In my work area, I have several dozen blades awaiting new life. I tend to 'batch' the blades for refinishing as saves time. Once the blades all reach a certain stage in the process, the majority are set aside and a few a chosen for scales. One blade in the batch below— the second big blade on left— was the last to be finished in this particular lot. The blade is an old heavy true wedge with a scalloped spine. Smallish, thin tang and delicate tail. Some details on where I'm going on this one: For the scales, I wanted do something similar to the scales I created for my favorite Wostenholm, this large Pipe razor with angular, more modern shaped scales. The hinged end, however, will be rounded (more traditionally shaped) than the above razor. I was able to snag the nice original brass domed washers from an old dilapidated set of Wosty scales and I hope to put these to use on this new razor. I chose some figured Indian rosewood for the scales with amber for the wedge. With regards to the finish, I still have not decided. More to come....
I'm excited to see the rest of these. I'm very jealous of your collection honestly! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
What are your going to do to fix the pivot hole? It looks well worn. Or, it might just be the lighting.
Many of these old blades have pivot holes that have worn into elongated, out-of- round passages. Depending upon the size I'll try one of two options: if the diameter allows, a section of brass tubing (slightly larger than the pivot rod) can be inserted and epoxied in place, and trimmed flush. If the hole is too small or completely unworkable, the quick and effective method is epoxy filler. It dries hard and can be sanded flush and drilled to the desired diameter.
I've had this big blade laying around for many months so I'm anxious to finally give it some 'new shoes' and get 'er honed up!
I'll see if I can do a better job of photo-documenting the process. Pictures are worth 10k words and certainly more enthralling than me typing, "Then I did this and then this ...blah blah blah..." for countless paragraphs.
The majority of all my razors, except for a select few, go on sale...eventually. I anticipate a number going up on classifieds (possibly this one as well) later this month to make room. First things first...I've some work to do!
Most excellent. Thanks for the reply. I was thinking of brass tubing as well, but hadn't thought of the epoxy route.
I like the idea of using brass tubing as a bushing. It's a similar concept of sleeving a cylinder in an engine. I know epoxy is strong and can be as tough as certain metals. That would seem like the easiest approach. Fill the hole with epoxy and drill to size. Kevin, as usual, you do great work! I'll be following this thread.
Not much progress on this Wosty this past couple of days. I've been busy packing up several razors to ship out tomorrow! I did decide to use a hard CA (cyanoacrylate) finish on these rosewood scales. CA finishes are durable and provide good protection to wood. I sanded and shaped the scales to size, finishing at around 800 grit. A good rubdown with mineral spirits removes finger oils and other nasties. These scales will require an estimated 12 to 14 coats— with fine-grit sanding between each coat. The scales have been drilled (dry-fitting the blade to ensure good pin placement). I secured the two sides on my 'staining station'—strong wire that allows secure mounting of the scales. I'll begin and finish the underside (inside?) before moving on to the exterior. Here's a set of zebra wood scales getting a CA finish; this showing the set after an application of about 4-5 coats. More to come...
