What's new

handle for antiques

they dont make em anymore.......so I'm crafting my own handle for the star lather catcher. will use #8 sheet metal screw for threading.

had to build a collar out of a .223 casing. cut right at the shoulder so it would have a little bit of a lip. as it turns out OD is less than a thousandth off from the size of the collars used on the GEM Jr. bar lather catcher. I used this material not because it is "gun" related......but rather out of necessity. I cant order a metal collar with lip from the GEM company unfortunately.

20200403_172245.jpg


20200404_063644.jpg


this is what she looks like right now.....got a lot more tweaking to do. I'm not sure if I want to paint black.......stain red.......or what I've always wanted......paint green and lacquer.

20200404_093648.jpg


20200404_093726.jpg


barring any major foul ups in the next hour......should be good.

camo
 
all went well. just have to wait for batteries to charge some more......take a break.

1/16 or a little more ground off bottom of collar to fit. got be careful. soft brass.

20200404_105611.jpg


will put this on the 1896 Star HR 7A......in no hurry. wedge blade adapter won't be here for a couple of weeks.

20200404_112926.jpg


camo
 
Last edited:
a little fill work with one day drying.........then paint and lacquer.

going green for this I think.

im more than happy with the results. will have to bore a larger hole in my rack.

20200404_132417.jpg


handle is 2 5/8 inch long.

another 75 years from now this will have some collector scratching their head!!!!!

camo
 
Last edited:
just as an fyi...... I had read on another forum that a #8 screw is not an exact thread fit (off by a little that might not matter to some.) prior to my first "fit" testing........I of course cleaned up the top of the head with an dremel. out of curiosity I hit the sides of the actual threads ever so slightly to "speed age or wear" them so they did not have as much of a sharp appearance or feel.

knowing the age of my razor......I didn't want to have to "force" anything. I am happy to report that with my specific razor......it attached perfectly.

figured id point this out in case some of you were secretly planning to burn me at the stake for heresy and witchcraft.......lol.

camo
 
paint on the green beast pretty much dry....have one touch up I'll do by hand next to where the ring was taped off. will post pics later and a close up of the threading and head of handle.

last night I adjusted the star and gave it a good look over with a red necked adapted blade in.

gently brought the teeth back into a straight line with the blade. there was a smiley pattern or shape to them which I'll assume was caused by time, drops, or all of the above. either way by test shaving on my arms, legs, etc......I knew that could not be right or how the razor originally was. this was important to me because this "line" sets the gap between the equivalent of an OC bar and the blade.

i already know it will be a good shaver steep or after finding which angle works best......either way I found a smooth spot but am not going name and exact value to that angle.

camo
 
in case any one is wondering......I used the drill press Mandrel (got two of them) that I got from TGN that is supposed to be used for brush handle turning.

in this specific application, and due to the size of the mandrel hole......I chose to turn this inverted so could just plug the hole in bottom of handle.

I have lathe chisels but have found that my old ancient rusty wood rasp/file flat/rounded is much better, smoother, and less violent to use.

between brush handles and this......the other nifty thing I figured out is that I can hold sand paper strips against the material while running which works beautifully.

apologies if posting to much on this stuff. I just wish some of this info was available when I was contemplating doing all this. if this helps one other person, then I'll be happy.

camo
 
close up of the head

20200405_114817.jpg


finished up with maybe a little cleanup.

20200405_115518.jpg


sorry if this had bored some but I'm really excited about this.

I might just turn another one next weekend and stain in a 'brownish red'. I'll put the traditional what I like to call "trinity" rings on it. one on top.....two on bottom. I think it's no coincidence that some of the early handles have this on them.

I figure a century ago some of our workers (when we used to make things in this country) might have been a rowdy bunch......but still held to their religious beliefs in their daily lives.

camo
 
apologies for being this up to the top again but value input in this.

posted this over on TALC

this one for the revived from the dead Jr. bar.

put what I've self coined "trinity rings" on it. will scrutinize availability of brownish with slight red tinge wood stains that might be had locally at essential box stores. if this color cant be found......then mid to darker brown.

20200406_191907.jpg


say hey.......none of you gents happen to have a nifty machine shop in the garage that can crank out nickel collars to a 0.39 diameter with a little over a 1/16 inch lip on the collar?

call me if you do......need to talk.

also thought about not putting a collar on this one......lopping off the top nib......and just sinking the screw on top.

any thoughts or votes on this?

camo
 
apologies for being this up to the top again but value input in this.

posted this over on TALC

this one for the revived from the dead Jr. bar.

put what I've self coined "trinity rings" on it. will scrutinize availability of brownish with slight red tinge wood stains that might be had locally at essential box stores. if this color cant be found......then mid to darker brown.

View attachment 1083694

say hey.......none of you gents happen to have a nifty machine shop in the garage that can crank out nickel collars to a 0.39 diameter with a little over a 1/16 inch lip on the collar?

call me if you do......need to talk.

also thought about not putting a collar on this one......lopping off the top nib......and just sinking the screw on top.

any thoughts or votes on this?

camo
If you run into color restrictions with wood stain, you might want to look at wood dye. I use it for the wood arrows I build. You will run into no shortage of colors with dye. The only problem with dye is that it is difficult to cleanly butt two colors up against eachother where the dye soaks into the wood and spreads. I always place my painted cresting rings over the transition between dye colors to keep a clean look. For a single color, dye is great.

The advantage of dye is that it doesn't seal the wood. It allows you to come back with boiled lindseed oil afterwards instead of having it be part of the stain. Then you can use whipe on polyurathane after the BLO. It really makes the grain "pop".

Just a thought.
 
just time warped to 100 years old......

believe this will work just fine. settled on a stain named "Early American"
............you know I couldn't lay off that. hooked by marketing again.

let dry.......final set of collar......sink screw into pre drilled hole. might tape off that collar before cutting screw to final length and aging threadwork.

20200407_190045.jpg


i like the smell of the lyssa that arrived today along with my bay rum aftershave.

thanks all for your opinions on this........I truly value the input.

camo
 
last post on this and I'll let this thread die off.

finished other than coating. considering boiled linseed.

20200407_220143.jpg


thanks for all of the input gang.

camo
 
Top Bottom