Thread: What are you working on?

Nice job on the blade and the scales, Paul (says another guy who has dropped things in the shop and effed them up!). One of my 1st razors was an Improved Eagle; every razor nut should have at least one. And I concur on the Tru Oil. Since Mike and Jerry got me strung out on it, I am now on my 3rd bottle, and have refinished a mahogany rifle cabinet, a cedar bar, and just about every other wooden thing in the house! Here are a couple of recent finishes; as Jerry says, a lot of the final finish depends on the wood under it:



Tru Oil on a couple of brushes made by a local woodworker friend; one in Walnut, and one in African Blackwood. These are his first ones, by the way. I epoxied Maggards 24mm knots in them; the Walnut got 70/30 badger/boar, and the African Blackwood got the SHD 2-Band Badger. Both took an incredible gloss with about 15 super-light coats.

The razor is another Wostenholm IXL thumb-notch I just finished in Bastogne "Tiger" Walnut with a brass-lined Walnut wedge and brass collars and pins. Counting the work I did refinishing/evening out the wedge end with the rest of the scale surfaces, it probably has about 40 super-light coats of TO, with a few coats of RenWax buffed in for protection.

The wooden cigar box re-purposed for honing supplies (tape and scissors, light, magnification, etc.) just happened to be nearby, so of course it got a few coats too!

As I'm experimenting with this finish, I am finding that a few wet-sanding steps with a thinned mix of, say, 50/50ish TO and mineral spirits helps with a high gloss final finish (I have been doing 1k, 2k, and 3k). As Mike always says, hit it with some 0000 steel wool between coats (about every 3rd light coat for me). I have also rediscoverd cheese-cloth as a wonderful final burnishing tool! (another one of those tedious razor tasks you can do while watching tv). It amazes me how this stuff pops the grain and really highlights any chatoyance in highly-figured woods.

Please show us the final product, Paul!

Moved in a new place, new workshop, old project getting finished :-)

That workshop is way too neat to ever be mine. Love the project being finished off.

Bob

I am very curious about the symbols scrimshawed onto those scales.

Well, I hope it´ll stay tidy but I'm not too sure about that ^^

Part of the symbols is inspired from a 1820 molded silver scale from Aucoc



Most of it in fact..

In the center is François the 1st´s salamander



And if there is Myiazaki fans, you may see Laputa's symbol in part of the scale ;-)

Originally Posted by RezDog

Paul, you can darken that etch with bluing. Richard did a thread on it some time ago. Essentially you Blue it and then with high grit sandpaper on a hard backer you remove the high areas.

Thanks. That's a good idea. I was thinking that something like that might work. Possibly the JAX or some darkening agent. The only hesitation was there are so many pits on it that the pitting would probably pick up the bluing also. I suppose I could use a paint brush and selectively blue it and then sand it off like you described. That's certainly a good idea for other ones that have etching. I have a W/B wedge with you lather well I'll shave well that is rather them I thought about doing something like that with.
I was just thinking. Haida Gwaii, I've heard of that place. That's like surfing's best kept secret. I hear there's killer waves there with nobody riding them a lot of the time. I don't know though. My southern blood is too thin for that. I don't really care for wetsuits that much.

Definitely wet suits. I still go out a few times a year am swim with my board. Shore break most places.
A selective application of bluing could be very effective. It works great on tang stamps too.

Originally Posted by RezDog

Definitely wet suits. I still go out a few times a year am swim with my board. Shore break most places.
A selective application of bluing could be very effective. It works great on tang stamps too.

Shaun-I'm not a surfer, though I think it is extremely cool. When we were driving up the Gold Coast of Australia last summer, a few of the towns seemed almost entirely devoted to surfing. Apparently they have some killer surf-reminds me of that final scene from the movie Point Break when Keanu Reeves takes the cuffs off of Patrick Swayze to ride his last wave on the famous Bell's Beach.

Originally Posted by RezDog

Paul, you can darken that etch with bluing. Richard did a thread on it some time ago. Essentially you Blue it and then with high grit sandpaper on a hard backer you remove the high areas.

As an alternative you could try using a fine/ultra fine tipped permanent marker on the etching itself. Then use a lint free cloth with a hard backer to remove what marker is not in the actual etching.

Bob

Originally Posted by ScoutHikerDad

Shaun-I'm not a surfer, though I think it is extremely cool. When we were driving up the Gold Coast of Australia last summer, a few of the towns seemed almost entirely devoted to surfing. Apparently they have some killer surf-reminds me of that final scene from the movie Point Break when Keanu Reeves takes the cuffs off of Patrick Swayze to ride his last wave on the famous Bell's Beach.

Make no mistakes, I am not a real surfer but I like to go out and have fun in the water.