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Starting the restoration hobbie. What *Not* to get?

I understand your point @Ice-Man, but this has literally never happened. Common sense is also required when doing these things. If you see a burr, remove it. If you see it's stuck, check why. If it's wanting to eat into the scales, stop and check why.. Light taps, etc.

Another tip - A good way to check if the pin is gonna come out, is to jam a thin wedge of some sort between the tang and scales, wiggle the blade gently, see if it's getting any looser. 90% of the blades will release this way without much effort.
 
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If you're going to be sanding razor blades.... get kevlar gloves. Also, make yourself sanding blocks using friendly plastic and/or hard felt and/or cork. Don't get near the blade edge. Ever. Period. If you take out the tendons in a finger, it will never work quite right again no matter how well they sew it back together. Speaking from experience having done it with a blade much less dangerous than a long razor blade.

 
Yah... sorry - my reply was a bit extreme. It just gave me chills when I heard the words "sanding the blade". What happened was that I took out the back of my thumb with a violin knife. Thankfully a very good surgeon was on rotation when I showed up at the emergency room. Still, it was about a month before I could give the "thumbs up" sign with that hand. It works fairly well now, a few years later, but the fine motor control isn't as good and it lacks strength. It mostly shows up now when I need to do things that require accurate control such as tying knots or picking up something small or soft/slippery. (grain of rice, coffee bean, leaf, etc.) And of course my "one handed bra-snap" technique is toast with that hand haha. The best way to describe it is that it feels like a normal thumb until I need to do something requiring precise control, and then it feels a bit like somone else's thumb. I can usually do what I'm trying to do, but it requires doing it at half-speed and focusing and concentrating to get it to pull backward at certain angles or rotate certain ways or work in conjunction with the fingers in an accurate way, and if I do detailed work requiring unusual and accurate movements with it for more than a couple of minutes it develops a mild but bone-deep ache and the strength just evaporates. So anyway, that's probably TMI, but that's what a person can look forward to if they run tendons across a sharp blade; hence the probably overly-strong response. Hope it doesn't put you off the hobby. It's great fun and kevlar gloves are cheap and easy to get and had I been wearing a pair, it would have been nothing more than a close-call. But hey - I still have 10 & 10, so it's all good ;-)
 
Yah... sorry - my reply was a bit extreme. It just gave me chills when I heard the words "sanding the blade". What happened was that I took out the back of my thumb with a violin knife. Thankfully a very good surgeon was on rotation when I showed up at the emergency room. Still, it was about a month before I could give the "thumbs up" sign with that hand. It works fairly well now, a few years later, but the fine motor control isn't as good and it lacks strength. It mostly shows up now when I need to do things that require accurate control such as tying knots or picking up something small or soft/slippery. (grain of rice, coffee bean, leaf, etc.) And of course my "one handed bra-snap" technique is toast with that hand haha. The best way to describe it is that it feels like a normal thumb until I need to do something requiring precise control, and then it feels a bit like somone else's thumb. I can usually do what I'm trying to do, but it requires doing it at half-speed and focusing and concentrating to get it to pull backward at certain angles or rotate certain ways or work in conjunction with the fingers in an accurate way, and if I do detailed work requiring unusual and accurate movements with it for more than a couple of minutes it develops a mild but bone-deep ache and the strength just evaporates. So anyway, that's probably TMI, but that's what a person can look forward to if they run tendons across a sharp blade; hence the probably overly-strong response. Hope it doesn't put you off the hobby. It's great fun and kevlar gloves are cheap and easy to get and had I been wearing a pair, it would have been nothing more than a close-call. But hey - I still have 10 & 10, so it's all good ;-)

Cheers for sharing your experience brother. Always good to raise awareness! I'll look for them as an added safety measure ;)
 

Legion

Staff member
Hey Legion! Thanks a lot for your reply! I forgot to mention. I've some varied granularity sandpaper that I got as a first attempt at touching up my SR's and some autosol, will that do??

Awesome you are down under as well!! May I ask where do you usually shop for old razors besides ebay?
I hit the antique stores if I ever pass one. Can’t help myself. There is a lot less these days than there was in days gone by, but I still have to look. It is just dumb luck and timing, most of the best scores you get.

but really I don’t hunt too much any more. I’ll peek. But at some point you realize you have enough to shave for a hundred lifetimes, so you try to fight the urge. I try...
 
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I understand your point @Ice-Man, but this has literally never happened. Common sense is also required when doing these things. If you see a burr, remove it. If you see it's stuck, check why. If it's wanting to eat into the scales, stop and check why.. Light taps, etc.

Another tip - A good way to check if the pin is gonna come out, is to jam a thin wedge of some sort between the tang and scales, wiggle the blade gently, see if it's getting any looser. 90% of the blades will release this way without much effort.

