So I bought my friend a VDH Luxury set from Target for his birthday and decided he might need a razor to go along with it.
Of course, that may have been my plan all along...
Anyway, I got him an EJ DE89. But I dislike not having a place to store my razors, and my friend is a collector-type-person (always buying the limited editions of things) and so I figured I'd give this a shot.
The EJ in its new custom home:
So, here's how I made it:
Ingredients:
1. altoids tin (cinnamon, in this case)
2. swath of felt in royal blue (only $1 or $2...I can't remember)
3. a thin square foot of cork that used to hang on my classroom wall ($5 for a 12 pack)
4. square dowels (a few dollars at Hobby Lobby for various sizes
5. xacto knife
6. pen
7. spray adhesive ($6 from the auto parts store: "permanent and repositionable")
8. superglue (3m)
Things that would've been helpful:
1. a saw of some sort
2. little clips to hold the felt in place while it dried and I installed the other pieces
3. a better way to measure out and cut the felt so it fit a little better over the framing. I was doing this by trial-and-error. Suggestions are definitely welcome!
The Pieces:
-the smaller blue felt pieces line the bottom. they're cut to avoid bunching, since the edges of the tin are rounded.
-the big piece of cork goes next, above the felt lining.
-the wood dowels and cork framing are superglued to the big cork piece.
-the last piece of felt is laid down on top of the whole thing.
the goal here was to have zero metal showing where the razor lives, in order to protect the finish.
The Dry Run:
Just to see if the pieces fit. In the end, I switched the two head pieces. They just felt better with the cap on the left. I don't know why.
Glued and assembled:
You can see I didn't do a perfect job putting the top layer of felt over the wood/cork framing as there's wood and cork showing. Tip: when the spray adhesive says it's permanent, it does not tell lies. Also, it dries quickly. But hey, not bad for a first attempt with the spray.
Of course, you can see the final product in the first picture up above. It was more work making the case "fitted" for the razor, but in the end I'm glad I did it that way. the EJ is in there nice and snug, and it just looks a bit classier.
The final step:
I put the EJ pieces in the case, grabbed another piece of cork cut to fit in the lid, put that piece of cork over the razor pieces and squeezed the lid shut; this was to ensure the felt was pushed far enough into the indentations so the lid would snap shut.
Then, I threw on a pack of Feathers, a pack of Astra SPs, and tied it all up with some waxed whipping line. My bosun's mate father would be proud:
For the record, the spray adhesive worked great: it didn't seem to bleed through the felt, and it did allow me to attach it and then slide it into place, as long as I was fairly fleet about it. If anyone has an idea of what might work even better, let me know!
All in all, I'm pretty pleased. I'd like to make another at some point.
My friend only needs to find some aftershave he likes and he's all set!
Edit: Sorry for the darker pictures. Ran out of daylight.
Of course, that may have been my plan all along...
Anyway, I got him an EJ DE89. But I dislike not having a place to store my razors, and my friend is a collector-type-person (always buying the limited editions of things) and so I figured I'd give this a shot.
The EJ in its new custom home:
So, here's how I made it:
Ingredients:
1. altoids tin (cinnamon, in this case)
2. swath of felt in royal blue (only $1 or $2...I can't remember)
3. a thin square foot of cork that used to hang on my classroom wall ($5 for a 12 pack)
4. square dowels (a few dollars at Hobby Lobby for various sizes
5. xacto knife
6. pen
7. spray adhesive ($6 from the auto parts store: "permanent and repositionable")
8. superglue (3m)
Things that would've been helpful:
1. a saw of some sort
2. little clips to hold the felt in place while it dried and I installed the other pieces
3. a better way to measure out and cut the felt so it fit a little better over the framing. I was doing this by trial-and-error. Suggestions are definitely welcome!
The Pieces:
-the smaller blue felt pieces line the bottom. they're cut to avoid bunching, since the edges of the tin are rounded.
-the big piece of cork goes next, above the felt lining.
-the wood dowels and cork framing are superglued to the big cork piece.
-the last piece of felt is laid down on top of the whole thing.
the goal here was to have zero metal showing where the razor lives, in order to protect the finish.
The Dry Run:
Just to see if the pieces fit. In the end, I switched the two head pieces. They just felt better with the cap on the left. I don't know why.
Glued and assembled:
You can see I didn't do a perfect job putting the top layer of felt over the wood/cork framing as there's wood and cork showing. Tip: when the spray adhesive says it's permanent, it does not tell lies. Also, it dries quickly. But hey, not bad for a first attempt with the spray.
Of course, you can see the final product in the first picture up above. It was more work making the case "fitted" for the razor, but in the end I'm glad I did it that way. the EJ is in there nice and snug, and it just looks a bit classier.
The final step:
I put the EJ pieces in the case, grabbed another piece of cork cut to fit in the lid, put that piece of cork over the razor pieces and squeezed the lid shut; this was to ensure the felt was pushed far enough into the indentations so the lid would snap shut.
Then, I threw on a pack of Feathers, a pack of Astra SPs, and tied it all up with some waxed whipping line. My bosun's mate father would be proud:
For the record, the spray adhesive worked great: it didn't seem to bleed through the felt, and it did allow me to attach it and then slide it into place, as long as I was fairly fleet about it. If anyone has an idea of what might work even better, let me know!
All in all, I'm pretty pleased. I'd like to make another at some point.
My friend only needs to find some aftershave he likes and he's all set!
Edit: Sorry for the darker pictures. Ran out of daylight.
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