Slight worry

[bunnyboo_xxx]

Hello everyone

i have recently moved house and my knives were stored in the garage by accident and have slight rust
is there anything i can do to try to fix without decreasing the value to much i am completely gutted and really hoping to salvage what i can.

[Geordie Ross]

There's a couple of things you can do, firstly get some 1500-2500 grit sandpaper and work off the heavy rust in stages gradually increase the grit number, then use a good polish to refine the finish, you can also get rubber rust erasers and then use a polish, but the rust erasers aren't as fine as the sandpaper.

[Mellony]

Just keep one thing in mind, it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better - especially if you take the rust eraser route.

When you start polishing the rust off with grit / rubber it will mark the blade - a lot - you'll start thinking to yourself "Oh Crap - I've ruined my blade" - my advice; don’t panic at this stage, keep going and make sure you get every particle of oxide off the blade, don’t worry too much about ruining the finish as you’re going to do that either way - doing it a bit more gently to avoid major scratching / dulling will just leave oxide in pits & will just result in the rust coming back.

Once you've got rid of all (or rather the vast majority) the rust, just give it a once over with Liberon or something similar (vital that you deoxidise the surface before re-polishing)

[Geordie Ross]

Yea, forget about a mirror finish, just make sure you get all the rust off first as it will spread.

[Maynar]

If it's as slight as you say, try a polishing paste before you resort to sandpaper.

Mother's mag and aluminum cleaner has a very mild abrasive, try that first. If it doesn't remove the rust, try Metal Glo, or Flitz metal polishes for a slightly coarser abrasive. If you succeed with these it might help preserve whatever polish is on the blades before you have to try sandpaper.

Good luck!