I acquired this on, specifically as a project. It was $20, so I figured it was worth a try. It had a major chip and crack, where the chip was. I figured it would take a while to fix, since I do not have a belt sander, set up for blade work. It started out a pretty decent sized blade, but it will be whittled down. No choice. I didn't want a stubby. Before. If you zoom in, you can see just how bad the damage is.
I received this several weeks ago, but I have been working on it, on and off, slowly, so as not to cause the crack to increase. The scary part was when I brought it down, and a large chip came off, which was expected. I also added the nail polish, because the constant touching started to dull the gold, slightly. It would have to be added anyway. Here it is, with just a little crack left. It is very time consuming and tedious. Especially because the women in the house cannot stand the noise of the metal against the stone. Much more to go. Wish me luck.
It isn't over, until the crack disappears. Any torsion, near the crack, and it can grow out of control, instantly. Kind of like a chipped windshield. .
It is getting there. A lot of very careful metal removing. The edge of this blade, even in the center, is pretty thin. So, I've got the crack licked. There is a little warpage, where the crack was. The good news is, the crack looks gone, even under 60x magnification. I won't know, completely, until the bevel is set, and properly honed. Oh, There was some major rust issues, with this blade, that left some pitting. I gave up, and left it as it was, after a lot of sanding, and polishing. So, the other good news, the final width of the blade is just a very fine hair, under 6/8th inch. Not much will change, after this, width wise. One thing I found out about Filarmonica blades, the steel is very very very hard. It looks, and feels of Swedish Silver Steel. Also, maybe even harder. I will leave the nail polish on, until the edge is honed, since just rubbing with fingers can dull, and remove the gold. Oh, I did round out the toe and heel, to keep it more original looking.
Yes, definitely its kind of a chipped windshield and it can't get repaired so windshield replacement is the only option you can go for.
Final look. I saved the etching and plating. The final width is just a hair under 6/8th inch. What a pain.
