Hello Kai, thank you so much for the comment and advice.
I started trying to grind the blade with 1000 grit and very quickly got cold feet. I was afraid that, well, I didn't really know what I could be getting myself into.
The value of the blade is low, and it's already very damaged so I might cautiously try the 0000 steel wool advice. I do want to bring out some of it's beauty without overly removing much patina. It was clearly not taken care of for 100 or 200 years, however. The blade is somewhat bent (I'd like to try to carefully bend it back eventually) and the horn handle is in frightful shape. So maybe it wouldn't hurt if I was a bit more aggressive on the polish.
The more that I think of it, the more I like the steel wool idea. Thank you.
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Originally Posted by kai
Since you already went ahead with partial de-rusting, there is little reason not to try to grind the blade, even with coarser grades of sandpaper. Any work with sandpaper will (partially or fully) remove patina and result in "white" metal while the pitted areas won't be affected; if you intend to keep the patinated surface, steel wool will be preferable (mainly 0000, be careful when using coarser grades; patience and lots of elbow grease needed, too); spots with stubborn rust may need dedicated treatment...
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