Best way to remove a heel chip?

[Mr_Spiffy]

I'm hoping for some advice on the best way to remove a heel chip from my razor. It's not on the shaving edge. It sits a little bit up and around the rounded heel. Do I just sand/grind it down and blend it in? Or is there a better way to go about it? I didn't pay a lot for the razor, so I'm not too concerned about its value or damage. I just want it to look pretty again, and shave well. After I deal with the chip, I plan to sand and polish it to a nice, shiny, mirror finish again for my very first restoration. Then hone it up and try it out!

You can see the chip fairly well in the second photo. It's not huge, but big enough.

Thoughts?

 

[Doc226]

Pics are always helpful.

 

[Gamma]

Pix - yes.

I've taken out, what I think is the same thing, with running the heel on a DMT - then sandpapering it to remove the score-lines.

 

[Kavik79]

i see one pic there
sorry, I have no advice unless you want to consider grinding away the stabilizer and making it a 'shoulder-less' with a rounded heel


edit: now I see 2 pics, but original post wasn't edited. must be something funky with photobucket today

 

[Gamma]

heel needs to be ground/dressed up anyway.
I'd use a dmt, carefully, to bring the heel to where it meets the top of the new bevel you'll need to set will be.
You could use a dremel to do it - but it's scary and dangerous. I prefer to do that kind of work by hand.
After - just hone the new bevel into place and the chip will be gone.

 

[Mr_Spiffy]

Thanks, guys. I don't have a DMT, but I do have a triple stone sharpening kit for my kitchen knives that has a fairly coarse stone. I can try it on that and see how it goes. I'd rather do this by hand than use a Dremel. With a blade this sharp, that does sound scary and dangerous. I'll go slow, and just keep checking my progress as I grind it down a bit.

Sorry for any weirdness that happened with the photos. I edited the post shortly after I posted it, just to add an extra sentence or two. Maybe that's what goofed it up.

 

[Mr_Spiffy]

Oh, and I hit the auto parts store and found some 1500, 2000, and 3000 grit sandpaper. It's gonna be SHINY!

 

[Gamma]

a stone is a stone - dmt or coarse whetstone will get you there. Go slow - can't put metal back after you take it off.
Better to undershoot it and redo it.
It is entirely possible that the stabilizer could use some work too; might want to thin it down at the bottom when you're done.
Hard to say without holding it. Wouldn't be a thing that would stop you from using it or honing it though. Just a superficial consideration.
Might just need to have the edges rolled off. You'll see it when you get the heel dressed up.

 

[Johnsebesta]

Agree that I'd stay away from the Dremel. You really don't have enough control to work on that spot. Experience(or lack of it) tells me Now to keep dremels away from all razors!-( use a stone or sand paper.

 

[Mr_Spiffy]

Well, here's where I'm at, so far. I used 100-grit sandpaper to take out the notch on the heel, using a piece of stone underneath the paper for stability. After shaping the heel, I tried unpinning the blade and ended up cracking the scales. So, perhaps that's my next project. I saved the spacer washers and the wedge, as well as one of the pins for sizing when I have to re-pin it. Otherwise, I went through a progression of sandpapers to get the blade shiny. It still has scratches, but I didn't buff it with polishing compound, yet. I hear you can use the CrOx or FeOx powders used for stropping for that, but I need a polishing wheel for my Dremel before attempting to polish up the blade. I hand-sanded the blade, starting with 100-grit, and then working up through 150, 400, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000, and 3000 grits.

There's still some light pitting of the blade that I couldn't sand out without a lot of work. I put plenty of elbow grease into it, as it was. I also didn't want to take too much metal off of the blade. So you may see a little pitting in some of the photos.

Now, I just need to learn how to hone AND make scales. Yay, DIY projects! I love it!

First, a photo after sanding the heel:

And now a few photos of the shiny blade:

 

[Gamma]

Lookin' good!

 

[Mr_Spiffy]

Thanks! It's not a mirror finish, by any means, but I took the grit up pretty high! (I've edited the previous post to add grits of sandpaper.)

