remove the rust without leaving scratch marks, while also leaving the original grind marks? Also, what is the best way to clean up those blades that don't have rust? I'm not looking for a perfect blade and any imperfections make for character. I just want to clean them up safely.
 
I have used some rust removal chemicals and jelly on some old wrenches, pliers, etc. The will generally turn the tools black. And while I have some of that stuff, I'm not sure how it would effect a razor, the steel being thin and delicate.
 
Phosphoric acid does wonders to the inside of a rusty motorcycle gas tank, doesn’t turn the inside black either. It is on the aggressive side though
 
Removing rust means removing surface. Even light rust means being invasive to a degree. Deeper rust means having to do remove more surface. No way around it. It's not like removing paint or anything 'on' the surface, rust 'is' the surface.

CLR isn't overly aggressive, it will leave the metal sort of dull and irregular looking too sometimes.

You will want to sand afterwards. If you sand with the original grind lines, it can work out better than imagined.
 
Gamma will have seen these but I find them good to removing light rust staining, and you keep the grind marks its what they use in Japan on kitchen knives..

20201122_175317.jpg
 
I dunno - those are pretty abrasive compared to many things like polish etc. I have them in coarse and fine and don’t find them very fine at all. Just my experience
 
Keep the abrasives light and fine, follow the original grind lines, don’t go across the grind lines...

2k w/d, 0000 steel wool, fritz and lots of elbows grease. I finger polish, no tools. It takes time...
View attachment 1185872
View attachment 1185873
Agreed. I also polish by hand only, no power tools. BIG PROBLEM: The gimping. How do you deal with that? Special fine brass brush? And what do you mean by 2k w/d?
 
Jimping? Wire brush works great followed by 0000 steel wool, nothing else really. If they are severely rusted it will patina (stain) so dont sweat it to much. Can also fold the w/d workimg the jimps.

2k w/d = wet dry (metal sandpaper 2000 grit)
 
Jimping? Wire brush works great followed by 0000 steel wool, nothing else really. If they are severely rusted it will patina (stain) so dont sweat it to much. Can also fold the w/d workimg the jimps.

2k w/d = wet dry (metal sandpaper 2000 grit)
Thank you! Is there a link for a specific wire brush that you like to use?
 
I’m across the pond, any thin wired toothbrush sized brush will work. You also get them in brass but I prefer the plain metal ones. The brass can sometimes leave a brass/gold like colouring behind and that’s a pain to remove on jimps, elsewhere a quick fritz polish will get it back to it’s former glory in no time.
 
For my first "restoration", I started with P2000 but got frustrated and went down to P800, and then had to work my way back up with P1000 > P1200 > P1500 > P2000 > 00 > 0000 to get the scratches out, which was a lot of work. Next time, I am going to try to be more disciplined and patient, and stick with the P2000. I did not remove the scales and instead used dental floss to clean around the pin.

The pitting was deeper than I initially thought and you can see that I gouged the heel when setting the bevel with my King 1000, which I am not terribly proud of. Considering this was my first "restore" and I only paid $25 for the razor, I can't really complain, but I definitely learned a lot:
  • Take your time and be patient
  • You have to do to learn
  • Get a good bevel setter [I have since bought a Naniwa Professional (Chosera) 1000 - way better.]
Before:

Before_20201031_8056.jpg


Before_20201031_7740.jpg


After:

After_20201129_0770.jpg


After_20201129_7886.jpg
 
I've also avoided I've used 2K W/D with Mother's Mag Polish as a lube rather than water. Usually the first go around, I get them relatively clean with the exception of a few spots that are stubborn. I treat the blade with a Synthetic Clean/Lube/Protect (either Ballistol or Boesheild T-9) especially on the jimps. I then hang it up, use it on occasion and wait a month.

I find a month later, a well oiled blade will be easier to finish the tough spots and jimps. On any pitted black spots I use small squares of 400, 1000, 2000 w/d pressed back and forth with a piece of chop-stick (only using the 400 on the specific spots needing it).

For the jimps, I fold a thin piece of 2000 w/d over a chopstick with a sharpened edge. I rub it back and forth with lots of Mothers Mag Polish. It tends to do the job.

It might be my imagination, but leaving some time between the two efforts for the oil to do its trick seems to help.


1.PNG
.
 
I've also avoided I've used 2K W/D with Mother's Mag Polish as a lube rather than water. Usually the first go around, I get them relatively clean with the exception of a few spots that are stubborn. I treat the blade with a Synthetic Clean/Lube/Protect (either Ballistol or Boesheild T-9) especially on the jimps. I then hang it up, use it on occasion and wait a month.

I find a month later, a well oiled blade will be easier to finish the tough spots and jimps. On any pitted black spots I use small squares of 400, 1000, 2000 w/d pressed back and forth with a piece of chop-stick (only using the 400 on the specific spots needing it).

For the jimps, I fold a thin piece of 2000 w/d over a chopstick with a sharpened edge. I rub it back and forth with lots of Mothers Mag Polish. It tends to do the job.

It might be my imagination, but leaving some time between the two efforts for the oil to do its trick seems to help.


View attachment 1189646.
Thank you for this. Oiling and waiting makes sense.
 
Top Bottom