Thread: The General

Lots of you know I just don't make scales. I usually find a nice old blade and wait patiently for the right scales to come along with a trashed blade!
Some of you, I will expect, also know I just love old Greaves razors. I often say "Greavses Have Souls"!! This one was obviously made to commemorate General Winfield Scott, "Old Fuss and Feathers"!
As I have had this blade in the original wedgeless horn scales with iron collars for several years, I disassembled it and found the old scales were too rotten to attempt any repairs. Enter my good razor buddy Darl (Tarkus). He has been making some beauties of wood and scored a pile of horn to work with. After some extreme begging and pleading, I sent him the disassembled razor, the original iron collars and some of Babur's "Big n Littles" domed ones as well with some bronze rod. I gave him complete artistic control with only a request of some cool black horn streaked with white and a thinly-veiled suggestion of how nice it would be if he could perform the "wedgeless wonder"..........
As I opened the mail today, I was taken aback!! Not only had he done the scales up super, there were my wedgeless scales in fine streaked horn, a beautiful bow the sides, brass domes pinned with bronze, and the General sitting pretty!!

A beautiful job, Darl! My Thanks and Admiration!
Tom



I wonder what I can get him to do next?? HAR!

That is a FINE piece ! I know he is your friend because if I did that good of a job it probably would have got lost in the mail.

As in "hmmm what razor it never got here. "

I'm so pleased you dig it Tom.
You forgot to mention that I told you to go F-yourself in regards to honing that wedge....
Har!!!!!

For me the standard for a restore....and patience. They don't show up here as clearly as I've seen them elsewhere on this razor but a decision to use contrasting rods and collars really looks cool. I don't know about Greaves having souls, but the two guys that collaborated on this build have them. Thanks for posting. And a tip of the hat to the craftsman of the past who put their hearts into their work.

Originally Posted by Tarkus

I'm so pleased you dig it Tom.
You forgot to mention that I told you to go F-yourself in regards to honing that wedge....
Har!!!!!

Oh, I dig it immensely, Darl!!
Not to worry about the honing. This blade has little use. It will come around nicely with an all-natural honing regimen. I had another, similar, untouched Greaves wedge. It responded perfectly and shaved the part! Now, what the hell happened to that thing??

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Now, what the hell happened to that thing??

Thats the one they will have to pry from my cold dead hand.

Originally Posted by WW243

For me the standard for a restore....and patience. They don't show up here as clearly as I've seen them elsewhere on this razor but a subtle decision to use contrasting rods and collars really looks cool. I don't know about Greaves having souls, but the two guys that collaborated on this build have them. Thanks for posting. And a tip of the hat to the craftsman of the past who put their hearts into work.

Yes, the bronze will take on a golden tone in time and will be much more noticible.
Funny you would say that about the craftsmen of the past. Darl is a Machinist/toolmaker.
He actually did some serious math when calculating the degrees and thickness of the "wedge" end for this project and machined it on a milling machine using his precise calculations. It worked perfectly. Probably not done nearly as such back in the day as they just "did it"! Oh....Greavses do indeed have souls. Here is proof!

Yes I have a machinist brain not an artistic brain. Everything has to be proven by mathematics. The wedgeless wedge alone I had to break out the trigonometry to find the proper wedge angle to use. I CA glued the halves to my milling machine vise and milled the wedge boss. I then set up the halves in the vise and with a tapered 3 degree cutter milled the angles on the wedge bosses giving them a perfect match. The 3 degrees splayed the two halves perfectly so that the thick Greaves sat nice and deep in the scales.
This was a real fun project to do.

And there you have it, folks! He machines EVERYTHING!
My hero! HAR!

The blade is very cool and historical as well. The new scales look great and the craftsmanship of the fabrication looks flawless and true. Many thinks that making wedges is difficult, just imagine making wedgeless scales that actually fit!

Im sure Greaves didnt have the machines that Darl worked with, but nevertheless i can appreciate the time and effort to make these scales, Great work Enjoy!