As the end of the voting gets closer Here are some of the materials I am thinking of Dark woods Either http://www.bellforestproducts.com/exotic-wood/mun-ebony/ or http://www.bellforestproducts.com/exotic-wood/curly-narra/ Light woods Pretty much decided on a fantastic piece of Olive wood I have..that is so much more figured than the example here.. http://www.bellforestproducts.com/exotic-wood/olivewood/ Now if by chance the third place choice pulls ahead I have a Melted Copper piece of acrylic that I have been wanting to try out...
I already voted for dark wood and that Curly Nara sure is pretty Glen, did you make the scales you put on the TI you just bought or did you buy them like that?
OK then here we go Dark Wood it is, I am heading to the shop to cut some blanks and decide which of the darker woods gets the nod...
Ladies and Gents it continues... I went and cut out some blanks of the Curly Nara, a beautiful wood that stuff, but I just did one for the Cranky Moose in Nara, Then I cut down some new stuff I bought, called Granadillo, really nice wood to but it didn't jump out at me ... http://www.bellforestproducts.com/exotic-wood/granadillo/ I looked at my cut stocks of Mun Ebony, Senegal Ebony, Cocobolo, even Ziricote' but nothing really excited me until this cut in the center of a block of Macassar Ebony It is normally a nice striped wood much like Black and White Ebony just a touch more brown. http://www.bellforestproducts.com/exotic-wood/macassar-ebony/ But in the middle of the block I found two blanks that could be put together so that the sides you see in this pic will be the outsides of the scales... I will try like crazy to incorporate as much of that eye figure and the flash of color as I can... These will be glued together with rubber cement and layed up in a vice while I look for some time to finish them up... The blade continues to spin and looks great, I was going to take more pics but heck a shiny blade is just another shiny blade in the eyes of the camera...
did you "pick your own board"? another question is why do you have diff. sizes of the buffing wheels?
I get what the guys at Bell Forest send me, and so far I have been happy... www.bellforestproducts.com great guys and they actually cut 1/8 thick stuff for us Razor restorers, so if you can't rip your own, they have like 8 different ones they keep in stock for you...... The different sizes of wheel are for the different grinds on the razors, the more hollow the grind the smaller the wheel you need....
The Wedge !!!! OK here comes the "fun" part, the wedge... We are going to do a lined ebony wedge on this razor so I start with a piece of Senegal Ebony just for reference it is 1/8+ x 1" x 6" I cut off a piece that is about 2 inches long, way more than needed... I am going to sand this into a wedge shape, I use some Carpet tape, and wrap that on my finger, this makes sanding and controlling the shape very easy... All I want to do is sand it into to a wedge shape, with the extra length I can move the finished wedge to wherever I want between the scales, to adjust the for the thickness/angle... Since we are going to line the wedge, I made it pretty thin... Now I need to be clear here since there is some info floating around out there that is not quite right... When working with wood, bone, metal, Micarta, or any material that does not melt, you only have to sand one side then square the end.. I know it doesn't sound right but trust me it works... Now if you are using Acrylic or Plastic for the wedge you have to be very careful doing one side because the material can warp... So on that stuff I sand the wedge shape from both sides... I use a standard Bench Sander with a 4"x36" arm, and a 6" disc but there are many other ways to do this too, including by hand...
More pics !!! Inside of these pics are some hints, tips, and tricks: First off what you see there on the bench top in the background are not just there by chance, I put everything there for a reason the nuts, bolts, and washers, are from www.microfasteners.com so is that silver tube looking thing, which is actually the wrench for the nuts... Here is what you need... Hex Head Machine Screws - Brass = HBB0012 100 0-80 x 3/4 Hex Nuts - Brass = HNBS0080 50 0-80 scale 3/32 .048 Flat Washers - Brass = FWB0 100 #0 .064 1/8 .017 FWBW0 100 #0 wide .064 3/16 .017 Flat Washers - Stainless = FWS00 100 #0 That is what I use the most of but there is other stuff on the site you can mess with too.... Those two pieces of wood are actually mock tangs that I use when I fit the scales so I am not playing with a sharp razor They are in two different thicknesses one 3/16" for heavy razors, and one in 1/8" for lighter ones...
Lining the wedge !!!! I will lay up the wedge now, so it is well dried before I start fitting it tomorrow.... I use a very thin brass sheeting for lining the wedge, you can find this at most knife supply places and any hardware store that has a K&S metals display ... I cut it using tin snips to aproximate size then I use Gorilla Glue to set it... I have tried other glues but most give out to the heat of the belt sander... The Gorilla Glue is the best I have found for liners, actually my friend Seraphim told me about using it.... I leave these overnight to set, in the vice & C-clamp so they are ready for the fitting tomorrow... Any questions please feel free to post them up.... I will continue to try and answer them as best I can....
