Restoring a Bayonet

InertOrd13

InertOrd13

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Is it worthwhile to restore an older M5 bayonet? My father in law found an M5(A1?) korean war era bayonet for my M1 garand and it has quite the patina/character with it. The locking mechanism still works but does show some pitting from rust on the blade. It cost my father in law all of five bucks so it wasn't exactly a huge investment but I feel like it would look a little nicer cleaned up and sharpened. I will get some photos tomorrow of it but figured I would ask anyway.

Unfortunately there was not a scabbard for it.
 
InertOrd13 said:
Is it worthwhile to restore an older M5 bayonet? My father in law found an M5(A1?) korean war era bayonet for my M1 garand and it has quite the patina/character with it. The locking mechanism still works but does show some pitting from rust on the blade. It cost my father in law all of five bucks so it wasn't exactly a huge investment but I feel like it would look a little nicer cleaned up and sharpened. I will get some photos tomorrow of it but figured I would ask anyway.

Unfortunately there was not a scabbard for it.
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Not that they are worth a ton of money, but generally, you do not sharpen a bayonet. Doing so serves no purpose and it absolutely kills any residual value.
 
Disassemble the bayonet and hang it in a pot of boiling water for about 15 minutes. This will turn any rust into red oxide and clean all the nooks and crannies. Take a very fine wire wheel (something you can put against your skin fine) or use 0000 steel wool and lightly remove the oxide. Light oil then put back together.
 
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