The World's Worst @Pinning the Straight Razor.

[Njguy1977]

And one more thing, I dont use any washers when pinning, perhaps when you miss a hit the washers gap is causing the scale to snap at the end due to flex. Use brass instead of nickel and dont use washers inside next to the blade. All my vintages never had them so why start now. You will get a tighter fit with less blows on your pins. Also remember to check your alignment as you carefully close your blade into your new scales. If the alignment is off it can be adjusted at the pin.

P.S. look at my post "saved 2 more blades" to see a razor I recently repinned with vintage scales from a broken razor from ebay. I like to find useable scales that way and is cheaper then buying new. Just have to be wary of cell rot when looking at the auction pictures.
Larry

 

[Bevel]

If the alignment is off it can be adjusted at the pin.
Larry

Could you expand on this a bit.
If the tip of the razor was almost making contact with the scales on closing what would you do to realign it?

1. I have a set of scales where I manually drilled the holes with a dremel. I think the holes are off by a minuscule amount so I haven't used those scales yet but if I do, and they cause problems, (which I think they will) what in the pinning process would help center the blade.

2. I recently bought a lovely Bourgade-Tarry and the tip just barely nips the righthand side of the scales on the way back in so how can I get the blade re-centered without unpinning as the current pin is good. This razor needs a slight tighten anyway so If I can realign while I'm tightening it'll be two birds with the one hone. (Pun intended)

 

[Njguy1977]

Could you expand on this a bit.
If the tip of the razor was almost making contact with the scales on closing what would you do to realign it?

1. I have a set of scales where I manually drilled the holes with a dremel. I think the holes are off by a minuscule amount so I haven't used those scales yet but if I do, and they cause problems, (which I think they will) what in the pinning process would help center the blade.

2. I recently bought a lovely Bourgade-Tarry and the tip just barely nips the righthand side of the scales on the way back in so how can I get the blade re-centered without unpinning as the current pin is good. This razor needs a slight tighten anyway so If I can realign while I'm tightening it'll be two birds with the one hone. (Pun intended)

I used to have a picture to show but here it goes, what you wanna do is hit/tap the tang pin closest to where the tip blade is hitting thes scales. The turn it overa d hit/tap the pin farthest from the tip of the blade. I made a picture to further explain it for you. Basically if you want to move the blade in direction "A" hit the pin where shown. The same goes for "B" respectively.

Larry

 

[Bevel]

Excellent, thanks for going to the trouble of drawing it out for me, that makes sense.

 

[DrStrange]

That would be me.

View attachment 987510

Trying to get my Wade back in the rotation, I bought some inexpensive but decent enough scales. This is the result of a couple of hours of frustrating but "careful" work.

It sure looks easy when experts do it.

View attachment 987511

It's not like I haven't done the same thing before either; these white scales were nice, handmade, and heartbreaking to ruin. Fortunately today's ruined scales were only a matter of a few bucks in terms of everything but today's labor and frustration.

I'm good at tightening slightly loose scales, but when it comes to starting from scratch I'm terrible.

View attachment 987512

I've watched every video I can find, bought the tools and such one is supposed to need, and thought about the matter at length. I've not practiced a great deal. Frankly it is seeming like a job beyond me.

I'm considering trying one more time (not today). Only one more time.

Fortunately other SR related matters are all coming along nicely.

Happy shaves,

Jim

I just rescaled my first razor. I am happy with the result.
It is a CV Heljestrand that I got a couple of years on ebay for $26.
It was listed as shave ready with a small knick.
Personally, I think a knick disqualifies shave ready,
but that is a matter of opinion. The knick was explicitly mentioned
in the listing and clearly shown in a photo.

One day a scale broke at the hinge pin.
I tried to epoxy it but the hinge pin wasn't straight
and the razor was never going to work right with those
scales again.

I like the razor. It has no model number. It has a thumb notch
like an M.K. 31, but it is a little bigger and it has finer jimps,
which I also like. I have a lot of razors, if I could only keep two,
this would be one.

I bought some rosewood scales that were glued at the wedge end.
I saw how the blade fit in and marked a point for pin hole
with an awl.
I placed a wooden spacer in the hinge end and taped
the scales to clamp it in place.
I put it on a block of wood on a drill press and drilled a 1/32 pilot hole.
I love pilot holes. Then I drilled the final 1/16 hole.
I filed one end of the pin with the diamond file on my Leatherman PST II.
Getting the washers onto the pin along with the blade was a pain in butt.
Then I taped the scales together again.
I cut the pin to length. I guessed right about how much the pin needed
to stick out and I filed the other end.
I used the side of the drill press table as an anvil and hit the pin lightly and
rapidly with a tack hammer. I alternated between the ends of the pins until
I felt that the collars were snug enough to inhibit the middle of the pin
from bending. Then I started hitting harder.

 

[Bevel]

Nice job on your first peening, perfectly centered.
In picture 2 the pin has a little nick from the peening. Put a bit of tape on the scales to protect them with a small hole for the pin to poke through and give it a rub with some higher grit sand paper like 800/1000 and it'll shine up nicely.
The scales themselves look a little desiccated so a rub down with a little oil should shine them up too.

I'd like a sugesttion on oils to use on Rosewood as I have a few sets of them that are currently oiled and in plastic but somewhere down the line, when I go to use them, they'll need a buff with a little oil.

 

[rbscebu]

....
I'd like a sugesttion on oils to use on Rosewood as I have a few sets of them that are currently oiled and in plastic but somewhere down the line, when I go to use them, they'll need a buff with a little oil.

