First restore any pointers are welcome

Hi all started on one of my project SR's, Joseph Eliot false frameback.

Did the initial trial blade sanding not sure how to proceed so was going through trial and error sanding.

First started with 1500 and went down to 150 using oil...then back up to 1500 and finally a little brasso to shine it up...

I'm pretty sure I Need to spend some more time in the 600-1000 range I think, any thoughts on best process?

I noticed that you can feel the sanding get easier when it's time to move to the next grit or the surface takes on a shine vs a haze...

Well bottom line was a successful start, looks better now then before.

Again any input on process or pointers welcome. I've got 5-6 more project SR's lined up.

Also if anybody has any spare blonde or honey horn blanks available for purchase that's coming next for this project.

Before


After


Thanks all for giving pointers and inspiration enough to give this a go

John

 

Subscribed. It looks great!

 

Thanks! couple hours of hand sanding...at least I can see progress, I think!?

Cheers all!

 

Thank you for that helpful link!

 

John - that is looking great!
I’ll throw my two cents in, but very surface level as I really feel your restore needs to start with your vision for what you want, and there are many ways to get there.

My “toolkit” consists of 220/320/400/600/800/1000/1500/2000 & 2500 Wet/Dry sandpaper. I think most of the higher grits are 3M but the lower stuff is whatever I can find. Steel wool (I think I have 0000) with Flitz is sometimes a great start to see what you have and makes a real nice finishing step before hand polishing.
I also will use WD-40 with certain mid grits to get different satin finishes or just to play around.

A deep well socket is a great tool to apply the sandpaper to with double sided tape to work the hollow grinds and also keep the shoulder and tang lines crisp.



Also just picked up a vibratory tumbler and some different media to see what that can do.

I think there are some good stickies here to help, but that is my take.

Again, great start and I love seeing what you come up with!!!
Tom

 

Also I just got some horn blanks in from a seller on the bay. I could shoot you a link if you would like. Pretty thin, so you don’t have to take much material off.

And thickness.

 

Testdepth, Thanks so much for those pointers. Especially about using the socket with the paper to maintain curves...here I was experimenting with a chop stick wrapped in sand paper to try and clean up under the frameback portion...after my over zealous hand sanding had softened one side already...

That would be great if you want to message me info on the scale material.

Vision is a little hazy on finished product, this one came to me with some type of brittle black scales that were oxidizing into a brownish haze.
Originally the lines made me think a mother of pearl type scale but after another recent purchase thinking honey or blonde scales, they look super classy!

All that said might be a bit much on a first attempt. See how it goes...

Thanks again!

John

 

Ok back to the sanding...

Removed the scales and took everything back down the 150grit and working my way back up. Not sure what to do about the pitting (?) that is all over this SR. Mainly how far to go...I took some 80 grit to the largest parts and its cleaned a little but again how far to go?

Pics of pitting marks




Down to 150 both sides, still sanding...





A future item to address is the larger hole in the pivot. There was a small washer in one side that fits into the hole...bagged for future reference.

Back to sanding.

Cheers all!

John

 

Personally, I thinking pitting gives the razor character ... plus the only way to remove it is to keep removing metal which sometimes doesn’t make sense. I like to hide the pits with a more satin or textured finish because mirror look will just make them stand out. Nice one directional, vertical sanding with anything from a 400-1000 grit paper, depending on what you like.
Looking good John!
Tom

 

Back up to the 1500grit two times on the label(show side) and once on the backside...I think they both need a little more. They are better but I think a touch more might do the trick. Maybe by then I can source out some higher grit papers and some polishing/buffing type compound and tools.

I looked a little further at the enlarged pivot and it is larger at the openings vs the middle of the hole, there is a ridge in the middle that I think a washer was sitting on maybe by design from a previous rescale or something. I'm pretty sure this guy is old enough.

Show side


Back side


Thanks again to all for their input!

Best,John

 

Oh yah and while I was sanding the postman came...

Quick to the Aquisition thread!

 

Teaser

 

Anyone have a good tip on when to start buffing with compound?

Is it once large stuff is gone? Thinking I may need to move on to buffing w/compound, maybe grey or black?

Has anyone used any of the harbor freight compounds?

Thanks so much!

 

Ok lightly sanded a lot and then sanded more experimenting with different grits, somewhere in the 4-600grit I was able to get a consistent grain on the blade...here it is with a little brasso applied, pretty content with the way it is turning out, I think...
Any thoughts on how I might soften the grain a little more?

Thanks all! What do you think?

 

Poor lighting here in my work area...

 

After sanding go to polishing

 

I like this
Or you could even try the same grit sandpaper 400/600 with a squirt of WD-40... seems to soften the lines a bit.
Looking good! And cool experimentation.
Tom

 

Went looking for Flitz, no joy...

instead picked up some 2" cotton buffer cones for the drill with some crayons. Used the brown crayon first about 20 laps then switched to the white for just a couple passes with the other cotton buffer. This blade is done!

At least for today ;-)





Time to order some rod and washers! Blonde horn scales are in route!

Thanks all!

John

 

This was the guiding light I needed, lol! Way to drill down to the heart of the question...thank you