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Razor Restoration / Modding #2

Legion

Staff member
Would cutting the tail off the blade before you start make the process easier or harder, do you think?

I’d be tempted to cut the end off just near the hole, then use a brass pin to hold the blade in place, like you would with knife scales.
 
Would cutting the tail off the blade before you start make the process easier or harder, do you think?

I’d be tempted to cut the end off just near the hole, then use a brass pin to hold the blade in place, like you would with knife scales.

You could modify the tang* a bit yep. I do it on knives sometimes either if they're difficult to drill, or need to play with the balance. Usually just on the belt sander. And yeah a little brass pin would work, though with the hole there you wouldn't really need it. Epoxy is very strong, and a SR obviously doesn't take anything like the impact of kitchen knife (hopefully ;).

I haven't done that on any of these just in case somewhere down the line I decide that actually I want to take the handle off and try making some scales instead. I doubt I will as I'm quite liking them, especially this last one which is excellent.

But yes - it would have made it easier. Someone who doesn't have a bit of practice drilling tang slots would find it very difficult indeed to make this kind of handle for a razor. Though the tang is quite short in comparison to a knife, and that works a bit in your favour.



* Is it called a 'tang' on a razor? I suspect there's a different word...
 
The other thing to note about modding a tang is - how easy it is depends on if it's been hardened. If it's hard steel on a SR tang then that's a lot of metal to remove, and will absolutely nail your belts.
 

Legion

Staff member
The other thing to note about modding a tang is - how easy it is depends on if it's been hardened. If it's hard steel on a SR tang then that's a lot of metal to remove, and will absolutely nail your belts.
It is hardened. You wouldn’t try to grind away too much. You would wrap the blade in a wet rag, then cut off the excess with a Dremel and a diamond cutting wheel, then use Dremel sanding drums, etc to shape.

If you check out the Gold Dollar mod threads, a lot of us have gone nuts reshaping razors in weird ways.

 
It is hardened. You wouldn’t try to grind away too much. You would wrap the blade in a wet rag, then cut off the excess with a Dremel and a diamond cutting wheel, then use Dremel sanding drums, etc to shape.

If you check out the Gold Dollar mod threads, a lot of us have gone nuts reshaping razors in weird ways.


Oh cool! I'll have a look through those :)
 
As promised, some better daytime pictures of the result. First though here's a bit about grip...

I will probably hold it like this, which is a slightly modified version of how I've been holding the others - I now have only my little finger on the other side of the handle, rather than little and ring. Which is down to two factors; the install has a little more neck than the previous, and the handle has some taper both in height on the top, but also now a small amount of taper in the width too. Another thing to note - the octagonal shape is very good for this grip:

IMG-3247.jpg


The angle of the install, and the top taper though do seem to have worked very well for the grip that David pointed out might be more traditional. This is good too:

IMG-3246.jpg


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And here we are:

IMG-3244.jpg


IMG-3243.jpg


IMG-3245.jpg


It was only after I glued the blank together last night that I clocked that this was going to have quite a different finish from the previous two... They had been finished at 240 and 400 grit, but buffalo horn only really starts to shine after about 1k, and this is finished at 1.5k. And there's the potential that this will make the handle more slippery. It may not make a difference because most of the grip is on razor itself rather than the handle, and that's always pretty slippery anyway. So maybe I'll want to take the finish back down, but I doubt it - it looks fairly pretty like this I think.

 
Very nice handles and write-up. Since I started using straight razors in 2015, and I have purchased many, I have found that my preference is in using fixed-handled razors. I probably should let go of most of my other razors since they don't get much use anymore.


Mike
 
Very nice handles and write-up. Since I started using straight razors in 2015, and I have purchased many, I have found that my preference is in using fixed-handled razors. I probably should let go of most of my other razors since they don't get much use anymore.


Mike

Ta! Yeah I think I'm quite liking them fixed too tbh. I was slightly surprised with the first one, as I felt it was a bit experimental and would probably be pants, but actually was really good :). Though I'm very new to using SRs, so someone who's been using normal hinged, scaled handles for years might find them a bit odd.

If you already prefer them though - I'd recommend trying something like this out. It's not difficult, apart from the drilling, and apart from that you could do without any power tools at all. Though a belt sander does help.
 
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