Paddle Station-A Work In Progress

Living in a city apartment demands that one maximizes what space you have allotted to you. There’s no second bathroom off the laundry room in the basement that can become one’s own shaving den. Imagine living on a submarine. So additions to the gear one needs for shaving requires that two things happen. If something comes into the apartment, something has to leave. This holds as true for shaving gear as it does for girlfriends and wives. When something comes in, something’s going to leave.

Got some used razors nicely honed (thank you, Lynn) and read Glen’s http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...xperiment.html. So I wanted something more than just a hanging strop that allowed me to keep up an edge, i.e. diamond spray, Cro Ox, etc. But where keep the stuff? So I created a paddle station behind the bathroom door, out of the way except when needed but easily accessible.

It’s crude, all off-the-shelf stuff from HD and likely subject to much modification. Now that it’s installed, I think it’s a little long for the space. But I thing it will solve some of the storage problems.

The leather is from a high fashion designer who was thinning out his collection in the Garment District. The felt is from a shop on Etsy and the .5 and .25 diamond spray from SRD is drying overnight. I’ll try the set-up out in the morning.

In the meantime, I have some Cro-Ox and a felt pad coming from SRD. A strip of thicker cowhide is coming from a friend in New Hampshire so I’ll see how the Italian stuff works.

I wish I had access to a shop with routers and table saws, etc, but I don’t. I do have the satisfaction of knowing that I created this.

The build.

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The install. Applying the diamond spray.
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Voila! Well, maybe.

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That is damn clever! Great thinking.

Did you varnish or otherwise seal the wood? The side against the door will experience different humidity than the side with the leather on it, and they may cup on you over time.

You could put another piece of leather or felt on the back side of each board, which would take care of the sealing problem, then replace the hinges with swiveling clasps and you'd double your potential stropping surfaces.

What are you using to attach the felt or leather to the wood?

That thing is awesome!

It's still a work in progress so I wanted to see if the concept worked before I finished it. The lenght and height of the of the paddles may have to be adjusted so it's in an easily disassembled state.

It's made out of 1/2" red oak so I'm not real concerned about cupping at this point. There would have to be a very high state humidity for a prolonged period and I'm generally in and out of the shower pretty quick. The felt and leather are attached using contact cement. I've done formica work so I'm pretty comfortable around the stuff. The surfaces of the paddles were sanded flat, a bit like lapping a stone.

I did a bit of research into those kind of swivels and they were pretty hard to find. In my minds eye I can see the type you're talking about but locaing them is a lot harder.

In terms of finishing it, I see the edges being rounded over and at the ends of the paddles the corners curved. The hardware would be replaced with brass because of the humidity issue. I was hoping to box the top out a bit so that it would both mask the hardware and to have slots for razors on the top. However first it needs to be practical then it needs to be pretty.

It's amazing at what some people can think up. I love this idea!

I have to say just WAOW. Never think about that before, good idea keep working on it. In the world that what we need different thinking.

K

On the right track I think. This morning was the first time using the diamond spray to touchup a razor. 15 laps on the .5 and 20 laps on the .25. What a smooth shave! Not even a weeper.
Following the Pasted Stop Experiment by Glen, since I have a five blade rotation, I'm figure on touching up about once a month. That may even be too frequent but time will tell.
Going to leave it in it's present state for the time being. Look for some shop time to finish it and chew over some ideas.

Clever, and a great idea, I like it! Well done :tu

Very nice concept. That would minimize space and keep everything organized together.

Good idea... and well executed. Strong work!

Look for the swiveling clasps by the rope or wire rope sections. I'm thinking of the type you'd put at the end of a leash.

MacGuyver would be proud of you!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by roughkype

That is damn clever! Great thinking.

Did you varnish or otherwise seal the wood? The side against the door will experience different humidity than the side with the leather on it, and they may cup on you over time.

You could put another piece of leather or felt on the back side of each board, which would take care of the sealing problem, then replace the hinges with swiveling clasps and you'd double your potential stropping surfaces.

What are you using to attach the felt or leather to the wood?

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Who are you bs'ing? There ain't no humidity in Colorado.... If there is, it was imported!

The OP is in Jersey City, and I moved to Colorado from Iowa, so I can still remember humidity. Actually, it's so dry here on the western slope that my paddle strop is cupped from drying out.

