Thread: What are you working on?

Originally Posted by JellyJar

Looks good PaulFLUS

Hit my Mois with some 3M polish and a chunk of old t-shirt. So glad you found that stuff Outback, it is some goood stuff.

Attachment 318703

If it wasn't for the hone wear I'd just pin it up and take it to the hones. I wan to try and hide the hone wear (haven't tried it yet), so off to the sandpaper.

More like it found me. I was cleaning up a boat that was traded in, that was originally in salt water. All the chrome fixture's were covered in corrosion, and we had the 3M on the cleaning supplies, shelf. I was taken away by how well it worked. So was my boss, it would have cost him a pretty penny to replace all the fixtures, to be able to resell the boat and make some profit from it. So I stole a little, to try on a blade. It beat everything I've previously tried, hands down, so I bought a whole tub of it for my workshop.

Originally Posted by outback

More like it found me. I was cleaning up a boat that was traded in, that was originally in salt water. All the chrome fixture's were covered in corrosion, and we had the 3M on the cleaning supplies, shelf. I was taken away by how well it worked. So was my boss, it would have cost him a pretty penny to replace all the fixtures, to be able to resell the boat and make some profit from it. So I stole a little, to try on a blade. It beat everything I've previously tried, hands down, so I bought a whole tub of it for my workshop.

In the immortal words of Loretta Lynn

"Crisco'll do you right every time"

Did as much as I was willing to on these scales. I could have sanded more and tried to spruce them up more but I wanted to stay authentic. Pinned it back with German silver (nickel silver) pins and collars. I noticed the toe was catching the wedge (Lead wedge. Went back with the original) before I took it apart but I took the wait and see approach until it was back together. Still catching when I put it back together.


So I used the old hacksaw blade trick.


Being lead this went quickly.


Pretty proud of the pins. I took a lot of time doming them.

I'll post a good thread on it over in "custom built and restorations" thread

Originally Posted by outback

...Just unpin it, Paul. You know you want to do it justice, and it deserves it. It sure makes them look better...

You were right (as usual ) Mike. Thanks for the push to do it right instead of getting impatient. I can't wait to hone this one and shave with it. That bigass blade rings like a bell.

Nice work, Paul-Pinning and wedges have caused some cursing in my shop over the years lol! You can give those pins a final polish with the eraser trick as long as you don't smush it down too much as you're not polishing the scales. Again, it also works well for hollows and that pesky area between the tang and the heel that is always hard to get into. Here's a pic of what I was talking about:

My First Ticonderoga #2HB-we all remember them from 1st grade, right? I still prefer the low-speed buffer for most heavy polishing, as my recurring CTS in my grading hand won't tolerate a lot of heavy wrist work these days.

I've developed quite a few, let's just say different techniques in the shop, mostly just trying to figure things out in a self-taught environment. Plus I didn't learn much in my 7th grade shop class, as the instructor was an old burn-out and known child predator who I just tried to keep my distance from!

Don't know if I mentioned this before but my dad made a pretty cool little rack for bottles this size. It's like a little wooden six-pack box. The top portion is cut just big enough to go around the top (with no lid on it) but too small for the bottom to come out. The bottles will lift up but won't come out. It's pretty ingenious really. He used them to keep scroll saw blades in but I found that they are the perfect size for most scales to soak in Neatsfoot. Knowing him they probably had Spanish olives in them but if I'm not mistaken this is the same bottle that Lindsay brand capers come in. Maybe some other brands too.

Soak scales in a Zip lock bag in a plastic tray, for left-overs. I have had some neetsfoot in a bag for well over a year.

You can make a small divot on the end of a chop stick,(round one) with a 1/8th in. drill bit, chuck a 3-4 inch piece in a drill press, put a dab of metal polish on the chopstick, and polish the pins perfectly round and shiny.

If you drill the divot shallow, it will form perfectly to the pin and not touch the scales.

Watch the heat on plastic scales. Dunk in water if they get hot or use less pressure.

I just punch a hole in a piece of metal such as a beer/pop can the size of the rivet/washer and polish the pin using that as a guard for the scales.

H. Boker going through the steps.
Before. Not in real bad shape but needs some help...


Unpinned and look at that warp. Plus the edges of the scales don't line up...


Little heat lamp time and a bit of steel wool and polish and the scales are much better...


A little difference in color after some cleaning and straightening. The back scale has not been cleaned yet...


Next a little work on the edge and blade. You can see the rust and the chewed on edge...


Now after a few minutes with some polish and DMT plate. The edge sure feels much better...


Now it's ready to get pinned and honed. Maybe tomorrow...

Outstanding Jerry. Beautiful work. I need to get some mock up pin bolts.