I likely should admit. Sharp points on scales bother me.
I am prejudiced that way.
But HEY! I don't make scales! :D
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Anyhoo, the Canadian mail running though Masset and over to Ontario and down to me was a nice, long nap! :rofl2:
Some scales are finally in my clutches! No sharp points!
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I've been traveling a lot lately for work and no let-up in sight. But managed to get a little time last Saturday and got a couple of em shaveable.
Here is a Globusmen/Globemen with some rust on the front and a chip in the edge. The chip doesn't look like much in the photo but it was a pain to get past it -- pretty hard steel and I ended up on the diamond lapping plate with it before taking it through the regular honing progression.
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It went into Evapo-rust, but some of the rust was under the gold wash, so rather than try too hard to preserve the gold wash I did my best to clean everything up. You can see here that the front is in fact pretty pitted especially near the toe. There was a big wad of some brown dried stuff in the scales at that spot, looks like the blade was actually in contact with it. The back (not shown) looks clean though! I am happy that I was able to match the original pins when I got it back in the scales.
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Like any Solingen blade, it shaves really nicely.
I also got this here 7/8" Ern Gong, and it was already pretty clean, just needed a little polishing and cleaning and of course a bevel set and full honing progression. It reminds me a bit of a Filarmonica 14 in use -- very much a full hollow. I really like though that there's very little stabilizer! The blade is plenty stiff without it and it makes honing a breeze.
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Roy, I got this Gong on Ebay from Walla Walla Wash! I have to come out your way one of these days -- if this guy's typical, your local dealers have a line on the good stuff!
I have a Gong! Have not tried it yet, but never was a more likely shaver!
Everyone has one?
Betcha we could have 'Gong Day' on SOTD! :)
Speaking of Evapo-rust, I posted before about a Henry Sears I got that I cleaned up with the aid of that stuff, and I filled in the bug bites in the scales with marine epoxy. That's held up well and old Henry's a favorite in my weekly rotation.
In that same lot I got this guy, marked "Chabrol a Paris":
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He had a rust problem and also a pretty bad sway back:
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Blade cleaned up okay:
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But the scales! They have some bug bites, which I can fill in with epoxy. But they are also pretty warped and dry. I was thinking of fixing the warping by soaking them in water and then baking them in a press I made for bending horn. I don't know about the soaking in water though. I was also thinking of neatsfoot oil but I'm concerned that the epoxy won't adhere after soaking in oil. What do you-all think? I could make new scales but the originals are actually pretty graceful and thin and the bug bites are relatively minor so it would be nice to save them.
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And some tunes to go with it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAtBrsdfnhs
Jmabuse I just used steam from a boiling pot of water to take warps out. It worked ok on one and not as much with the other. After steam and pressure with my thumbs I set something heavy on them until they cooled. Like I say, one it worked out. The other wanted to warp in another area so I'm leaving it be. I'd like to know how yours work out.
I'll report back on whatever method I end up using. My press is just a 2x4 cut to a nice shape on the bandsaw -- I use C-clamps to clamp the scales in there with parchment paper so they don't stick, and I bake at 225 for half an hour or so. It's worked on scales I made from new horn but I've never tried it on old scales. The 2x4 has warped a little from a few trips through the oven but nothing that affects the performance. Pretty easy to make a new press if I need one.
The press and oven sound interesting. I have some big horn sheep horns at home I need to figure out how to make into slabs and scales.s
Tom that was a long long journey. I guess it is time to make the kids some.