UBB.threads Forums General Interest Restoration, Conservation, and Maintenance Forum Surface damages to HJ blades

I am sure this have been up here several times, and I am sorry to repeat a common question, but i think I have tried everything to get rid of this problem during my time of collecting.

I have several HJ blades that has some dark surface areas, that wont go away. From the beginning, it looks as though they are just "on top" of the blade, and does not damage the structure, but if you try to remove them, you will soon discover that they seem to be in the blade itself. Almost as if they blade itself has "lost some of its shine". Areas with several, tiny dark "dots" on it. It looks as it is not ON the blade, neither IN it. It is just there. It there any way at all to get rid of this?
Is it possible to prevent it from getting worse? As i said, I have tried everything I can think of.

It is hard to take a good picture of it right now, but I will try.

Thanks

No, this it is far from mint, but it was the one that happened to be right were I am.

The discoloring is in the blade metal itself. What you are seeing is the aging of the the carbon steel used in making the blade. The dark spots are generally the darkening of carbon and/or other elements that were alloyed to produce the steel. Sometimes superficicial slag or burnt carbon contaminates that were imbedded into the blade surface during the drop forging of the blade blank. When the blade was ground and final polish finished these inclusions are masked by the overall briteness of the uniformly polished steel surface. All carbon steels will eventually age and grey out or spot to some extent with age.

Trying to eliminate this thru aggresive polishing or even worse power grinding will this out will only degrade the original finish on the blade. After 60+ years all non stainless steel blades will show some from of aging even in the best of storage conditions. Some more than others.

Enjoy and conserve what you have without the worry and the heartache of running the risk of permanently impairing or even damaging a perfectly acceptable blade.

Afterall, these are historical artifacts that wear their history with pride and honor. Enjoy them for what they are and not what you may think they should be.

Just some thoughts.

Tony

I always wondered if something like Tarn-X would reverse the oxidation/rust/age problem. It always seemed to work on those old pennies in the commercial...

Thank you for your answer.

Of course I am not going to power grind a damn thing in my collection...god forbid it...

I do like the fact that my suff has some patina, but some are worse than others, and I thought maybe there is a way of getting rid of the worst darkening. And more important: to prevent it from getting even worse.

Well, it was a good answer, and I thank you.