 

[Kavik79]

nice smooth job on the heel, looks great

maybe try lighter pressure when sanding though? Or a little more time with each grit. I usually sand lengthwise along the blade first, then from spine to edge, then lengthwise along the blade again, then again from spine to edge...It makes it easier, in my opinion, to see when you've removed all the scratches from the previous grit. Plus the cross pattern seems to get the job done quicker, I think.

Also, try some hand polishing with a microfiber cloth and some Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish. It does a surprisingly good job without the significant risks you have to be careful of polishing with a dremel (catching the edge, wavy lines from the small buffing wheel, overheating the blade, etc). Abrasive enough to remove a fair amount of scratches but still leaves a nice fine finish.


p.s.
What store did you find 3000 grit at? The auto stores around here only carry up to 2000

 

[Mr_Spiffy]

nice smooth job on the heel, looks great

maybe try lighter pressure when sanding though? Or a little more time with each grit. I usually sand lengthwise along the blade first, then from spine to edge, then lengthwise along the blade again, then again from spine to edge...It makes it easier, in my opinion, to see when you've removed all the scratches from the previous grit. Plus the cross pattern seems to get the job done quicker, I think.

Also, try some hand polishing with a microfiber cloth and some Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish. It does a surprisingly good job without the significant risks you have to be careful of polishing with a dremel (catching the edge, wavy lines from the small buffing wheel, overheating the blade, etc). Abrasive enough to remove a fair amount of scratches but still leaves a nice fine finish.


p.s.
What store did you find 3000 grit at? The auto stores around here only carry up to 2000

Thanks for the advice. I may give re-sanding a shot and spend a little more time at it. It's just pretty time-consuming, and my hand was getting tired. And I'm sure I used too much pressure. At least I don't have to go all the way back to the 100-grit paper. I can probably start around 400-grit and go from there. I'll also look for the Mothers polish. Sounds like it could be good stuff.

I got the 3000-grit from an O'Reilly auto parts store. It's actually a thin piece of foam with abrasive powder on it. The abrasive wore off after a bit of polishing, so keep an eye on it as you go. You may need a new piece now and again.

 

[Kavik79]

hmmm, not sure if we have any O'Reilly stores around here, but I'll look around now that I know more about the product, thanks

and, just to clarify....I meant to say I do twice in both directions at every grit, before moving on to the next. Easy pressure for the first set, light pressure for the second set

 

[Mr_Spiffy]

That's quite a bit of sanding. How long does a typical blade take you? I think, including sanding the heel, I spent around 4 hours or so on it. It's my understanding, it's easy to spend much more time than that on sanding a blade.

 

[Kavik79]

It's really not as bad as it sounds. Hard to say on total time, I never really pay attention to the clock when I'm doing it and I've only done a handful so far. Some can definitely take hours start to finish....but where you're at with that one now, even with the procedure I described, I wouldn't think more than maybe a couple minutes per grit per side.
The first step across the grain is to remove the bulk of the previous grits scratch pattern, step two and three just even out the depth of the current scratch pattern, 4th step is mainly for convenience and takes maybe 10 seconds, just to get back to vertical scratches so I can start with horizontal again on the next grit.
Dunno if that's the best way, but it works for me

The only real time consuming parts I've found are when you're working with lower grits and have deeper grooves to get out at each step....and it looks like you're well past that point

 

[Mr_Spiffy]

Well, I'll probably give it a shot, then. Maybe this next weekend or during an evening or something I'll spend some time on it. I didn't really think to do multiple passes in different directions. Makes sense. And, as you said, makes it easy to see if you missed getting any scratches out. I'd love to get a chance to really polish up the blade to a gorgeous finish.

 

[Doc226]

Very nice blade clean up. Now get to scales.

 

[Mr_Spiffy]

Very nice blade clean up. Now get to scales.

Thanks, Doc! I need to find a small ball peen hammer for pinning, as well as some pin material and washers. I prefer the silver look of the nickel pins, so I'll have to see where I can find it. Do they have it at hardware stores? Or would I need to order it?

I also need to think about scale material. Not sure what I want to use. I was thinking wood, so I'll have to hop over to my local Woodcraft and see what they have available in thin pieces. Otherwise, where would you find some of those cool plastic scales? Do you cut those yourself? Or do you order them already finished?