Thread: Gracie - Custom restore

G’day all,
I’ve had this Grah & Co. #54 6/8” Gracie for a while now sitting half cleaned up at about 400 grit,
so I thought I would finish it off & make some new scales

Blade was pretty poorly when I got it with the gold wash half corroded,



so originally hand sanded down through the grits to 320G then back up to 5K, followed by Autosol to polish.

I decided to give this transparent blue acrylic I’ve have for a while a try.
did the usual hand tools process – cut with coping saw, rough shape with dremel as a sanding barrel then file & sanding the final shapes, pull the remaining protective paper off & see how it looks.



I didn’t want to make the wedge the same as the scales so looked at a few different materials & colours & found I didn’t really like the look of a full wedge
so I decided on a minimal wedge inspired by my inherited GAMERX and used some ruby red acrylic,



I made the wedge using a Micro-fastener to hold 2 pre-drilled pieces together in my dremel on lowest speed, I then sanded them down to size using 80 grit then worked up to the 5k grit to finish
( I did 2 pieces as I was originally thinking about adding a 3^rd pin or I would have a spare if I buggered it up)
then sanded the disc into a wedge so it wasn’t just a spacer.



during the trial fit I decided to drop the 3^rd pin option as the scales need to flex a fair bit with the tapered tang ( which is why the originals cracked most likely ).


Decided to make small thrust washers so hand peened & thin out some #0 Narrow Stainless washers to keep them minimal & hidden



final fit up
Blade: Grah & Co. #54 6/8” Gracie - although stamped 6/8 it actually measures 13/16” from edge to top of spine on my chart ( Bonus for me )
Scales: 1/8” Acrylic - Fluorescent Blue
Wedge: 1/8” Acrylic - Transparent Ruby Red
Washers: #0 Narrow Stainless steel
Thrust washers: Stainless steel #0 Narrows to keep them minimal & hidden
Pins: Brass



Sorry the first photos on my red back ground hid the wedge

booked in for the next honing session with a few others waiting in line