W&B For Barber's Use I've neglected for years.

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10-12-2017, 05:01 AM
Voidmonster

6 Attachment(s)

W&B For Barber's Use I've neglected for years.

I don't have any before pictures (well, I do, somewhere, maybe). This one I snagged off ebay a couple years back because I felt like I should actually keep at least one W&B FBU, and if I was gonna, it oughta be one of the old wedgie ones.

This one came to me in decent condition for its age, but in second-hand scales.

I did my sand & polish thing on it then fabricated some fresh FBU scales and a wedge out of tin/bismuth alloy solder. The washers are Ajkenne's awesome recreations (though I used some steel support collars I made under them.

The razor got cleaned up months ago, it was the second test I did with the drum sander (and I might work the blade a bit more). The scales are what I finished up today.

Part test of the cheapo HF 1x30 belt sander (which is AWESOME for scales!), part excuse to stand around in my workshop wearing a respirator rather than breathing smoke from the fires up north.

I cut these from some old blanks that were about twice as thick as they should be, just to use it up, but also to really put the belt sander to the test.

Each piece was rough cut, then I roughed up one side, slapped some wood glue on and squished it in a vise 'till the glue'd cured (okay, I forgot about it all day while doing other stuff). From there I put adhesive paper on one side and traced an old FBU scale.

It was all shaping on the belt sander after that. Once the shape was right, I used sandpaper and a foam block to really even out all the planes, then some 600 grit sanding puff to smooth it even further.

Next was a preliminary polishing before I dyed them black. Yes, I started out with black horn, but I've yet to see natural horn that is as uniformly black as old Sheffield scales -- and you know what? If you sand them, you get horn that isn't black because old Sheffield black scales were dyed.

With the scales dyed, I fitted up the wedge (which was a bit tricky to get the right angle), did a couple test fits with microfasteners and then beat it all up with a hammer.

Yes there's a small nick in the edge because I haven't honed it yet.

Attachment 275374

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Also, when I take pictures of the super-polished razors like this, I end up wearing gloves. The only ones I have handy in my office (where the light rig is) are old cycling gloves with suede fingertips.

The result of that is that I end up heavily editing this pictures -- to remove dust and lint because the damn gloves shed.

Also, what is the law that governs only noticing the polishing compound still stuck to the razor after you've photographed it?
10-12-2017, 05:09 AM
Voidmonster

1 Attachment(s)

Oh, wait. Here’s a before picture!

... of a completely different razor.

Attachment 275380
10-12-2017, 05:13 AM
Phrank

Great job Zak, and the apostrophe in and text, "Wade & Butcher's, For Barber Use", going to check a few of mine, that's a big apostrophe...that looks like an older one, could be mistaken, what date range do you put it at?

Wonderful razor, W&B and a wedge....beautiful tang on that one as well.
10-12-2017, 05:41 AM
Voidmonster

I think that's not actually an apostrophe, just a small forging defect trying to hide in the logo. :D

1840's to '50's is my guess on when it was made.
10-12-2017, 05:43 AM
Voidmonster

Nope, I take that back. It's an intentional apostrophe. Just kind of a weird one.
10-12-2017, 06:00 AM
Grazor

Amazing restore Zak. Not sure about the before photo, no notch?
10-12-2017, 06:44 AM
Porl

Really nice work, that looks absolutely stunning.
10-12-2017, 08:42 AM
BobH

Well done as usual, congrats.

Bob
10-12-2017, 10:12 AM
ovidiucotiga

Zak, thanks for sharing...i'm begining to belive you have more neglected blades then most of us have in our entire collection:))

You must be a very calm patient man...if I have a blade that needs restoring mi fingers get a funny itch and I need to tend to it:)
10-12-2017, 11:27 AM
Dieseld

Great looking razor, and what a job on the restore!

Thanks!
10-12-2017, 12:16 PM
karlej

1 Attachment(s)

Tin/bismuth alloy. Modern day plumber's solder? How did you shape the wedge? Did you melt the solder and cast it? I wonder if it would cast in a round ball mold. I just use a hammer to flatten a lead round ball into a wedge shape and usually have a wedge .025 on the thin wedge to .080 on the thick end for a near wedge blade. I find it really easy to control how thick I want the finished wedge.
The wedge I reduce in size until it is about .010 proud and assembled with micro fasteners. I also do not finish the lead wedge until after I have the razor pinned. I then file and sand the wedge flush with the scales. Finally kiss the edges on a buffer to re-polish the scales but stay off the wedge. The result is no rolled over appearance of the scales or wedge where the wedge and scales meet. A clean sharp parting line between the pieces.
Attachment 275388
10-12-2017, 02:35 PM
Voidmonster

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grazor

Amazing restore Zak. Not sure about the before photo, no notch?

You are correct! Which means I don’t have any before pictures. I was at least able to figure out when I bought it by searching all my ebay receipts. November 25, 2015.
10-12-2017, 02:38 PM
Voidmonster

Quote:

Originally Posted by ovidiucotiga

Zak, thanks for sharing...i'm begining to belive you have more neglected blades then most of us have in our entire collection:))

You must be a very calm patient man...if I have a blade that needs restoring mi fingers get a funny itch and I need to tend to it:)

Ummmm. I can neither confirm nor deny that I have an enormous pile of razors to restore.