Great pics, Glen! Thanks for taking us step-by-step. Like you said, I have to hand sand stuff because the only power tool I have for something like this is a Dremel.
In this case only aesthetics, if they were being used as scale liners then it would be used for both....
Working the scales !!! I am getting the lay of the land here, I picked out an old scale that I liked the looks of it, is a touch large for this razor but I can fit to the Tuckmar as I go.. The two halves of the scales will stay rubber cemented together all the way through until I fit the wedge... Here I have traced a rough pattern to follow from an old scale I like the shape of... Note how the eye figure will stay with the scales... I used a Band saw to cut away the majority of the excess wood This is what I start with on the sander, from this point it is all free hand.. Smoothing up and deepening the inside curve on the end of the sander.. I measured in the Tuckmar razor this line is where I am figuring the hole for the pivot to go... Note how the pivot end has been sanded off, you want the hole to be about 3/8" away from the end...How do I know this??? I looked at a lot of Vintage razors, if the distance is to far the tail doesn't work right with your fingers, to close and the scales are too weak... The wedge end has the final shape now, note the pic above see the angles I put in , then in this pic the rounded flare has been put in... Here you can see the square look and the thickness of the scales that is going to be taken out and finished ...
Still working the scales... Here I am chamfering the edges so they are rounded in on the scales, I am not real fond of the squared look on scales.... Note the respirator Here the scales have been chamfered and I will use some 150 grit sandpaper to round the edge and smooth them and blend them in In this pic you can see some of the pinning equipment there in the back ground, there are some blue pin punches, some black nail sets to smooth final pins, a brass Doming block and some steel Dapping punches. A 4 oz Jeweler's chasing hammer, some end nippers, and of course a small file... My buffing line up now, I just added to it and rearranged the shop some ... The moment of truth here, once you drill the pivot and wedge holes you are committed so do not screw up at this stage, again note that I still have the scales glued together with rubber cement, this means the holes can be nothing but straight.... Double checking my fit after the holes are in Here is where we are at right now note the thickness of the scales I am going to give you a slick trick here.... We pop the scales apart now, they are still too thick for my taste, and that thickness will not allow for enough flex... OK here is how you do this..... First if you start at 1/8" stock and then sand it in, the thickness will be perfect, BUT you end up with that flat Popsicle stick look... So here is how I do it, yes it is more work, start with 1/8"+ stock then after you chamfer in the corners and sand it all in, you thin up the scales from the insides, that way you get the more rounded look but you don't have the thickness, this you really do need a belt sander for, I guess you could try it by hand but it will take some serious time... Here are the scales after I thinned them up... Now we are ready to fit the wedge in...
Fitting the wedge, and test fitting the scales Here you see I have one side of the scales on top of the crude Wedge, I can slide the the scale forward or backward until I get the angle I think will work best, sorry there is no real trick here the more of them you do the better you get at it... Leave the lined wedges for later after you get a feel for the angles because you can't sand them in like you could a plain wood or acrylic wedge... I just line up the one side of the scales where I want it, then line up the existing hole in the scale and the drill bit, and then drill right through the wedge... Here is the wedge being sized to the razor... note the Microfastener's bolts I use a Sharpie marker for this, if you rest the tip protector on the toe of the razor then move the marker it gives a near perfect 3/32 (IMHO) clearance when your done I mark the wedge and cut it off, the whole thing is held together with Micro bolts and nuts see where the mock tangs come in here... this goes back out to the bench sander and gets blended in....watch the heat build up while doing this... Here the wedge has been sanded to fit the scales... I do a total mock up here before going any farther to make sure of fit and function with the actual razor... This is the most important step right here, this is the one that people miss, this is where you find the mess ups, like a mis-ground tang, or a twisted blade, or badly built scales, any mistakes have to be found here, and corrected before you apply finish and pin the razor, because after that it is to late, and the mistakes will show... I check the lay of the razor, the fit. and how it centers in the scales.... DO NOT rush through here, take your time and double check the whole thing... Here the scales are ready to come in the house so I can begin the finishing process... Note the lucky 7 on the wedge, I do this on every razor, it tells me how the wedge fits back into the scales... and heck it is a superstition by now
Hey Glen, Its looking great so far. When you restore scales, do you need to be concerned about the weight and balance of the scales? If so, any tips Will