Thread: Glutton for punishment - George Wostenholm & Son - clear plexiglass

There is a shop in Tallahassee called Custom Plastics and I figured I would drop by and see what was there. I was chatting with the guy that runs the shop and asked if he had any small pieces of scrap that I could use for the wedge/spacer on a straight razor. He looked on the ground and found this 3 inch by 4 ft piece of plexiglass still covered in the paper and handed it to me. He asked for a picture of the finished product so I thought I would do him one better.

I made this guy in the course of an afternoon. I only have hand tools so I cut the plexi with my coping saw. I only did one pin, mainly because I didn't want to take another 30 minutes drilling through three sheets of plastic with my pin vise...once was enough

The blade is pretty old and I got the rust off but left the other goodies on there. There is some pitting near the edge of the blade and I don't know how it will affect how it hones up. Either way, I took the finished project to the guy the next day and he was pretty impressed. Personally, I think he was more impressed that I did the whole thing with a coping saw than with the actual razor



As always, lay on the comments and criticisms (especially).
Cheers

Very interesting! I would have never guessed that the cutout from the heel to toe had been done with a coping saw!

I've heard that plexiglass tends to scratch very easily, however the concept looks very cool!

3M makes a product to polish automotive plastic and a 'sealer' while I've never used the sealer, the polish works wonders!

I like the work!

That's awesome! It looks like a real beast.

Originally Posted by cudarunner

Very interesting! I would have never guessed that the cutout from the heel to toe had been done with a coping saw!

I've heard that plexiglass tends to scratch very easily, however the concept looks very cool!

3M makes a product to polish automotive plastic and a 'sealer' while I've never used the sealer, the polish works wonders!

I like the work!

That looks very cool, however, I come from a family of glassworkers, glaziers, and I can tell you that cudarunner is 100% correct- plexi will definitely scratch very easily. Who cares though- if you're careful with it it will be fine and it looks great!

I wasn't sure how the scales would turn out in the end and the materials were free. Even if they do get wrecked, easy come easy go in this case. Once I acquire some hones I'll try to put an edge on it. If it doesn't maintain an edge due to the pitting, I guess I'll have a great paperweight

Very interesting! Nice work!

If you want honesty..and this is just my opinion..but the scales are way too bulky for the blade. They almost overpower it. If you can thin down the design though it will give it a really cool look.

Originally Posted by Catrentshaving

If you want honesty..and this is just my opinion..but the scales are way too bulky for the blade. They almost overpower it. If you can thin down the design though it will give it a really cool look.

I can dig it. I originally had the title of the thread as "Fast and Reckless", mainly because that is how I took on the project. The blade s probably close to a 4/8 and the scales to overshadow them a bit.

Very nice job Jonah. I admire when someone uses just simple hand tools to achieve a project such as this. I will say I am a bit old school also but in my work as a machinist. I get a kick when the younger guys and apprentices stand around and watch me hand pour and scrape in a poured babbit bearing on a old piece of equipment. The look on their faces is priceless. Job well done sir. It has given me an idea. I just received my 35 year service award with the company and it is a big honking piece of acrylic. I bet I could make some scales out of it. Face it who wants to look at 5 pounds of clear acrylic with my name in it any way. Now that I think about it I may have one in the closet from my 20 and 25 and 30 too. Thanks for the inspiration. Keep up the good work sir.

I would love to have a workshop or something similar, not to mention the income to fill it with power tools

I'm a college student with a modest apartment, so hand tools are pretty much my only option. I think it's great to start with the basics though and build up from there. I read time and time again from the senior members to learn how to strop, nail the form down pat, and work on that for a while before attempting to hone a blade. I imagine it's to get an understanding and appreciation for the methodology behind the straight razor. It's kind of the same way with using hand tools. That's what I say at least, I drool at the thought of using a belt sander