Months ago, fellow TSD member Karl (@Karl G ) approached me to do a rescale on an old Wade & Butcher razor he had. It was a uniquely-style old razor with a beveled spine and deep thumb notch. The scales currently on the razor "...feel too big for the razor - they are awkward in my hand." We discussed options, styles and materials and began the process. Unfortunately, about 30 days in after receiving the razor into the production queue, I was diagnosed with CPT and severe tendonitis in my left hand & arm. This essentially put me out of commission for the foreseeable future. I cancelled a number of orders and offered to return the razor to Karl. He stated he was in no real rush and to hang on to the razor. I told him he was next in line once I was up n' running again. Fast-Forward Two & a Half Months: I finally got the green light from both doctor & therapist to begin working again and got right on nailing down the specifics on Karl's razor. What style? What material? What color? I provided Karl a variety of horn blanks to choose from and when all was said & done, we opted to go with the classic black horn. Some of the horn blank gallery to pick from. These are all black with white feathering... We settled on one of the two (far left): basic black! As far as the 'style' or shape on the scales, we looked at a number of vintage makers and the style they utilized. You can really go wrong with the tried & true designs of the masters! We landed upon a scale style common with many of the larger vintage Wade & Butchers— a broader wedge end, rounded over for comfort. Similar to the style of this large-bladed W&B (below). The proportions on the new scales would need to be reduced for a 6/8" razor vs this 8/8" beast. I created a variety of templates each varying slight in overall size to best fit the blade proportionally. Karl's blade (top blade) shown below aligned upon one of the templates. Not enough gap between razor's nose and wedge line (dashed line) on this particular template so I used another that was slightly larger. The Blade: The blade on this razor was in very good shape. Karl requested a good clean & polish but not a 'mirror finish.' I'm not a real fan of mirror finishes on many of these old Sheffield razors, so happy to do as he requested. A couple of details once this blade was removed from the scales— a large amount of rust was present on the tang where metal bearing washers had been used. The pivot hole was oversized (distorted) from years of use. This is fairly common on these old razors and the razor will not keep true alignment and tend to 'wobble' if not corrected. Hole was patched with epoxy; sanded flush and re-drilled to a proper diameter. Brass inner bearing washers were used with the new scales. Back to the Scales: Horn tend to want to warp. The thinner you make it, the greater the likelihood the sections will curl, bow or twist. The method I use to help alleviate the warping is the 'heat & clamp' method—where I essentially boil the horn and clamp it under pressure for an extended period. Sometimes the horn only takes one treatment to become compliant; other times require repeating the process. I cut the 1/4" thick x 2 x 6" blank (with a slight warp) in half lengthwise and dropped them in boiling water for five minutes. I then put the very hot two sections side-by-side and placed them between two heavy parchment paper-lined metal plates and then clamped them tightly together. Boiled & Clamped horn blanks between two metal plates for several weeks... Once I remove the blanks, I check the how true— or how flat the sections were against one another. One half still had a slight warp and so went back for another hot bath treatment and further clamping. After several days, I removed the section and found that it had cooperated and remained flat. I adhered the two sections together (back to back) with a strong double-sided tape, glued on the paper template and rough cut the shape on the bandsaw. I refined the edges and overall shape on both the upright and horizontal belt sanders (80- 300 grit). Before doing any rounding over of the top or bottom, I drilled the pin holes on the pivot end and wedge end to ensure the holes would be perpendicular (90°) to the scale body. Here is a shot of both sides of the scales in rough form. Note the beginning of the bevel on the edges as I begin the rounding over. Deep grooves present from the 80 grit. The refinement process: Here you can see the scales taking shape as they are refined by removal of material and using higher grits through the sanding process. Through steps 1 & 2, hard edges and deep scratches are carefully removed, moving from 120 grit > 240 grit > 320 grit on the upright belt sander. In steps 3 & 4, we're moving into higher grits and hand-sanding: 400>600>800>1000>1200grit. From there, I took the scales to the buffer and used black emery to remove any residual scratching that were still detectable (at 1200 grit, not a lot of scratches remain). The next step was to reduce each scale half to the desired thickness. Currently the two scale halves were far too thick each (.187-189) to use. @gssixgun has a very informative thread in TSD's Restoration section on scale thickness and how those old SR masters knew what they were doing in determining the ideal scale thickness for strength and flex. I highly recommend reading it if you plan on making scales! Too thick to use (at least right now)... My goal was to get the scale thickness down to the .115 -.120" range. This required material removal and I began this process on a horizontal belt sander with a 100-320grit belt(s). Eventually (much horn dust generated), I achieved the desired thickness and finished the underside of the blanks to the same degree as the outside. To go with the black horns, we chose a simple adornment for the wedge: a contrasting white bone. I shaped a 1 x1 x 1/8" section of bone into a wedge, final thickness of .065" on the thick end. New Wedgie..... Final assembly: Wedge end assembled (with a temporary wooden faux tang fastened in place with mini nuts & bolt on the pivot end) and peened with .1/16" brass rod and solid brass stacked washers. Same on the pivot end with two flat brass inner bearing washers. Close to the finish line... Honing: Chosera Pro 1k bevel set; Naniwa SS 3k>5k>8k>10k> 12k Finished off on a vintage Escher waterstone. Stropped linen & leather. Scary-sharp, but so smoooooth! I thanked Karl for his patience throughout these many months and hopefully he'll enjoy using this W&B. It ships out tomorrow back home!
Kevin Fantastic job. That is beautiful. I am glad you are back to working on blades. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Looks awesome, as per the usual. I can't wait until some of these cool hidden straight razor go up for sale *wink*wink
Looks fantastic - all I hoped for and more. Thanks for the peek at the "sausage making" behind the scenes. I'm traveling and with any look it'll be at my doorstep in time for my next shave (or two.)
