I recently inherited a 1936 Clemen & Jung after the passing of my grandfather. His father owned a number of firearms, and this was a part of that lot. Unfortunately it found its way to the family farm, and someone took a power tool to it to sharpen it. Maybe recently (cousins), or maybe my great grandfather did it before his passing in the 60’s. In any case, it’s buba’d up pretty good, and is obvious it sat on a shelf in the barn for decades. Any value other than sentimental is totally lost.
My thought is to disassemble the scales, use fine grit sandpaper to remove the tool marks on the blade working down to a polishing compound, and doing the same to the surface rusted pommel, scabbard, and hardware. IF I were to do this, would using a cold blue solution (Birchwood Casey Perma Blue) give a decent finish on such a large area? I’ve only ever used Perma Blue to touch up parts before, never to completely reblue.
Second option is to only sand and polish the buba’d bevel of the blade and leave the rest alone.
Third option is to just put it in a drawer and forget about it until my son inherits it (or sells it in an estate sale)
There would be no practical use for such a large, now kitchen knife sharp, bayonet. Even while camping I rarely ever use my Glock knife which is a very similar profile, and a dirt cheap disposable tool. Simply a project.