What's on your work bench right now?

[tonybee]

My first post in this thread.
This morning I received this mandarin #18 straight razor with a frown. It must have started his life as a 8/8”
I have made some photo’s of the spine and as you can see both sides Needed some work, after that I straightened the edge with a 320 grit diamond plate at a 30 degree angle.
The toe and heel will need some more work later, first I wanted to see if we could get a decent bevel.
Bevel set with a Naniwa chosera 800. Thumbnail test confirms a good bevel for honing.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Did my first rescale today. This was a ten dollar antique store purchase. I didn't take too much patina off to save the engraving. Took an edge very well, but the plastic scales that were on it bugged me because they were a bit loose and the third pin made it so I couldn't tighten them any more. I cut these out of white oak and am doing a walnut oil finish. The wedge isn't perfect but I think I learned some things along the way.

 

[Frank Shaves]

Congrats, @tonybee on your first post on this thread, and removing the frown. Looks like a lot of work and that your work paid off!

 

[Frank Shaves]

Congrats on the scales, @Darth Scandalous! I hear you about learning things on the way. I just completed my first set of scales (which I will post later) and learned a ton. Just curious, does the oak flex much?

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Congrats on the scales, @Darth Scandalous! I hear you about learning things on the way. I just completed my first set of scales (which I will post later) and learned a ton. Just curious, does the oak flex much?

It flexes enough, at 1/8" thick, though not as much as some materials. More than I expected.

 

[Frank Shaves]

I finally finished the scales for the Dorko 43, and set the bevel/honed the razor. This is one nice razor!

Overall, I am happy with how the scales turned out but what a learning curve. I made a few really stupid mistakes along the way, all of which I was able to recover from. Bottom line is I learned a ton from this experience, and have decided to next make a pair out of black water buffalo with camel bone wedge to replace these. And this time I will be using my new belt sander.

Next step is to toss a buffalo horn blank sandwiched between a piece of steel and a pizza stone into the oven for one hour at 325 degrees.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Speaking of lessons learned. I have another set of scales I'm finishing up, in curly maple, for a 4/8 E.A. Berg. For some reason when I made the wedge, I checked that the toe of the blade would clear it, but not that the width was correct. I figured out that it was too wide for that little blade *after* I'd glued it in and pinned it (dope slap). But, I had only put a tiny bit of glue on the one side of the wedge, so I figured if I could unpin it, I could pry it off and sand it down. My cheap little flush cutters don't cut quite flush enough to easily cut a mushroomed pin, but I was able to file it down flat to the washer and then carefully drive it out with a small nail set. Once that was done, I popped the wedge off the one side with an exacto knife and then sanded it down to the right thickness. I reglued it and clamped it overnight and still need to repin it. Hopefully I can get the pivot end tight enough now because I really like the way it came out (photos to follow once it's done).

The other thing I learned is that the curly maple picks up discoloration from darn near everything. The jewelers anvil, tape, etc. I ended up putting a strip of paper over the scales and poking the pins through in order to protect the surface of the scales while pinning it. I was going to do walnut oil on this one too but I may end up putting a polyurethane clear coat on it for better protection.

 

[Frank Shaves]

I hear you, @Darth Scandalous! I look forward to seeing the curly maple scales. I won't bore you with my saga. Suffice it to say that there is a learning curve to sizing and positioning the wedge. Next time, I am going to try to avoid using glue and try using a miniature bolt/screw to hold the wedge in place while I shape it.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Here's the Berg. It's a novelty but I had fun with it.

 

[2bit_collie]

Here's the Berg. It's a novelty but I had fun with it. View attachment 1293011View attachment 1293012

Haha, love the scales!

 

[Luecke2326]

Did a simple rescale on this old S. R. Droescher, Classic. If I’d thought about it, it would have looked cool to Blue the tang and spine, but leave the highly polished “classic” Diamond as shiny metal. I may yet do this, but for now I’ll be content shaving with this 100 year old beauty.

Rescaled with well aged vintage bone(nice honey color) from a no name broken razor in my parts box.

 

[Luecke2326]

Big project to work on this next week. Picked it up in a big lot about a year ago, but it has sat on my workbench since then while I worked through the easy cleanup jobs. Filarmonica 14 Double Tempe 7/8+

 

[stone and strop]

Big project to work on this next week. Picked it up in a big lot about a year ago, but it has sat on my workbench since then while I worked through the easy cleanup jobs. Filarmonica 14 Double Tempe 7/8+

View attachment 1295715
View attachment 1295716

Doesn't look too bad - should clean up just fine.

 

[Ice-Man]

Big project to work on this next week. Picked it up in a big lot about a year ago, but it has sat on my workbench since then while I worked through the easy cleanup jobs. Filarmonica 14 Double Tempe 7/8+

View attachment 1295715
View attachment 1295716

Watching this one to see how it turns out hehehe Show us a beautiful razor Matt joking aside that will turn out fantastic as yours do as you told me once show them love and they will return the favour 1000 times fold

 

[CongaJon]

Just poured epoxy on some Red Imp bloodwood scales. The logo was pretty far gone, but I filled it as well as I could.

 

[Luecke2326]

Damn…. I guess this is on my work bench now! At least the blade was not damaged, I can’t say the same for myself….

 

[ebonysw45]

A brush and a blade.

 

[Ice-Man]

Damn…. I guess this is on my work bench now! At least the blade was not damaged, I can’t say the same for myself….
View attachment 1296707

When they bite they bite hard don't ask me how I know

But as the saying goes chicks dig scars

 

[Frank Shaves]

The lesson that I have recently learned is that when taking apart or putting together a razor with a sharp edge is to spend a few minutes covering the edge with a layer of tape - like painter’s tape. Your fingers and hands will thank you.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Luecke2326]

Watching this one to see how it turns out hehehe Show us a beautiful razor Matt joking aside that will turn out fantastic as yours do as you told me once show them love and they will return the favour 1000 times fold

Thank you! She’s coming along slowly, loads of hand sanding. I’ll take it to the buffer after a bit more hand sanding.