When I built books, it was important to do the same thing to each side of the cover boards--if you glued paper to the outside, you had to glue paper to the inside as well, so that the board would experience the same wetting/drying/exposure to humidity on each face. Otherwise the book's covers would warp. That made me alert to structures that are going to experience different conditions on their different faces.

Well isn't that just a little too weird for words.
I started this little project by looking for some lumber for a paddle strop. Got a piece of the oak from HD and the leather from the garment district in NYC. As I got started, the project took on a life of it's own which is why I called it a work in progress. At one point I was looking for swivel hasps so that I could use both sides of the paddle. That proved more difficult than I expected so I went with simple hinges. But in the first prototype of the paddle I indeed put leather on both sides of the paddle and tried to smooth the grain out with 800k sandpaper. When the simple hinges went on, I used the unsanded side out.
As for the humidity and this is where it gets weird, I also grew up in Iowa and also got the hell out. 95% humidity and 99 degrees for weeks at a time is great for corn but tough on us animals. Just like the sub-zero weather for weeks at a time is tough on folks. 9 months of winter and 3 months of bad sledding. That being said, while I appreciate the concern about cupping due to the weather, I stand by my belief is more of an issue with bookbinding than with red oak.

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Too funny. I actually want to move back to Iowa, after a few years in the high desert. You do summarize the seasons pretty well.

Is red oak what they built barrels from, or was that white oak?

Best wishes

What's wrong with a 4 sided paddle strop?

Never having used one, I wouldn't presume to say that anything is wrong with them. For me, however, this solution fit my living quarters better than having a loose newell post taking up space in a tiny bathroom.

Adapt, modify and overcome.

White oak has a very tight grain and is used for barrels and exterior use. Red oak is used for flooring, furniture, etc.

Before deciding to move back I would suggest two visits, one in August and one in January. I did RAGBRAI twice in July. It's so hot and humid during the ride that one of the polite questions you can ask a friend or an acquaintance is "have you peed today?" Because if you haven't, you're close to dehydration and bonking.

The reveal.
I added a box on top with nine slots that are lined with felt. Weep holes are hidden on the bottom for ventilation. A couple of coats of urethane. Leather got a little seepage of urethane on the right side, of course, so that will be replaced but I have some fresh on order.

Once the layout was done then it was just a case cutting the material to size and assembling. It also helps to have friends in a television network carpentry shop so things got cut to the correct size and squareness.

In terms of any additions I could see adding another wall mounted box above it that matches the one below. At that point, it will be an 18 razor rotation. Should be enough. That or something is going to have to go in order to make room.
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Turned out nice. The box for the razors is a nice addition. Keeps everything close.

Fantastic.

That is a nice idea and very nice craftsmanship. One question how is stropping on it? Does it come level so it is like stropping on a flat paddle or are you stropping up at an angle on it?

With the leather, I tend to strop uphill a bit, probably at about a 30 degree angle off of perpendicular. With the Cro-Ox and the diamond paste, it will level. Level is about shoulder high which allows me to eyeball the contact with the paddle and blade, making sure to keep the blade flat.

I'm thinking a second box will be called for about a foot above the first.

Very nice concept and well executed. I definitely dig the CDNN masking you used during the spraying process. :p

Very good design. The box is an excellent addition.

So here's the finished version. Additional box makes for a 3 week rotation of 18 razors. I think I'll call it a "RAD Control System and Paddle Station" If I have more razors than fit into the system, somethings got to go. It may or may not be effective as a psychological deterrent to endless Ebay browsing but at least I can say that I've made an effort. I'm already looking to cull the herd a bit but I'll post those in the appropriate forum.

There's a Homer Simpson aspect of this set-up. When I'm using the paddles, they are long enough that I can rest the ends on my belly and strop away until my arm gets tired. Dum-dee-dum-dum, stroping, stroping, stroping.

And for those afflicted with OCD, they are sorted by width, from a Bossing 4/8 to a W/B 6/8. There are a couple of bigger ones waiting to get fixed up.

Now with the 12K, I'm getting pretty smooth edges. With the cro-ox and the diamond paste I feel like I'm getting a very keen edge. So far, I'm pleased and feel like I'm making some progress in this hobby. Two pass shaves and no burns or weepers.
Onward.

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I think you were very inventive. Our love of straight razor shaving drives us to keep the wheels turning to accomodate our
obsessions. : )