Restoring my Grandfathers classic knives

ACCAEEDF-01B0-4F34-B484-E30B25168158.jpeg Update... I cleaned them shortly after posting this. I soaked them overnight in mineral oil and used cutips to clean out all the gunk. It worked amazing! The open so much better now. The Cammilus turned out amazing and the colors in the handle really pop now. I love the personality of the blades.

I got a wicked edge for Christmas so I was able to properly sharpen the blades. I’m going to my grandmothers house this weekend and I hope to show her how it turned out!

There are some small spots of rust that didn’t come off. Should I use some sort of an abrasive to remove it so it doesn’t get worse?
 
It looks great now!!!!

The best results come from doing very little. No way should you use any abrasives on the knife, and the spots of rust won't hurt anything. From what I can see in your pic, it really doesn't look like rust but just very deep staining. Big difference. Just keep it clean and oil it now andhten, and it has another two generations use in it.

You've done a great job, and I would leave it now as is. Anything more will be damaging to the knife's character.
 
Man that turned out great! I’ve got a bunch of old knives from both of my grandfathers that looked just like yours did. I just cleaned and oiled them and they are ready for another lifetime of work. It’s such a great feeling to use the tools your family used.
 
When you oil it
You dont need to drown it.
A thin smear or film of oil and wipe it off.
 
In woodworking, once you remove wood, you can’t put it back. Metal working, as in blades, is the same.

Abrasives usually shouldn’t be used on vintage knives.

That said, I’ve done it twice- once on a Cattaraugus 225q knife from WWII. Someone had used a blasted grinder all over the sides of it. Grr.
Fortunately, they had not removed too much steel, just looked like heck.
I started with 60 grit, moved carefully all the way through 1500, and finished up with crocus cloth. Hours and hours...

The other one was my old Sabre fish knife from when I was a kid. That poor thing was rusting away in a box of old tackle. Same slow, careful progression through the sandpapers.
 
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