Thread: 1st Restore Project-W&B 6/8ths

Originally Posted by Chris L

Suhweet job, Sean! A+ job on polishing that great piece of Sheffield steel and bringing it back to life. Very cool, man.

Chris L

Thanks Chris, a bit of a labor of love, I dig the way wedges mirror up.
One of those (and I am sure a lot of you could attest to this) it isn't done just yet projects, albeit perfection is relative.

Sean

That is really great work doing that with the scales on, myself I think it is a harder restore to do it that way....

Originally Posted by gssixgun

That is really great work doing that with the scales on, myself I think it is a harder restore to do it that way....

Thanks Glen.
This being my first job I really don't know the difference though. I have to admit it was interesting.

Exceptional for a first time or a 101st time.

Should be a great shave when you hone 'er up.

That is just a great job, I'm inspired!

Sean that's a great job! Now you have to reveal, what was your sanding/polishing progression?

Originally Posted by Utopian

Sean that's a great job! Now you have to reveal, what was your sanding/polishing progression?

Of course.

Being that this is a wedge I know I took liberties with styles of sanding that I would not have nor do I recommend to anyone doing for concern of breaking the blade and causing damage to themselves in the process. Also once the edge became a butter knife after a workout with the Dremel, liberties were also taken with alot of holding the blade with one hand and sanding/buffing with the other.

So to start I took an 8 inch sqaure piece of 1 by laminated wood and used it to lay the blade on this gave me the ability to let the scales hang off the wood and hold the spine of the razor with a few fingers of my left hand while I stared the grinding/sanding progression. I started using and 80 grit drum sander on the Dremel and worked on taking layers of steel off one pass at a time until the pitting was gone. I found not to like the drum sander as i had a tendency to let the disk leave impressions in the steel with each pass. So after some research and shopping I did this.

• 80 Grit Flapwheel going across the blade
• 120 Grit Flapwheel going up and down the blade
• 180 grit sanding disc across
• 220 grit sanding disc up and down
• 240 grit sanding disc across
• These sanding sticks:
• Buy Sanding Sticks, Standard Kit, Sanding Stick Kits, Sanding Blocks, Sanding &
• 180 Grit Buffing wheel across the blade
• 320 Grit Buffing wheel up and down the blade
• All sanding hereafter was used using these contour sanding pads with either Norton wet/dry or 3M automotive paper for the higher grits:
• Buy Contour Sanding Pads, Sanding Blocks, Sanding & Scraping - Woodcraft.com
• 320 Grit Norton paper across the blade
• 600 Grit Norton up and down the blade
• 800 Grit Norton across
• 1000 Grit 3M up and down
• 1200 Grit Norton across
• 1500 Grit 3M up and down
• 2000 Grit 3M across

The sanding sticks proved to be very handy in the areas that needed special attention but the paper compared to the other paper I was using later was a bit of a dissapointment. The contour pads worked out excellent as they allowed both widespread coverage and the abilty to use the edge for details.
I sanded each level of the progression until there was complete grit scratch coverage before I switched to the next paper and direction.

For buffing I used the hard felt pads on the Dremel with Maas and worked it over a few times before giving a few passes by hand.

Boy that was easy


Sean

That is a fantastic looking razor. The blade looks flawless and the scales and pins have a realyl cool look to them.

I like your post on the sanding, great info.

Charlie

Originally Posted by spazola

That is a fantastic looking razor. The blade looks flawless and the scales and pins have a realyl cool look to them.

I like your post on the sanding, great info.

Charlie

Thanks Charlie I like the pins too.

Sean, thanks for the details on the sanding. You obviously learned well. Those sanding sticks are bizarre! I like the idea of them but not the price so I'll stick with the wine corks I told you about at the MN get-together. Now that you've mastered sanding a wedge, you'll have to try a full hollow to see just how much more fun is possible. Again, you did a great job!