I have been waiting for a while to lay my hands on a PUMA in good condition, recently two ended up in my possession. The PUMA #89 is a 13/16 hollow ground, it has a bit of spotting , but very little hone wear. The PUMA #69 is a 6/8 1/4 hollow with minimal hone wear, my research showed mainly 5/8" size available so I am lucky to get one in a size I prefer.
It was supposed to be simple resto work but it turned out to be a bit of an adventure.
The 69 buffed nicely with some small pitting mark left on the back side.
The trouble was with the scales.
The scales of both razors were warped but I was able to straighten them perfectly flat.. When I tried to fit I found out that the pin holes on each scale of the two sets are shifted by ~0.5mm thus making impossible to fit the razors back in. Never seen something like that before, I guess the scales were not straight when they were drilled in the factory, at least I can't think of other explanation.
So the 69 I fit in a spear set of scales (the ones used in the tutorial linked above), but the 89 had to be fit in its original scales. I had to expand the pin holes to match each side then I found out the scales do not angle enough by the wedge so I found a replacement that worked better and used it. Finally the rubber grip was catching on the inside of the scale a little bit. At this point I had assembled and disassembled that razor so many times, that I was ready to call it quits and go for custom scales and overlay transplant. However I figured I'd try something before I quit and modified the scales by making a cut out for the grip to fit. It worked nicely, only consequence being I had to use stack of washers to cover for the larger pin holes.
Both razors are pinned with stainless washers and nickel silver pins.
Also , the #69 middle pin is done with no washer it was my first done that way, it came out great.
Now off to the hones.
It was supposed to be simple resto work but it turned out to be a bit of an adventure.
The 69 buffed nicely with some small pitting mark left on the back side.
The trouble was with the scales.
The scales of both razors were warped but I was able to straighten them perfectly flat.. When I tried to fit I found out that the pin holes on each scale of the two sets are shifted by ~0.5mm thus making impossible to fit the razors back in. Never seen something like that before, I guess the scales were not straight when they were drilled in the factory, at least I can't think of other explanation.
So the 69 I fit in a spear set of scales (the ones used in the tutorial linked above), but the 89 had to be fit in its original scales. I had to expand the pin holes to match each side then I found out the scales do not angle enough by the wedge so I found a replacement that worked better and used it. Finally the rubber grip was catching on the inside of the scale a little bit. At this point I had assembled and disassembled that razor so many times, that I was ready to call it quits and go for custom scales and overlay transplant. However I figured I'd try something before I quit and modified the scales by making a cut out for the grip to fit. It worked nicely, only consequence being I had to use stack of washers to cover for the larger pin holes.
Both razors are pinned with stainless washers and nickel silver pins.
Also , the #69 middle pin is done with no washer it was my first done that way, it came out great.
Now off to the hones.
