Thread: What are you working on?

Originally Posted by RezDog

If that razor is is old as you think it is it would certainly be a regrind. If you wanted to get the raring evened up you could discuss it by PM. There are a few people that do full regrinds. Glen at Gem Star and Karl at Old School Razors are the two that come to mind right away. They are both members here. Their screen names are Gssixgun and karlj.

Good to know, I've been reading a lot of Gssixgun's old posts and checking out his videos on his website. A lot of good stuff for starting out.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Tape the spine and put it on a 1k, I doubt the grind would affect the edge, the bevels may not be even, but it will shave. You can hone it without scales or at least put a bevel on it.

The grinding is not any worse than many modern razors, and certainly not as bad as many Chinese.

Go to a Knife supply and pick up a sheet of scale material or piece of horn and make a set of scales.

Horn is very forgiving and easy to work, you can do it all by hand if you wish.
Here is an excellent post of How To, make scales by Karlej,

How to make Traditional Horn Scales

I was thinking it might be ok to sharpen up, but wanted to get a more experienced opinion. Glad to hear horn is easy to work with, I really like the look and that was what I was wanting to use. I've been reading up on old posts about scale making and I'm glad I didn't just jump in. There's some fitting stuff that seems a little tricky. I've been making knife handles, and pistol/revolver stocks for years so I've got sufficient power tools. I prefer to do new stuff mostly by hand as power tools have a way of making mistakes catastrophic really fast. As I get a better feel for a skill, I start leaning on the power tools more. I think I'll see if it will take an edge and then see about a handle. I'll keep the regrind in the back of my mindas a future option. I should be able to do a test shave this weekend. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I like your choice of decisions, well thought out, IMO.

Its difficult, in the early beginnings of restoration. We want to save them all, but most aren't worth a full restore.

Glad ta have ya with us, here.

When you do a restore, it is a good idea to first hone the razor, at least cut a bevel, before you invest a lot of time. To see if it will take and hold and edge. You will also see any defects or problems that may need repairing.

I would not invest in a re-grind in that razor, and I doubt a re-grind will improve or affect the edge. The bevels may not be perfectly even, but most are not. That is just the character of the razor.

Horn is inexpensive and easy to work. Practice pinning a pair of tongue depressors to the razor and old wedge. Depressors are very unforgiving and will crack easily.

I like the tongue depressor idea. The wedge that was in the handle it came with was lead, I was figuring on re-using that. Thanks for all the good tips, really appreciate it.

I re-use lead wedges when I can and make new ones from lead wheel weights.

They sand and buff up nicely and add a bit of weight to help balance the razor.

I picked up an A.J. Jordan Best Quality 5/8 square point with a lead wedge for my third razor. I agree with the balance being nice, that razor handles really well.

Balance and fit, have its biggest bearing when stropping.

If your scales are thick, clunky, and out of balance, it shows most when you try to hone, and strop.

Honing a razor doesn't end on a hone, it stops at the strop.
It will either improve, or degrade an edge, depending on your ability's.

Little update...
Ive been trying to put a full coat of CA on some old horn scales. This is not going well. I keep getting bubbles in ths coatings that are causing white layers like when trying to put CA on very oily wood.

This was an experimental thing and i will be sanding them down and starting over another way. But i just wanted to post my findings so others can learn from my experiance. Id recommend if you want to CA a set of horn scales, dont. JMO.

At least if you sand them back down, the existing CA has already seal the horn. Might only take a couple thin coats to get it to work, this time.

Did I send ya some bog oak, Jerry.!? Can't remember who all got some.

Need to get some colored CA, kinda $$, so I haven't pulled the trigger.