I may have bit off more than I can chew (extreme pitting)

[Dundee]

Not sure what to do about this pitting. It doesn't seem like it's removable. On one blade they're so deep that there's literally a hole. I tried using a spherical diamond bit on my Dremel on the other to at least get the oxidation/rust out of the pits, but I have been sanding for hours now and don't seem to be able to go get the rest of the surface flush with the lows of the pits, so I'm left with a high polished surface that's speckled with lots of remnants of the pits and the finish the diamond bit left in them.

This is only my second time restoring some razors, and none had been this rusty, so wondering if these are a lost cause or if I just need to keep at it.

 

[Legion]

I'll try to find a pic of my Freddy Krueger razor I made once, just because I'm silly. That had worse pitting than yours, but I was able to hone (mostly) past it because it was such a heavy blade.

The edge on your hollow ground is probably never going to get to clean steel, I'm afraid.

 

[duke762]

A respectful burial may be in order here. Retire those warriors, they have done all they can. I don't think they have a workable edge left in them.

 

[Legion]

 

[Dundee]

View attachment 1712378
View attachment 1712377View attachment 1712376

That sure looks great though!

But yeah... Wedge is a bit of a different beast I'm guessing. I have only worked on hollow grounds. I guess that's one benefit of a wedge I never thought of.

 

[Legion]

That sure looks great though!

But yeah... Wedge is a bit of a different beast I'm guessing. I have only worked on hollow grounds. I guess that's one benefit of a wedge I never thought of.

Yeah, but even still, it was more of an exercise to see if I could. After that the plan was to turn it into a cool cigar cutter or something like that. But I quit smoking, and it is still in a box somewhere.

 

[duke762]

Yeah, but even still, it was more of an exercise to see if I could.

One of my favorite motivations also. Many cool things, in many different areas of endeavor, happen, just because some one said
" I wanted to see if I could ".

I don't seem to learn much if I'm not messing up. And too often I seem find, for me anyhow, " Oh, I really can't!", which, also frequently leads to " Oh, now I understand why I can't and it all makes complete sense why ". I love those moments....

The overall effect on the blade surface is gorgeous and so consistent, it almost looks man made! I love it!

 

[Doc226]

My advice for pitted hollow grinds is to try to get a clean bevel before you put any work into the blade, terrible feeling to sand it and then not being able to get a clean bevel

 

[Gamma]

Legion's blade looks better than a lot of Damascus stuff I see.

The other two are a hot mess.
Can't see the grinds but unless they are wedge-ish I wouldn't bet on a good edge showing up any time soon.
No harm in trying one on a 1k just to see what's what.

 

[Dundee]

I gave up on the one with a hole in the blade, but I set a bevel and sharpened the other and it turned out pretty good. Not going to win any beauty contests, but it shaves well.

 

[Frank Shaves]

+1 on what @Doc226 said.