Karl Plümacher all-Dremel restore

I know it's a provocative title, but I wanted to give it a try. I had bought a lot of 10 razors at 55 euros, so I figured I could ruin one. Also, "all-Dremel" is of course a lie, I still did the scales mostly by hand.

I removed some rust and most of the patina with just some polish, after which it looked like this. Bad lighting, the spots were pretty dark in real life.
Attachment 126367

I started off on the wrong foot, using normal Dremel accessories and making the typical wavy pattern on the blade (no pics of that). Then I found a tutorial on making sanding drums (http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...-tutorial.html) which turned out to be very useful. I managed to reduce the wavy pattern a lot with just a 180 grit sanding drum at 10000 rpm, after which it looked quite shiny already:
Attachment 126368
I moved up to 1000 grit, but the sanding paper wore out so quickly, I'm not sure how reliable it was. I polished with a Dremel felt wheel and some pretty cheap metal polish.

The sanding drum looked like this after I blew it, but it did not come off while spinning:
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I found some free wood, I believe walnut, at a large retailer and cut out the scales and wedge by hand. I had to do the wedge twice, accidentally breaking the first during pinning. After that, I decided to drill larger holes (2mm instead of 1.5mm) in the wedge to prevent it from happening again, which worked just fine. This picture is before lacquering:
Attachment 126369

During pinning, I protected the scales from the file and hammer with some tape, after having made some scratches and dents on my first rescale. I will be doing this again, it worked well for me :)
Attachment 126370

The end result was quite pretty, except for the pinning. I have just received my chasing hammer and the pins look a bit better than on this picture:
Attachment 126371


Just like brooksie967 (http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...-solingen.html), I found this Karl Plümacher took an exceptionally thin bevel.

Unfortunately, the shave was lousy and it got spots within the 25 minutes I used it. I polished away the spots and will be taking it back to the hones soon. It lacked sharpness, I'm still learning to hone.

More pics:

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The scales catch the light differently under different angles :)

I have a couple of suggestions - please don't take them as criticisms. When you shape the scales - do them as one by using double sided tape. This will ensure that they are uniform and you should also drill pivot and wedge holes while the scales are taped together so that they align perfectly.

The washers look as though they are too large so take a look at the Microfasteners site - I'm in the UK and found it's worth the extra shipping time to get exactly what you want.

Regards, Rob

I did use doubled-over normal tape for the shaping and drilling, but it would still shift a little, making for small imperfections. One time soon I will try not to forget buying double sided tape :)

Thanks for the tip on the washers. It had not occurred to me, mainly because I had had a hard time finding the right material in the Netherlands (to whom it may concern: stafmateriaal messing P100 1.5 mm and sluitringen DIN 125B 1.4 mm at microscrews.nl) and was happy I at least had something to work with. I will order some screws and bolts along with them as adjustable pins, which should make shaping the wedge a lot easier.

Looks good. Good job!

Good work!!!
i 'm afraid of dremel...so i use always my hands :D

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Originally Posted by Laurens

I did use doubled-over normal tape for the shaping and drilling, but it would still shift a little, making for small imperfections. One time soon I will try not to forget buying double sided tape :)

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What I usually do is cut out the very rough shape, drill first, then bolt the scales together with the micro screws and shape the edges how I want them. Then once I know they are equal I take them apart and shape the flat faces.

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Originally Posted by ScienceGuy

What I usually do is cut out the very rough shape, drill first, then bolt the scales together with the micro screws and shape the edges how I want them. Then once I know they are equal I take them apart and shape the flat faces.

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Do/would you also drill first if you use double pins like I did on this one?

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Originally Posted by Laurens

Do/would you also drill first if you use double pins like I did on this one?

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I have done a few with double pins, and yeah, I drilled them first. It didn't add any extra difficulty. The bolts just hold the scales together much better than tape.

10000rpm on a dremel. Wow ! How did you gauge the heat at the edge during this process.

Also, you'll see on the blade surface that it is very irregular, because the dremel has worn the blade very unevenly.
Not to discourage you, but this is really not the way to restore razors, because you'll just turn a smooth surface into a bumpy road.
The scales are nice, and your enthusiasm is great. But the main lesson from this restoration should be that a drum wheel on a dremel is a really bad way to restore a razor and a really good way to destroy one.

