Restoring a shiny finish to an Albion

Maybe helpful:

sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/52806/antique-blades-pelliuss-cleaning-threads

Also, Albion offers a finish restoration service. Or at least they used to. Maybe worth inquiring.

As mentioned above it's going to take a long while with a Scotchbrite + Oil and if you're removing rust you will need to put pressure on the blade when polishing from guard to tip over & over. Don't polish just one area because it'll look strange when the blade catches light.

One thing I did that got better results using the Scotchbrite + Oil method was get a table/workbench at waist level and press down firmly using some weight with both hands when polishing from guard to tip, whole blade in one continuous stroke each time.

Use New Gray Scotchbrite pads if it looks darkened/dirty instead of trying to squeeze more use out of them.

If DIY sounds like it'll take too much of your time then sending it back to Albion for refurbishing services is always an option. 

which is the albion?...jk

the left one was a heavy scuffed up va bristol from cutting.  I use red dremel compound (sans dremel) with just a small amount onto towel paper and scrub straight (light thumb pressure pretty much).  I probably should have wrapped cloth or the towel paper and use a small eraser or wooden block to keep the satin straighter

right one is a CF borderwatch 



Below I spot treated an Albion tiberius; I dont think you need to refinish to a coarser or finer grit though looking at your pictures.  There is a spot where you went oblique (first picture)  I used mother's mag on a few pinpricks of light black rust spots then run over it entirely with the dremel compound (lightly over entire blade afterwards only takes just a few minutes) 

albion's original (right side) has a slightly darker glossy look - some higher polished uniformity up close might be from polished spots on a worn belt? but I am not sure on this. imo you wouldnt be able to tell unless you start deeply up close with the two side by side but i guess you can gloss it down with a few swipes of polish/mother's  

Deeper scuffs I left in (see the top distal ridge of the gladius) gives it character but then if you want it more pristine, to a coarser grit you need to go

I used Metal Glo paste, no liquid. That gave a bright well-polished finish and generally not to my liking. To restore I'd suggest the Scotch Brit although my only experience with Scotch Brit is with a green pad on a new kukri I was testing on brush and got into something very corrosive causing rust within 20 minutes. I tried several methods to restore and nothing was working. I then tried aluminium foil and water. I knew of the trick for years but was the first time trying it. And that worked, but I think that is not what you want in your case. I’d go with the gray Scotch Brite, oil, with a backing in your case. The other alternative and a favourite of mine is sand paper w/oil and a compressible backing, sometimes a hard backing depending. I should point out that I wouldn’t try learning this technique on an Albion.

I know that I'm reviving a year old thread, but I am INSANELY HAPPY right now and I wanted to share how I finally fixed this to 100% perfect.

So Albion recommends grey Scotch-Brite pads and CLP Break Free to remove surface rust and restore it to regular finish.

As the original post mentions,  I tried the blue ones instead. The grey ones are just a lot more rare, and I didn't feel like messing with it since the blue ones were easily available.  I figured they couldn't be *that* different.  I was wrong.  I did still use CLP, but it didn't matter since I was using the wrong pad. They didn't remove the rust. I then put a kind of.. I don't know how to explain it.. a pretty mild abrasive kind of woven sponge thing on my drill. That removed the rust. It also really messed up the finish and there were obvious patches of discoloration, as can be seen in the pictures above. I was able to buff it a bit using Metal Glo as mentioned above, but it still wasn't perfect. It was *better*, but I was really fooling myself when I said it was *right*. It's been bugging me for a year. So much so that when a few of my other Albions developed surface rust I was afraid to address it. I've been using Renaissance Wax to try to prevent more, but four of my nine Albions had surface rust and two were pretty bad.

I bought a box of the grey pads several months ago, but as I said I've been afraid to even try as I didn't expect it to work. I just got one out a couple days ago, and I could immediately feel that it was vastly different than the blue ones. The grey ones are absolutely perfect for removing rust. Using the grey pads (my box is item number 64660 which is 25 of them, should last me forever) and the CLP Break Free I completely removed all of the rust from every sword without damaging the finish at all. They look like new. I then cleaned them twice each with dry cloths and put a generous coat of Renaissance Wax on all of them. I've decided that I'd rather see a swirly/streaky coat of wax and know that they are very well protected, and the wax lasts a lot longer than oil.

So, I figured what the heck and I got my Ringeck down. It had a couple more tiny spots of rust anyway. Using the grey pads and CLP Break Free I was able to not only remove the rest of the rust, but buff it back to an absolutely perfect factory finish by hand. It's been bothering me so bad that I've been considering getting Albion's maintenance plan and sending them back in, which would have been ridiculously expensive with the plan and the shipping.

Bottom line -- I should have followed Albion's recommendation from the start.

Good idea! Honestly I just kind of slather it on, I should probably put a nice thin pretty coat on, but I kind of like the look and knowing that it is *really* well protected and I didn't miss any spots haha!

Thanks for this update!

Thanks for the reply! I definitely learned that power tools are a bad idea, as is being lazy trying to maintain a collection that I am so proud of haha.

As for steel wool, have you considered brass wool instead? I do not know if it would be better for swords, but I can assume so because it is my go-to for maintaining firearms. Still removes surface rust on them very well, but is a bit less harsh than steel wool.

It is my understanding that brass wool is beneficial for this type of application because it doesn't "shed" as much as steel, and even if it does the tiny slivers of brass won't rust which if left on metal would lead to even more rust (with steel wool).  I've also heard that brass doesn't scratch steel as much, since it isn't as hard of a material.  I've always used it on both my blued and stainless firearms.  I still recommend the grey scotch brite pads personally after being so impressed by them, but thought I'd throw that out there for consideration.  

I have not tried brass wool although for really stubborn caked on rust I have used brass, I think twice, in the form of a key as that was the only brass available to me and worked with limited success and without damage. But that rust was extremely stubborn thick. I do not believe brass wool is available and will have to be imported.


As for #000 w/lubricant I find not harmful to finishes including firearms. I used to collect and had many antiques firearms in my collection and that’s what I used. I tried #0000 when the #000 was not available but that did not work as well as the #000. I believe the trick is using a lubricant. And if the gray Scotch Brite is equal to #00 steel wool #000 should be less abrasive.