Sorry mate but by the time you start to drift that pin out it's to late as you say file the top off you will never see the mushroom in the scales so once you tap it once the sucker ain't going to go back as it will push a bit out so for a new member starting to restore they are better of drilling it out a much safer option
 
Thanks @Srdjan, duly noted! Would you mind clarifying what pivot are you talking about???
Cheers,

"Pivot" meaning the pivot pin - the one that goes through the tang. Many times you can get away with unpinning just that one, and cleaning up the blade and scales just fine without unpinning the bottom pin in the scales. Also, many razors have the bottom pin set permanently, so it's not easy to get out. Downside obviously being that you may end up with mismatched collars, unless you are saving old collars, or manage to find collars made today, that are similar enough to the vintage ones.
 
Sorry mate but by the time you start to drift that pin out it's to late as you say file the top off you will never see the mushroom in the scales so once you tap it once the sucker ain't going to go back as it will push a bit out so for a new member starting to restore they are better of drilling it out a much safer option
This would require a drill press though right?
 
It would you can use the drill workstation for the dremel that is what I use.
Interesting. That may be worth an investment. I've only unpinned one razor so far but it was nerve racking, and they were flexible scales.

You're also correct in your previous comment. I filed down the pin and just created a mushroom which I then had to taper with a file. It took a while. Drilling right through would definitely be my preferred method as well (If I had a dremel and that accessory of course)
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
I am contemplating buying a small drill press like this one:


But I first want to buy a pair of flush cutters. Are these too small:


Can anyone recommend a good quality pair that are the right size for removing pins in plastic and wood scales?

I don't have flush cutters. I file the head off the pin an keep filing down into the washer, then the scale and washer will pop right off the pin. I am sure they are nice to have, but you can certainly do without them.

A multi-speed drill press is IMHO a worthwhile investment. It is also something else that I am pretty sure you could do without if you wanted to. I have one and use it often.

A bandsaw can be very useful if you slice a lot of horn or wood for scales. I have one and use it. But if you only buy scale material in say 1/8" thickness, you don't really need the bandsaw.

A belt sander is pretty handy. You can get a 4" x 36" stationary sander cheap from Harbor Freight. It is very useful for shaping and smoothing scales, thinning spines, and other uses. A portable belt sander like what you would sand floors or something with is maybe more handy if you clamp it upside down in a bench vise. I like the BLack & Decker Dragster type, with the small nose roller. It is very good for creating a thumb notch in a razor, or cutting away a heel.

A bench vise is very useful. Two is even better, one with wood or rubber glued to the jaws.

Last but not least, the tool everybody hates and everybody loves, the tool that has proven its worth in thousands of restores and mods, and has overheated and shattered and otherwise destroyed thousands of razors: the Dremel, or the Harbor Freight knockoff. The heavy duty one by Chicago Electric (I think) in the orange casing is very tough and durable. You definitely need some of the sanding drum arbors and a couple hundred of the sanding drums. The sanding drums can remove a lot of steel quickly. You may also want some flap wheels for heavy sanding

A piece of 1/4" thick aluminum plate. You can lay the razor on this plate and do all your hand or dremel sanding, and it both protects the edge and serves as a heat sink.

Good quality wet/dry sandpaper. I like the red resin type.

Diamond pastes from 3u to .1u, and plenty of felt and cloth wheels for your dremel. Great for polishing out sanding scratches and creating a high mirror finish.

All the normal honing stuff.
 
I don't have flush cutters. I file the head off the pin an keep filing down into the washer, then the scale and washer will pop right off the pin. I am sure they are nice to have, but you can certainly do without them.

That worked! I put one piece of Super 88 tape on each side of the pin, tapped the file on the pin to ensure metal on metal, filed, and then used a utility knife to carefully pry off any remaining bits of washer. I then gently tapped the pin downward but was not able to move the pin far enough to be able to easily grab it with plyers. My punch is too thick, so I used a nail. I think I will buy a 1/16 inch punch tomorrow.

Any tricks for getting the pin out? Do you use a punch?
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
After you file off the head, just stick a small screwdriver between the top scale and the razor, an give it a little twist.The upper scale should pop right off of the pin. USe the flat of the screwdriver to press the pin down. SPread the scales a bit an remove the razor. PUsh the pin down some more, then grab it from the bottom and pull. You don't need to use the hammer at all.
 
The scale is just not popping off and I don’t want to force it - original scales on a George Wostenholm IXL. Not sure what to do next. I think I will sleep on it. Maybe I need to drill the pin.

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After another hour of work, I got it! I ended up putting a layer of 1 mil Kapton tape on the scales and on the narrow side of the file, and then reducing the diameter of the pin and, voila, the pin came lose. I am sure you guys have seen this, but the pin was still tight in the other scale. Now I would love to know if the pin was original. And the over a hundred year old horn scales are in darn good condition. I will probably start a new thread with photos, as I already have more questions.

I would now like to buy a new 6 inch file and smoothen one of the narrow sides. @Slash McCoy, did I read that you did this? How?
 
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