If you want to use your dremel at all, use flap wheels or wire brush wheels.

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10000rpm on a dremel. Wow ! How did you gauge the heat at the edge during this process.

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There was very little heat build-up at this speed with the sanding, but surprisingly the polishing did produce some heat, but really not much. In my opinion, 10000 rpm is not that much. I could safely touch the sanding drums with my fingers.

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Also, you'll see on the blade surface that it is very irregular, because the dremel has worn the blade very unevenly.
Not to discourage you, but this is really not the way to restore razors, because you'll just turn a smooth surface into a bumpy road.
The scales are nice, and your enthusiasm is great. But the main lesson from this restoration should be that a drum wheel on a dremel is a really bad way to restore a razor and a really good way to destroy one.

If you want to use your dremel at all, use flap wheels or wire brush wheels.

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I did not elaborate in my description, but the wavy pattern was made with a grinding wheel :thinking: I was too ashamed to admit that. The sanding drums took out a lot of the damage I did, but not all. The difference is in the stiffness of the wheel: flap wheels, wire brush wheel and my handmade sanding drums allow some flex, leaving less of a scratchy pattern. I will experiment some more, because I have a bunch of junk razors that can take a beating.

Going back to the scales shaping discussion - the reason I use tape to hold the scales (as opposed to pins) is that you can't contour them properly if pins are in the way. A decent quality double sided tape is easily strong enough to hold scales in position - try it and see how difficult it is to prise them apart.

Another tip - drill the pivot hole first then poke a pice of rod through and place the blade on top of the scales - this will enable you to mark where you want the wedge to come to without catching the toe of the blade. When you have marked the wedge you can decide where the pin should be drilled so that it sits evenly. All of this is done withe the scales still taped together and if you intend on having very rounded scales, you might want to drill all holes while the scales are still quite flat - this way you avoid the risk of drilling out of the vertical.

Thanks again, Rob. I got some double-sided tape today while I was shopping for a new bike tire for my girlfriend, so that will make life easier on my next round.

Hitherto, I made my wedges by roughly estimating the size, so your tip is a welcome one :) As I said, I have a bunch of razors to play with, and I'm curious just how the rest will turn out.

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Originally Posted by Laurens

There was very little heat build-up at this speed with the sanding, but surprisingly the polishing did produce some heat, but really not much. In my opinion, 10000 rpm is not that much. I could safely touch the sanding drums with my fingers.

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Put your finger on one side of the blade then use the dremel on the other . You will be surprised at how quickly the heat will build up with any medium. It is very important to keep a dremel moving & not focused on any one spot. The edge of a razor heats up much quicker than the spine.

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Originally Posted by onimaru55

Put your finger on one side of the blade then use the dremel on the other . You will be surprised at how quickly the heat will build up with any medium. It is very important to keep a dremel moving & not focused on any one spot. The edge of a razor heats up much quicker than the spine.

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To add to this, because it is so thin it can also cool down very quickly so if you heat it too hot and then feel it a few seconds later, it can be too late to tell.

Nice work , I use the dremel only to polish and very lightly too seeing mine is 10 k rpm on minimum but again nice work I have another restor with heavy rust might for fun try dremel on it.

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Originally Posted by ScienceGuy

Quote:

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Originally Posted by onimaru55

Put your finger on one side of the blade then use the dremel on the other . You will be surprised at how quickly the heat will build up with any medium. It is very important to keep a dremel moving & not focused on any one spot. The edge of a razor heats up much quicker than the spine.

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To add to this, because it is so thin it can also cool down very quickly so if you heat it too hot and then feel it a few seconds later, it can be too late to tell.

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Good points, both. I checked today on another razor and still noticed that there was a relatively low amount of heat produced. I keep the Dremel moving, quite quickly, both to prevent excessive heat and because it makes it easier to get uniform sanding/polishing.

I did a lot of my past restores with a Dremel & flap sanders . You soon work out a system or cook a lot of razors .

watch the scale making by hand video that spazola put up awhile back... That has the easiest method for making scales uniform. for instance, instead of using microfasteners or double sided tape you just use some elmers glue and a piece of paper between the scales.