About Rust
Often when you come across a straight razor at an estate sale, antique store or other places you will find the blade has rusted due to exposure with water. Some minor rust or staining can simply be polished away but more serious rust issues must be dealt with it other ways.
 | This Wade & Butcher has some rust on the blade with a more serious amount on the tang and on top of that has shaving edge issues. |
| This W. Greaves & Sons has a more severe case of rust than the one above. Not only is there rust on the blade and on the tang but there is also rust on the cutting edge of the razor. |
Rust Removal
Minor Rust
Some minor rust or staining can simply be polished away with MAAS metal polish or Turtle Wax Premium Rubbing Compound either by hand or with the use of a rotary tool like a Dremel. If you use a rotary tool pay attention to the direction of the spin and the edge of the blade. If you use a buffing wheel and it spins into the blade it can send a chunk of metal flying at you so it is a good idea to wear safety goggles.
Moderate Rust
For rust that simply wont polish out you'll need to break out the sand paper. Often people will start with a grit of around 120 and progress their way up to 2000 grit paper. For instance, you'll start with 120 grit to remove the rust and once you've gotten rid of the rust you'll start working with 220 grit sand paper until you've removed the scratches left by the 120 grit paper. You'll work your way up slowly to 2000 grit sand paper and at that point you'll have a nice surface on the blade to polish up. The best place to buy sand paper locally seems to be automotive stores like AutoZone which will carry it in their body work sections. This paper is often wet/dry paper and they have it up to 2000 grit.
Heavy Rust
For rust like on the W. Greaves & Sons above you'll need either a lot more sanding on the lower grits or you'll need to get it reground down to fresh steel. Here's why:
Even once we've removed the rust we're left with the pitting on the blade where the rust was. Normally when it's on the blade it's just cosmetic and something you may choose to live with but when it is on the cutting edge this is something that will impair the shave the razor provides. If the edge is paticularly pitted, this will cause you some issues when you go to hone, as that steel will most likely crumble easily.
