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Hand Sanding Advice? 80 grit or 120....?

hi everyone,... here's a blade i'm working on...
pre-1820 Wells....

i did a couple passes with 120 grit,
but not terribly satisfied with the amount a dark pitting that remains.

picked up some 80 grit, but shocked by how rough it seems.
makes me a bit hesitant... but i'm also inexperienced.

whuhdaya'll think?
step back to 80? or move forward?
anyone with direct experience...?

thanking you all in advance...
 
Well with buffers they do rock out with 80 greaseless... so if the grits match I'd say it's not unheard of. Not sure if you will get that pitting out by hand tho...
 
From the looks of it you will have no razor left if you are to remove all that pitting.
I'd leave it as is. That old man deserves to look his years.
Give it a quick rub with polish then hone it up & enjoy it :001_smile
 
Even with greaseless I'd restore to a satin finish, the blade is in pretty bad shape but doesn't mean it is a loss.

I say continue and hone it up. It looks like a cool razor though.
 
yeah, that's what i'm wondering...
i believe strongly that she should look her age...
but where is that, is the question...
hard to balance restoring a razor with changing its character...

ideally, i would perform a minimal restoration.
i was hesitant to even de-pin it,
but was forced to as the scales were beginning to warp.
i'll straighten them and lightly polished 'em up a bit too...
 
yeah, that's what i'm wondering...
i believe strongly that she should look her age...
but where is that, is the question...
hard to balance restoring a razor with changing its character...

ideally, i would perform a minimal restoration.
i was hesitant to even de-pin it,
but was forced to as the scales were beginning to warp.
i'll straighten them and lightly polished 'em up a bit too...
IMO you are "right there" like it is in the pics, great restoration!
 
Thanks, everyone... and here's the result.

I wanted to keep the restore to a minimum,
but had to do something as there was rust and the scales were warping...

Was originally planning to hand sand the razor all the way to to 2000 grit,
but thanks to the good and thoughtful advice of all you B&B'ers
decided to stop at 120 and 120 only and take a look...

What you see is three passes using 120 wet/dry 3M sandpaper,
following by maybe 20 minutes of hand polishing
using Maas and a kitchen towel...

Whuh do you all think?

Quite nice, no. Didn't expect it to polish up so bright after just 120...
Very good to know for future restorations of old school blades...

Thanks everyone...
Now on to the warped horn...
 
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