I've had this wostenholm sitting around for some time and hadn't decided until recently what exactly I wanted to do with it. The blade engraving was rather cool, but there was so much gunk all over both sides of the engraved blade & tang that I hesitated jumping into working on it as I anticipated the challenge would be lengthy. The original horn scales were pretty gross as well—intact, but covered with years of grime. One side was the color of cinnamon, with years of build-up. Both sets of pin were loose and missing half the washers (!) First thing I did was disassemble the scales from the blade. I gave the blade a thorough cleaning with a very mild solvent. I used fine steel wool to remove excess built up on the blade. After a good cleaning, I dropped the blade into a case tumbler full of walnut shell embedded with polishing paste. (see blue tumbler at right in photo below). This does a decent, albeit slow, job of polishing up any blade without harming any of the engraving (Thanks to Glen @gssixgun for the handy tip!) Three days later, I resurrected the blade from the tumbler. I took it to the buffer for some careful use of 180/400/600 grit compounds which removed any real stubborn areas. The scales I has soaking in neats foot oil for several days, prior to the disassembly. I cleaned and sanded off the years off built-up gunk. This wasn't what I would call 'salvageable patina'—just really gross feeling grunge… They polished up nicely. new brass pins and washers, too. So here's how it turned out. The blade is in pretty decent shape (considering where it started). Some residual pitting remains but I've discovered its a real balancing act between removal metal and retaining engraving or details.
You said that dead on Kev it is a "Balancing Act" or Murphy's Law of Restore "The Pitting will be just deeper then the Eteching" I like that you did not over buff it with polishing compounds, many people make that move because the polishing compounds shine the steel and leave the etch but the razor just looks weird to my eyes after that... Really nice looking ^5 ps: I just noticed the pinning, good job there too
I noticed that on some of my early blade that I overzealously went crazy on the polish, and you're right, too much polish and the blade, especially the etched ones, take on this hyper-mirrored look that does indeed look weird. I've since toned way back on the polishing, letting a more natural patina show. Thanks! Practice, practice, practice…..it's getting easier the more I do it. Developing the right 'feel' for the peening hammer has taken me some time. I was splitting the rod caps and abusing the washers beneath with a too-heavy a hand. I have used your practical tip of tapping my finger to gauge the strength of my hammer blows. Lighter & more numerous whacks takes longer than going all King Kong with the hammer, but the results are more predictable. I also recently started taking my hand/wrist carpal brace off when peening now—this allowed me better control as well.
Beautiful! I am sending my wolstenholm out today to be honed. Can't wait to get it back. I was going to remove the pitting and shine it up, but I changed my mind, stopping with 1000 grit, and leaving the deepest of the pitting. As far as I could research, it was made 1848-1891. Didn't want it to look new. I lightly sanded the scales, polished, and oiled. It does have chips in the scales, but I like them.