:hmmm:
10-12-2017, 02:52 PM
Voidmonster

Quote:

Originally Posted by karlej

Tin/bismuth alloy. Modern day plumber's solder? How did you shape the wedge? Did you melt the solder and cast it? I wonder if it would cast in a round ball mold. I just use a hammer to flatten a lead round ball into a wedge shape and usually have a wedge .025 on the thin wedge to .080 on the thick end for a near wedge blade. I find it really easy to control how thick I want the finished wedge.
The wedge I reduce in size until it is about .010 proud and assembled with micro fasteners. I also do not finish the lead wedge until after I have the razor pinned. I then file and sand the wedge flush with the scales. Finally kiss the edges on a buffer to re-polish the scales but stay off the wedge. The result is no rolled over appearance of the scales or wedge where the wedge and scales meet. A clean sharp parting line between the pieces.
Attachment 275388

I bought a 5 pound block of this stuff a long time ago for the purpose of making razor wedges.

Hammering wouldnt work so well on it because the bismuth makes it brittle. It’d crack.

I made this one a while back by melting a little bit into a slightly tilted metal pan. That gave it a natural taper, but it was way too thick. So I used double-sided tape, stuck it to the end of a flat bar of aluminum and thinned it on the belt sander. It took two goes at that, as the first tapered too much and left a gap at the point. I also employ the old Sheffield trick of using a file to scratch up the inside of the scales where the wedge will go so it doesn’t spin when everything’s pinned up.

For final fit, I get it down to about 0.2mm proud and then use sandpaper on a hard surface until I just touch the scales, then I polish with micromesh, and finish with buffer using a floppy cloth wheel with just a tiny bit of Mother’s polish on it.
10-12-2017, 03:12 PM
xiaotuzi

Nice work, I like to result a lot! I have a "wedgie" type FBU that needs tending to, but it was over-honed some on the toe end so it looks a little weird. I'll have to see if it also has an apostrophe, it might. Yours is nice and nice!
10-12-2017, 04:28 PM
MikeB52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

You are correct! Which means I don’t have any before pictures. I was at least able to figure out when I bought it by searching all my ebay receipts. November 25, 2015.

You bought that on my 50th birthday Zak!
Very nice work on the restoration. Looks new.
:tu
10-12-2017, 04:53 PM
BeJay

Great work. When you say sanding drum, are you talking about a sleeveless drum on a drill? That has been my go to method for awhile now. I’ve not touched greaseless since I got my sleeveless method dialed in. Looks like you’re getting a great finish.

I’m in a be east bay and I’m wearing a respirator for the smoke too. Lungs were burning at work yesterday so I figured I’d better do something.
10-12-2017, 05:12 PM
Voidmonster

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeJay

Great work. When you say sanding drum, are you talking about a sleeveless drum on a drill? That has been my go to method for awhile now. I’ve not touched greaseless since I got my sleeveless method dialed in. Looks like you’re getting a great finish.

I’m in a be east bay and I’m wearing a respirator for the smoke too. Lungs were burning at work yesterday so I figured I’d better do something.

I’m using something like this

I got the biggest one Woodcraft had, and also one of the cheap variety packs from Harbor Freight. I use all of them, but the one from Woodcraft is decidedly better.

My drill press is a radial model, so I just rotate it 45 degrees and stick the drum on for sanding.

I’ve never used the greasless compounds, but I do use fancy polishing sticks from Rio Grande on very hard fabric wheels. After a lot of experimentation I came to the conclusion that the ‘red’ compound is all I need.

The sanding drum also provided lots of room for experimentation. I have a complete progression of micromesh metal specialty in 8x10 sheets that I cut for the drums, but it doesn’t actually work significantly better than regular old sandpaper.

For regrinding I cut down 80 an 120 grit 3x20 sanding belts.

I inch steadily toward a dedicated knife grinding rig with multiple wheel sizes.
10-12-2017, 06:20 PM
BeJay

I also have a few from Lee Valley and the HF kit. I’ve got a 1” drum that’s fantastic for full hollow grinds. The trade off is that the paper doesn’t last very long on the smaller drum. My 2.5” (LV) seems to hit the sweet spot on larger blades. I find the larger drums can have a negative affect on the edge if I’m not careful.
10-12-2017, 06:31 PM
Voidmonster

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeJay

I also have a few from Lee Valley and the HF kit. I’ve got a 1” drum that’s fantastic for full hollow grinds. The trade off is that the paper doesn’t last very long on the smaller drum. My 2.5” (LV) seems to hit the sweet spot on larger blades. I find the larger drums can have a negative affect on the edge if I’m not careful.

Yup. I've flattened a couple rounded points by being hamfisted on the drum. More likely than not, I'll end up building some sort of a jig so I can precisely control angle (ideally one that could be repurposed on any grinder I use). On the flip side, if I'm being careful around the edge, the razors come out of the sanding process much quicker to get a bevel on because they're almost there already. They are, honestly, kitchen knife sharp at the end of the process.

I'd probably also be closer to actually building a purpose-built polishing wheel using a coated leather surface on a wood wheel if it weren't for the fact that the tight-sewn buffing wheel I'm using has become almost as firm a surface as that'd be.
10-14-2017, 01:09 AM
nicknbleeding

Beautiful work as usual. Looks brand new.