Pin Hole

[stringer bean]

I'm not sure what I was expecting it to look like. I'm getting ready for my first rescale attempt. I've cleaned this thing up about as well as I'm gonna, might buff it a little tomorrow with some polish. I bought some camel bone scales and I have a piece of blackwood that I use for knife ferrules for the wedge. I got a pin kit and some washers. But that little pin sure seems to be a lot smaller than the pin hole. Is that normal? I know there should be some give but how much? I have 1/8" brass too that I can spin with the drill and sand down skinnier if I need to. I've done that for knives. Just thought I should figure out what diameter pin I needed to go with that hole before I started drilling holes in the bone.

Thanks

 

[Slash McCoy]

Standard pin size is 1/16" nickel/silver. Brass is a bit on the soft side. It is quite common to see razors, especially very old ones, with bigger holes either by design or by corrosion and wear. You can simply pin the razor and not worry about a little slop. Or you can fill the oversize hole with epoxy and then drill it 1/16". Or you can go with an oversize pin but I prefer not to do that, myself. Your razor. Your plan.

 

[Ice-Man]

I have in the past used brass tube and bushed it down to the 1/16th, to take the slop out but in hindsight I should have used nickle-silver I did think about epoxy but went with brass as its harder than epoxy and it has taken the slop out

 

[stringer bean]

I just went for it. Turned out pretty good. A few mistakes. I should have made my wedge slightly thicker. The wedge grind on the razor makes it ride kind of high when it's closed. It doesn't quite center when it closes either. I'm going to wait until after I hone it and then see if I can adjust it a little. I figure it will loosen up a bit anyway. Better to do it with a clear head than when I have already been working on it for several hours in a row. I've started setting the bevel. I removed a lot of metal removing rust and pitting so I was worried the bevel would be all over the place but it's coming in fine.

Here she is. My first rescaled razor.

Electric Cutlery Co. 5/8 Near Wedge with camel bone scales, African blackwood wedge and NiAg pins


Before


After

 

[Slash McCoy]

Not bad! Minor mistakes are just learning tools in the trail of the dragon of perfection. Well, actually so are major ones.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I don't know much about it, but what I know was learned the hard way. Fortunately the hard way was less difficult because of the help I got in this thread and from the material linked there.

Pretty good effort I'd say! I've done way worse myself, but it is a climbable learning curve.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[stringer bean]

I don't know much about it, but what I know was learned the hard way. Fortunately the hard way was less difficult because of the help I got in this thread and from the material linked there.

Pretty good effort I'd say! I've done way worse myself, but it is a climbable learning curve.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Wow Jim.
You definitely took it on the chin there a little at the beginning. Thanks for sharing there's a lot of good info in there. That was my first razor, but I have been pinning knives for years. I've even pinned kitchen tongs and potato mashers and pizza peels and even giant wok chuans. So the peening part I'm pretty good at. I think my real issue is drilling holes straight. Someday I'm going to get a drill press. That will help.

Thanks again for the link and videos

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Wow Jim.
You definitely took it on the chin there a little at the beginning. Thanks for sharing there's a lot of good info in there. That was my first razor, but I have been pinning knives for years. I've even pinned kitchen tongs and potato mashers and pizza peels and even giant wok chuans. So the peening part I'm pretty good at. I think my real issue is drilling holes straight. Someday I'm going to get a drill press. That will help.

Thanks again for the link and videos

I picked up some tips on getting the holes straight on the video with Billy, copied some of the techniques from the old timer pros, and formulated an at home version of the kit.

I made myself a little set up (on the kitchen island) with my Dremel drill (in a vise), like this one, linked, using the holder I bought on eBay. Based on the little bitty snippet I watched over and over in the video I began holding the scales in both hands and using my knee to push the scales into the stable horizontal drill bit. It works a treat.

I practiced a good little bit with scrap scales and such.

Maybe I'd do better with a drill press, but the set up I copied with the equipment I bought works really well with some practice.

Yeah, pretty much every little part of everything scale and pin related has hit me on the chin. I'm sure there's more to learn. I'm not enamored of making scales or pinning razors, but sometimes it's necessary.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[stringer bean]

Welp. I know what a velvet squeegee is now. I may not be able to drill a straight hole but I'm figuring out this honing business. That was a thoroughly enjoyable test shave.