Big Hargeaves in G10.

Hello all,

I'm a little embarassed to post in the custom builts and resto forums anymore. lol. So here I will SHOW you my razor, and TELL you what I did. It's a 15/16 Hargeaves.

I watched it for sale on Ebay for 4 days and a reasonable BIN. But nobody wanted it. Finally I gave in and emailed the seller to find out the actual size. She said "just under an inch", and the deal was struck. I figured on 7/8ths, and truth be told, it'll probably be a 7/8ths after I remove the chip in the heel. But...It was in nice shape, and deserved a better pair of scales.


I don't have the facilities for buffing right now, and there was too much factory finish left for me to screw it up with sandpaper. So, the blade just got a polish. I fashioned the scales from an old broken set off another large razor I'd found once. I wanted the blade to sit deep inside the scales when it was done. Of which, I didn't take any picture. But in order to make it happen, I had to stack a few layers of black g10 and brass sheet. Which, with normal human eyes, and no macro lense at 1.5 inches from the wedge, looks pretty nice.


I've spent countless hours trying to get the wedge just right. For now, it's done. lol. I'm wondering what paid restorers charge for a lined wedge, cause my god, that was terribly UN-fun. But..In my mind, I imagine that after another ten...twenty..thirty? lined wedges, I'll finally be happy with the result. And that's what makes it worth it. Gotta trudge through the mud for awhile, while the roads get built.

So, here it is.

Lookin' good. What issues did you have making the wedge?

I cut the materials a hair larger than the actual size of the wedge, and then wrapped a dowel with 320 grit paper to bring all sheets to the correct shape. I didn't want to use anything more aggressive because I wanted to maintain the shape of the scales, and was afraid of slipping up. Had that happen a few times with low grit paper and ruined some scales. Also, had to replace some brass sheet that got bent while shaping. You can see the the left brass/g10/brass stack is a fair bit wider than the right side, due to weak glue up. And you can also see some glue squeeze out, from attempts at closing that gap. CA seems a little harder than g10. So if I sand off the squeeze out, it'll change my scales. And I didn't want that. I also didn't want to use glue at all. But my wedge is either too wide, or the wrong shape, and g10 doesn't like to flex...hence gaps where gaps should not be. And from the side, you can still see the brass liner standing proud of the scales outline in some spots. Sanding thin brass on edge, is an exercise in futility without a belt sander. And I'm not brave enough to use the belt sander anyways, when I'm looking at mm worth of material between me and the proper result.

When I did mine I think I cut out very rough squares to fit the presanded wedge center piece, bonded it all together, then used the disc on a belt sander to take down the wedge to the right shape (left the wedge end of the scales pretty rough), then finished off starting with 320 grid wrapped around a flat stick all the way to 12000 micromesh with good results. It worked well to refine the shape of the toe end along with refining the wedge.

She looks great, good to see an old razor back on the line.

........I am truly convinced that wedges are the Devil's Children.

Very nice work Justin, wedge is fantastic great work Enjoy!

A lovely beast! Custom builts and restos is missing out, IMO :nj

We seem to be the hardest on our own work, I think it has something to do with having it in hand so much and seeing every lil thing, that we pick it apart. But trust me bro that looks good :rock: why to bring back the old girl. Very nice job on the pins!!! I have the most trouble with them. Never seem to get them to be round :cry: always have a flat spot. Like my head.
Rich