Renaissance wax works well for me.

 

[Dominic]

The rod should only extend about a washer's width beyond the washer when you start peening.

I was wondering. Thanks for that. I plan to try this some day.

 

[LooneyToons816]

That would be me.

View attachment 987510

Trying to get my Wade back in the rotation, I bought some inexpensive but decent enough scales. This is the result of a couple of hours of frustrating but "careful" work.

It sure looks easy when experts do it.

View attachment 987511

It's not like I haven't done the same thing before either; these white scales were nice, handmade, and heartbreaking to ruin. Fortunately today's ruined scales were only a matter of a few bucks in terms of everything but today's labor and frustration.

I'm good at tightening slightly loose scales, but when it comes to starting from scratch I'm terrible.

View attachment 987512

I've watched every video I can find, bought the tools and such one is supposed to need, and thought about the matter at length. I've not practiced a great deal. Frankly it is seeming like a job beyond me.

I'm considering trying one more time (not today). Only one more time.

Fortunately other SR related matters are all coming along nicely.

Happy shaves,

Jim

I experienced the same exact issue so i reached out to a guy on ebay and explained my troubles and he sent me some really amazing supplies to try, i realized my troubles were in the materials like many have said and i will echo softer brass from a reputable seller and a light touch is all you need to peen like a OG! I hope this helps somebody in the end and save another razor! If you think this might be your issue hit me up with a PM and ill let you know the guy i get all my brass and NS and hes even got SS punched out of sheets that are really nice dont deform and he sends them packaged very well and gets them out quick if anybody is having these troubles

Ciao
-Vincent

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I experienced the same exact issue so i reached out to a guy on ebay and explained my troubles and he sent me some really amazing supplies to try, i realized my troubles were in the materials like many have said and i will echo softer brass from a reputable seller and a light touch is all you need to peen like a OG! I hope this helps somebody in the end and save another razor! If you think this might be your issue hit me up with a PM and ill let you know the guy i get all my brass and NS and hes even got SS punched out of sheets that are really nice dont deform and he sends them packaged very well and gets them out quick if anybody is having these troubles

Ciao
-Vincent

That's a great solution. Thanks for the information. I think maybe I've see this guy's wares on eBay.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

What size and type of hammer are you using? You need a ball peen hammer 2-6 ounce with a polished ball. Or dome and polish the face of a tack or ballpeen hammer.

Yes, some pinning material is harder than others (work hardened), but any brass or nickel silver rod can be annealed to soften it. Heat to before red hot and let air cool. My experience is most rod does not need annealing, but annealing will soften both nickle and brass. I buy rod stock from Texas Knife Supply.

A 4 oz. hammer is a good weight to start, you can go lighter with more experience a lighter hammer gives a nicer finish, smaller divots. If you start with a light hammer or spoon you will get discouraged and hit harder and bend the pin.

File the pin flat so the material is smooth and hit on the corner of the pin, not the middle. Strike a lite glancing blow downward. Visualize trying to push the pin material down at the corners. Keep the scales rotating with the corner you are striking up. It does not take a lot of movement to get the proper angle.

If the scales are not tightening and you have too much material file a bit off the top.

You can start your pin in a vise, or I use an old drill press chuck that I bought at a garage sale. You can get a drill chuck from a garage sale hand drill for a couple bucks. Put the pin rod through the scales with the collars to get an approximate length, with the thickness of the rod sticking out of both ends, (1/16th).

Put a collar on the pin, hold in a vise or drill chuck and peen one end until the washer is tight to the pin. Reassemble the pin and collars, scales, and razor. Cut the pincloser to final length with sharp side cutters, using a piece of rod as a spacer. That should put you in the ballpark for proper length once you flie flat and smooth. Remember the peen on the other side is not fully formed yet and will need a little bit more rod length. It is better to be bit long and trim with a file.

Peen the pin until it tightens up on the collar, then flip and peen the other side. Keep flipping to make the peen heads uniform.

I peen the wedge first, use a rubber eraser between the scales to keep the scales in the proper angle.

Once the pin starts to tighten you can shape the peen head with a fine 6- inch file. You can further shape and polish with a buffer and Green Stainless compound or any good metal polish and a piece of denim. Remove the swarf with WD40 and a toothbrush.

The trick is a polished ball peen hammer, lite blows on the corner and keep rotating the scales, so the corner is up and you are hitting a lite glancing blow. I prefer a domed flat face to finish but use the ball end to start. My hammers are mirror polished, (sandpaper and a buffer).

Also, a large heavy piece of steel as a backing anvil gives much better results than a small hammer head, that was popular years ago. I use a 6-inch piece of small gage railroad track with a polished face.

 

[Frank Shaves]

Not sure if this did or did not come up yet. Pay attention to which head you use.

I use the small head of a 4 oz chasing hammer. I started out using the large head and only later learned that the small head is much easier for me.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

It depends on the finish and the shape you are trying to achieve. A curved hammer surface helps to make a glancing blow and move the metal rather than smash it.

I use both sides, but have domed the flat face of the hammers, it leaves a smoother finish. I know that some knife makers who make domed pins like Case and on Genco razors use domed and polished nail sets to form pin heads. The small domed face get into the tight space between the pin head and the scale, these are high domed pin heads.

There is a great video series on making domed pins by Nick Wheeler pinning knife handles. It is a 4-parts, worth watching, his attention to detail is amazing.

(Custom Knife Making, domed pins with Nick Wheeler part 1)