Thread: W&B Chopper

One lesson to be learned here is to practice on less valuable blades until skills are mastered. Sorry you lost that one.

Yeah I had it taped for hand sanding it, it had a lot more light pitting than the pictures showed...was just doing the final polishing since I didn't have any fine grit paper....

I will observe 24 hours of mourning as is appropriate for the razor.

My condolences.

Steep learning curve for ol Dennis...

May just put that mint never seen a hone or strop wonderedge duck to use to make myself feel better.

Or.....ill do some haircuts and buy one ready to go ....less risky. Glad that blade was given to me by a customer rather than shelling out big bucks....still makes me sick though.

Wow, that is just heartbreaking to see that fine old razor destroyed. As they say, the buffer is the most dangerous tool in your shop, and I think most do remove the safety guards for safety. . Was it one of the high-powered, high-speed buffers (i.e., over 3500 rpm)? I think using those on razors, especially with a loose wheel, is just asking for trouble. I've found that it's much safer to use my 1/2 hp, 1750 rpm Baldor than a couple of the more powerful, faster ones I have, and still it wants to "grab" the tail sometimes if I'm daydreaming (which I'm real bad to do!).

Better luck on the next one!

I don't have a lower-speed buffer. Maybe some day? I have found that 3 inch and smaller wheels work better and safer with fast-running units, however.

Its a variable speed...had it set to around 2000 rpm. I'm still so sad about the razor. Like a record fish that got away... :-(

Dennis-I think I speak for most on here in being impressed by your forthrightness in describing an unfortunate mistake. As I'm just getting started in restorations, I am posting both my successes and failures/mistakes (such as a near-finished one that I carelessly dropped and put a bad nick in the blade, or the W&B horn scales I was trying to unpin, and subsequently cracked AND put a divot in with a dremel-both look almost as good as new now).

Kudos to you for being such an open book. Too many people on the internet (not here, I'm thinking more social media like "FarceBook") try to make themselves and their lives out to be totally fabulous. As I often tell my students, it is from our mistakes that we learn the most.