Thread: What are you working on?

Decided against honing tonight. I did get this H. Boker 6/8 in the mail. I was tired of not having any project razors as my project drawer was empty plus my C.C. bill is too high. I found this one on the Bay for under 20 bucks and being a Boker I took a chance. The etching is in great shape. The heal has some serious gouges in the back edge and a small chip near the toe but it looks as if it will take an edge after a little repair. The hone wear is extreme but since the rust was next to none... It will loose a tiny bit of width. Should end up just under 6/8 when done.

Took it apart tonight and cleaned it up. All work was done by hand. No sanding just synthetic steel wool and polish. There was just a touch of rust in the pivot area. Turned out to be not a bad looking cleanup job. Rubber scales have some tiny scratches on the back side near the bottom pin. I repinned with home-made S.S. collars and Brass pins. Added some washers to the insides as it didn't have any when I took it apart. Looks to be from the 1924 to 1935 era. Sorry, no before pics.

I did some sanding of a blade face working through 1k grit.
BUT!
Something terrible happened. Somehow a piece of something hard, like a single grit from other sand paper or something I don't know, got in there.
Felt it grind on 2 strokes, stopped to look, the blade face was scored! S#!t!!!
It's already I thin grind blade so going over it again is not a great idea.
If I just hit the one spot then there would be a slight dip.
Really annoyed.
I need to take steps to keep my sandpaper separate and clean. Also a clean spot to lay the blade while working.
This ever happen to you guys?
Do you have methods/protocol for avoiding this while doing the fine grit stages of blade work?

I typically manage to avoid that by standing my paper on edge on a piece of paper towel when it is not in my hand, and because on the high grits I am wet sanding with WD-40, I spray it off just before I go back to sanding. The standing it on edge on a piece of paper towel came from me not wanting to get WD-40 everywhere. Just by accident my work practices seem to avoid you scenario.

Our insurance agency is almost ready to open. Contractors behind schedule. Trying to get the last of the furniture (hopefully used) and hire people. Neither is going smoothly.

Found side chairs at Goodwill for $5 each but an employee told me they were sold (she left out that only SOME were sold) so someone else bought them while I was there!

So for the razor cradle for this challenging project I decided to carve a custom one. Needed to allow space for the ornate collars and account for the curve of the scales so the work surface presents parallel to the carver while carving or the cut depths would be wrong and the image would look odd.

Then to give me some clamping force to the jig I ripped it in half with my band saw.
This gives me 1/32” gap between the halves so when I clamp it up in my rig it won’t overstress the scales, but will hold firmly. Or at least that’s the theory.

Time to give’r.

Went in multiple passes to ensure I didn’t lose the eye details, never budged!
Now I need to clean out the swarf and fill in the pockets, then done..
Scary parts behind me though.
Cheers.

Looking good

Nice thinking about the 1/32 cut to allow to be able to clamp tight enough.

I dont k ow how many times ive thought about making something like that for drilling. Nice job. I might have to steal your idea.

Originally Posted by MikeT

I did some sanding of a blade face working through 1k grit.
BUT!
Something terrible happened. Somehow a piece of something hard, like a single grit from other sand paper or something I don't know, got in there.
Felt it grind on 2 strokes, stopped to look, the blade face was scored! S#!t!!!
It's already I thin grind blade so going over it again is not a great idea.
If I just hit the one spot then there would be a slight dip.
Really annoyed.
I need to take steps to keep my sandpaper separate and clean. Also a clean spot to lay the blade while working.
This ever happen to you guys?
Do you have methods/protocol for avoiding this while doing the fine grit stages of blade work?

I like to do one side before the other, Mike. Tape the finished side with scotch tape before starting the other side. Works as a protective film, pretty tough too.

Originally Posted by outback

I like to do one side before the other, Mike. Tape the finished side with scotch tape before starting the other side. Works as a protective film, pretty tough too.

Thanks Mike! I sat down with some coffee and a notepad and wrote down some ideas.
From the moment I buy the sandpaper at the auto paint supply, I'll bring large envelopes and put each in its own.
The surface that the blade rests on needs to be cleaned or refreshed in one way or another, between grits.
My duster may have been holding grit?
Making sure my hands are not holding grit.

Another thing that may have done it...?
I looked closely at the edge, I very small chip.. Perhaps I didn't kill the edge well enough and it came loose, and in between the sandpaper and the blade face..?
Do you think the tiny blade chip could scratch the blade face?

Probably what caused the chip.!

Its happened to all of us, presume.