A new project...

[PhilB]

Well, a friend who has multiple straights knew I was looking into getting some straights of my own for my face and noggin (see my intro post).

He sent me this one he had laying around. Guess I have a project!

Plan is to remove the pins and disassemble, epoxy the scale back together where it's broken (these first two steps are the potential ones where plans may change), clean and polish the blade, re-assemble.

I still have to decide on nickel/stainless or brass when I make the new pins and washers. In either case, I think I'll have to source them online. The most common size is 1/16", but I'll know once disassembled and properly measured. If the ducks and writing don't have any lacquer over them (as I suspect) and the scales don't break and polish up nicely, then I'll do brass for uniformity. I'll probably have to order the round stock and washers online anyway (I'm in Canada).

If the scales don't hold with epoxy, I'll have to either have another solution, or make new scales out of another material.

I'm the least worried about the blade. I'm confident in my metal-working ability to get it back to better-than-knew. I've refurbished blades by hand that looked like they were used to cut rocks...And I have actual polishing wheels now! That's on top of sandpaper from 120 grit all the way up to 7000 grit (I sometimes build guitar pedal enclosures and paint them and clearcoat myself. That's what I take them to after curing before polish and wax!) This one looks like it has mainly surface rust. Even the thicker looking stuff by the spine and heel is coming off with a quick scratch with a fingernail.

It is odd that it has the Dubl Duck scales, but almost all the DDs I've seen have Dubl Duck on the blade markings as well. This one has Henckels markings. Anyone know anything about these?

Cheers.

Am I missing anything obvious in my plan?

 

[PhilB]

Disassembly went well. Those scales look like plastic on the inside, so I'm hopeful epoxy will cure (heh) what ails them.

There were no washers between the blade and scales, which is a little dumb...That's probably why this situation happened. Steel blade keeps wearing down plastic on one side, pin gets loose because of it, increasing movement, increasing wear, lather, rinse, repeat. Pins need to be tightened periodically normally anyway, so that couldn't have helped.

Bonus points if you know what the pliers are originally meant for.

 

[rbscebu]

It would be nice if you could save the scales but I don't think epoxy glue will be sufficient enough to repair the broken pivot section. The blade should clean up well. Good luck.

 

[PhilB]

It would be nice if you could save the scales but I don't think epoxy glue will be sufficient enough to repair the broken pivot section. Good luck.

It's worth a shot. There seems to be a lot of meat there, it's just whether or not the epoxy is strong enough...

I've done miracles with it before, so why not...

 

[ylekot]

I believe those pliers are used for pulling horseshoe nails, good luck on the project

 

[PhilB]

I believe those pliers are used for pulling horseshoe nails, good luck on the project

Winner!

 

[rockviper]

Looked shave-ready to me.

 

[PhilB]

Looked shave-ready to me.

The blade was actually pretty close! I'd guess it was at about a 4000 finish... Shouldn't require much honing and stropping.

 

[2bit_collie]

I fixed one scale broken at the pivot like that by ”cheating”. When I glued it I also added pivot washers and on the side where the scales were broken I glued the pivot washer to the scale so that it would act as a reinforcement.

 

[PhilB]

I fixed one scale broken at the pivot like that by ”cheating”. When I glued it I also added pivot washers and on the side where the scales were broken I glued the pivot washer to the scale so that it would act as a reinforcement.

Yeah, it's looking more and more likely that @rbscebu was correct. I'll make another attempt at either cryanoacrylate or epoxy, but it's looking pretty dim.

I was thinking of cheating with something like fibreglass cloth, but that would require resin, etc...Or sheet metal, but that would probably change the balance of the razor too much (I'd have to put some on both sides for centering).

Looks like I may need to learn to make scales.

 

[PhilB]

Oh...wait...I don't need to put sheet metal down the entire length of the scales, just a bit where the pivot hole is...And washers should be going there anyway (even though there were none to start with).

Worth a shot!

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Since the scales aren't original, I'd probably just make new ones rather than fight to save those. It might be worth saving the bolsters, though. Ducks occasionally end up with cell rot, and I think I recall seeing at least one post where someone bought a worthless rotted Duck just for the bolsters, which they put on a fresh set of cracked ice acrylic scales. Labor intensive but potentaly worth it in the event you come across a Goldedge with broken scales or in the very early stages of cell rot. You should be able to get the bolsters off with acetone.

 

[PhilB]

Made a few coupons out of some sheet metal that I ground down (it was fairly thick), and glued them in place. We'll see how that holds.

If it works, it'll definitely be ugly with a visible crack through that scale, but it may still be functional.

 

[PhilB]

Since the scales aren't original, I'd probably just make new ones rather than fight to save those. It might be worth saving the bolsters, though. Ducks occasionally end up with cell rot, and I think I recall seeing at least one post where someone bought a worthless rotted Duck just for the bolsters, which they put on a fresh set of cracked ice acrylic scales. Labor intensive but potentaly worth it in the event you come across a Goldedge with broken scales or in the very early stages of cell rot. You should be able to get the bolsters off with acetone.

Wait...those scales aren't original? How can you tell?

 

[rockviper]

The supports are worth a shot.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Wait...those scales aren't original? How can you tell?

The blade says Henckels 68?

 

[PhilB]

The blade says Henckels 68?

Right...That's why I was asking this:

It is odd that it has the Dubl Duck scales, but almost all the DDs I've seen have Dubl Duck on the blade markings as well. This one has Henckels markings. Anyone know anything about these?

It seems that many companies made the DDs...Was this not a combination that ever came out together?

I wouldn't want to restore it and have it pretend to be something it's not. Although, this will be my personal razor, so it's not like I'll sell it as something else.

 

[Frank Shaves]

Because no one pointed it out, someone put the DD scales onto a Henckels blade. Henckels made some great razors. I like the shape of this blade, specifically that there are no stabilizers.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Not to mention, you said there were no internal washers. But if you look at the tang, and the inside of the scales, it looks like there are washer marks. So at some point both the scales and the blade had washers next to them.

Dubl Ducks seem to have been made by more than one manufacturer, but they were stamped on the tang with the Dubl Duck logo, and the Goldedges, at least, had that stamped on them as well.

Even if Henckels was making Ducks at some point (which I don't think is the case, but I have no evidence either way), the washer marks lead me to believe that this wasn't a mis-scale at the factory. Somebody replaced the scales at some point, sans washers.

 

[rbscebu]

Your metal plates should not change the balance of the razor. Most SR's have a balance point very near the pivot pin. You are adding mass at the pivot pin. This will only increase the mass of the overall SR and not change the razor's centre of gravity.