Thread: Gift Tragedy

Absolutely stunning spine. What a shame! Maybe some ingenuity will turn it into a frameback.

I have some advice if you are contemplating turning that chewed up blade into a frameback...

DON'T EVEN BOTHER TRYING!

First of all, you would have to carve away a huge amount of metal to get back to the spine. The blade already has cracks in it, and as such might shatter completely if subjected to a wee bit too much stress during this process. And even if you didn't explode the blade, the grinding process would take lots and lots of slow, careful work, most especially to avoid overheating or burning the metal. We are talking hours, not minutes.

Then, even if you succeeded in accomplishing that first Herculean task, you would have to be able to grind out a cleanly centered slot in the underside of the remaining metal of the spine of the razor. I say 'grind' because I suspect the steel is already too hard to allow one to safely use a metal slitting saw on it. Again, you would need some pretty good tools in order to accomplish this with any hope of succeeding, let alone obtaining a good result. Either way - grinding or slitting - access to some sort of tool with an XY table with a vise to clamp the blade into is almost certainly required.

But even if you did finally make a slot in the underside of the razor frame that was clean, straight and deep enough to accept a 'removable' blade, you would still be in trouble since you would have no reliable way of securing the blade into the slot. That steel is already too hard to be press folded around a new blade, even if the slot was there. A new blade could be secured with a screw system of some sort, but again, I fear that the metal of the spine is too hard to allow for any sort of easy and certain machining (drilling and threading operations). The only hope would be to epoxy the new blade in place and I'm afraid that after all of your hard work the end result would not be so very attractive.

But, of course, that is only my opinion. You are free to experiment... and if you do, I hope you succeed.

- Ignatz

Sounds like a challenge!

Before you give up on this razor, send it to someone who actually restoring them for a final decision. I don't believe you can always judge by picture... they can be tricky sometimes.

hhhhmmmmmm .......
or bid on 200365585672 (germany)
Says Laurel twigs (Lorbeerranken) on the spine.

Thanks for the great ideas! I going to take it Max probably, but the best option looks like hold out on a new blade. I have a lead on a twin of this blade, but will have to wait a week or so for that to play out. OR get a sweet frameback, OR Henckels... only time will tell. But since it looks like the blade is pretty much shot anyway, I might experiment with it: dab some superglue on the cracks to stabilize them, then (how do you say) breadknife it and see what happens.

This is terrible. It's like marrying a super model and discovering she doesn't have a vanilla. My condolences.

Originally Posted by 0livia

hhhhmmmmmm .......
or bid on 200365585672 (germany)
Says Laurel twigs (Lorbeerranken) on the spine.

Your english is much better than my german!

I did notice that your "Goldfinch 5/8" has the same material scales as this one...

Thanks and yes I know.
Its that travel type of handle but I do not have the hull for this one and it does not have the brasswork, your's has, either.

I'll try to win the one above, if language is an issue.
We can see what we do, after the auction.