C F Ern "Crown and Sword"

Here's a not especially exciting razor tricked out in glitzy scales. This project gave me any amount of trouble, and I'm chalking it up as a failure. The cream on the cake was a moment of clumsiness this morning when I took that chip out of the edge ... ah well, back to the grindstone. Never mind, my expectations were pretty low to start with:

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x.../CS1before.jpg

The acrylic is easy enough to work with, but unfortunately this piece contained some bubbles, about a dozen noticeable ones in the end. By this point I'd more or less written off the job and didn't bother polishing the scales, but I've just pinned the razor in as a temporary measure.

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...0Sword/CS1.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...0Sword/CS2.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...0Sword/CS3.jpg

At some stage the blade will go into some wooden ones and I'll be hanging on to it for the time being because it's a good shaver, or was till today, certainly worth the trouble of breadknifing out the damage. Good job its just for me.

Do yourself a favor and don't compound the problem by breadknifing. Tape the spine and do circles and x strokes. Unless the photos don't show it clearly the chip ain't that bad. Just IMHO.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Do yourself a favor and don't compound the problem by breadknifing. Tape the spine and do circles and x strokes. Unless the photos don't show it clearly the chip ain't that bad. Just IMHO.

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+1. From those photos, that chip (however much it hurt) is not too serious.

I do have a sensitive spot for C&S razors, especially the large 7/8's and if you can get a number other than 1166, they are quite rare on ebay, I have a 1935 but missed a barbers notched crown and sword, that was very nice.

looks great, maybe tone down the scales though, bit too bright for me...

great work

regards alex

Failure is to strong of a word. Maybe not up to your expectations would be better.

Defects in the material certainly don't reflect on your ability. Could those bubbles be filled with something like a clear epoxy?

Tim

Absolutely no failure! That chip will hone out. Fixing the scales can be done fairly easily IMHO. i have worked with Corian a bit on knife handles using mottled patterns similar to your acrylic. It often has little "holes" in it visible when you get through the sanding stage. What knifemakers who work with it do is fill the holes with CA. Sand lightly if necessary {depends on how good you are at not overfilling - i sand :)}Once buffed they are no longer noticeable. Have not tried it on acylic, but principle is the same.
Hope that helps - should be less work than making new scales, and i like the look of that acrylic.
Best Regards

Very nice. Reminds me of the old school shifter knobs and such.

Thank you everyone for your interest. I'm in two minds whether I like this acrylic myself, so it's hardly surprising that it's dividing opinion. It comes in half a dozen different colours, and due to a snafu in the buying department where I work there's enough of it for a few thousand razors - what I've used is from scrap, but we're talking a pile of 8'x4's. When I got the job of doing the Hammesfahr and Cador razors I happened to mention it, and this razor started out as a prototype.

JimmyHAD and AlanII: right, you're on. Nothing like breadknifing to set the teeth on edge, so I'm grateful for the reassurance. The chip isn't a particularly bad one, just irritating.

gimpyalex: no number on this one. It's about 11/16 as it stands, but going by the hone wear, shape of the toe and the stiffness it probably started out quite a bit wider. Someone put it into my head that C&S razors would be hard to hone, but the opposite was the case and the edge very good by my standards, so I certainly won't be dismissing them now. I hear you talking about the scales ...

32t and Adam G: I've been wondering about filling in those voids with CA or epoxy too. There's not much to lose so I'll certainly experiment with them.

Catrentshaving: I see what you mean. Puts me in mind of Italian piano accordions from the 1950s. :)

It's a drag about the bubbles in the material. Even with that, looks great.
Your frustration with the quality of the media is clear, but hopefully after taking a break, you'll take on this acrylic again. These recent posts look nice.