Thread: 4/8" Kropp square point

I bought this one as a bare blade with no scales at all, so I made some out of cherry wood. The spacer is also cherry wood, all finished with tung oil and polished with micro-mesh. It's my second restore, and the finish is better than the first, and I also managed to saw a much thinner piece of wood to start with. (First effort here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...t-restore.html)

The blade had three patches of light pitting, and again I didn't manage to get it completely smooth - it's a tiny object and not easy to sand.

The pinning is 1/16" brass rod, with M1.6 stainless steel washers.

Try stropping your razor, and see what you think about whether or not the ends of scales gets in the way of your stropping grip. I just had to cut down a set of scales that were too long (past the pivot peening). Turns out my design element broke the "form follows function" rule. Nice job on the blade and the scales! I have a lot of cherry - I may have to try it.

Aha! Thanks!

It was a bit awkward to strop, and I'd just put it down to being a smaller razor. Now you mention it, there is too much wood over the tang when it's open for stropping.

I'll have to weigh up whether its worth filing the pin, sanding, oiling, polishing and re-pinning, or whether I can manage with the current length of scales. I didn't think of that when I was designing them, I took another much bigger razor as a template and made it thinner without making it shorter - should have thought of that.

Cherry is a nice wood to work with and looks good, but it can have pale, coarser-grained areas which spoil the look a bit - there is a small patch on these scales, on the edge just below the pivot pin. I thought I'd avoided any on this pair, but not quite. They show up better if the wood is dampened or oiled.

I really like those scales that you have on that Kropp simple but yet super elegant if that makes any sense

Originally Posted by Matt69

Cherry is a nice wood to work with and looks good, but it can have pale, coarser-grained areas which spoil the look a bit - there is a small patch on these scales, on the edge just below the pivot pin. I thought I'd avoided any on this pair, but not quite. They show up better if the wood is dampened or oiled.

Before I put cherry scales on a razor, I leave them under a UV grow light for about a week. Brings out the natural deep red color of the wood without staining. You can also just leave them in the sun but that takes a little longer.

Originally Posted by Theseus

Before I put cherry scales on a razor, I leave them under a UV grow light for about a week. Brings out the natural deep red color of the wood without staining. You can also just leave them in the sun but that takes a little longer.

I have never heard of doing that. Does it work with other woods also?

Originally Posted by milehiscott

I have never heard of doing that. Does it work with other woods also?

All woods react to uv to some extent. Some get darker, some lighter. I've only ever used the uv lamp on cherry, mahogany and teak. To get the best results you need a rather powerful uv lamp. Simple black lights won't cut it.

Interesting. I knew that cherry wood darkened over time, I didn't know it was UV light that did it. I'll keep the razor on a sunny windowsill to speed it up. Thanks.

Works on Bubinga - unfortunately it turns it from dark red to blah brown.