Mystery silver steel

[cameraflier]

Howdy. Restore in progress. My first silver steel has me asking questions....

When I started restoring this blade, it seemed that the tarnish was primarily on the tang. The blade had some funk and rust spots, but the tang was a bit darker. Then I wondered if it was blackened on purpose. While the blade had some color, it was not near as dense as the tang. As you can see, I left the tang alone.

My question: Was this intentionally blacked at birth, or am I looking at a natural process for silver steel? If i neglect to keep it polished, will the entire thing go dark over time, like old silver flatware? Am I better to polish it off, or keep it (if it's not an entirely aesthetic question)?


I tried researching the blade, with little luck. Any insight would be appreciated.

[dakotaev]

Many blades had a blued tang. In fact I just picked up two very good condition razors this weekend which had an obvious factory blue tang. Alternatively it could be patina or a natural darkening from being handled by wet hands over the years. Some of my more used razors develop a bit more darkening around the shank/tang from use.

[Kentos]

Silver steel has very little, if any silver in it. Certainly not enough to cause silver oxidation vs iron oxidation.

[cameraflier]

This is a matte charcoal black, not blue. It sounds like I'm looking at a simple long term tarnish.

maybe I'll just polish it off..... Dunno yet.

[O.G.]

My vote is to polish it all. The tarnish may be oxidation and not bluing so to be safe shine it off. Nice project.

[dakotaev]

I think it looks nice as is.

[Prof. Moriarty]

I think it looks nice as is.

Same here.

[mdunn]

I like it. A bit 'satin' and blue on the tang compared to mirror on the blade itself looks awesome IMHO

[The Mick]

That looks totally intentional to me.

[cameraflier]

I left the black on the tang and down the spine. The rest polished up to a nice mirror. I think the contrast is kinda cool.
Re-pinned it today. Maybe next weekend I'll hone it, and add it to the rotation.

Many thanks for the votes and knowledge.