Thread: What are you working on?

Originally Posted by Geezer

Nice haul! A thin nylon or mylar washer would work well. Mylar is usually used as a drafting film. Neither will wear very much so be careful not to make the pinning too tight.

Aluminum, from my experiences, is a nice material. Howsomever it will show every deep sanding scratch til you have worked reversed diagonally up the grits to a polishing grit. then you may have to drop back a few levels to get the scratches that show up then.
Attachment 228813
If you look carefully this was at 2K grit. I had to drop back a couple levels to get the barely visible scratches out.
Have fun and don't get discouraged by having to go back a few grits more than once. I have worked aluminum and other soft metals most of my 50 year career and...I still had to go back more than once. The I could go and carefully polish with a new buff and fresh polish. By hand with an automobile polish, or Filtz, or Simichrompoly will do also and less chance of showing polishing feathers like on the right lower part of the top one above.
poly will work also.These are hammer formed but your solid ones will finish the same way.
Have fun!
~Richard

Richard... Did you seal them with anything to prevent oxidation?

Mike

Originally Posted by outback

Richard... Did you seal them with anything to prevent oxidation?

Mike

Looks like a Genco Gold Seal Mike & in great shape.

Originally Posted by outback

Richard... Did you seal them with anything to prevent oxidation?
Mike

Auto polish/wax or Renwax usually are enough. They will get a bit oxidized over time. but it usually is a soft hazy coat that looks good and protects the surface. They can be blackened if exposed to sulfur or some other oxidants.
~Richard

Hammered forms over what Richard? And what gauge were you using?
Beautiful skins sir!!

Originally Posted by engine46

Looks like a Genco Gold Seal Mike & in great shape.

She's like brand new Steve.
Looks to have only been honed once in it's life. There was just a touch of light rust in the pivot area of the tang, and some staining on the back side of the blade near the heal. Should clean up with metal polish and a rag.

Originally Posted by outback

She's like brand new Steve.
Looks to have only been honed once in it's life. There was just a touch of light rust in the pivot area of the tang, and some staining on the back side of the blade near the heal. Should clean up with metal polish and a rag.

It sure looks that way Mike. Didn't those have gold wash on the tang area? Sure looks like that one did all the way near the stabilizer.

Sure did. Then in runs up the spine and over the end of the toe.

Originally Posted by Geezer

Nice haul! A thin nylon or mylar washer would work well. Mylar is usually used as a drafting film. Neither will wear very much so be careful not to make the pinning too tight.

Aluminum, from my experiences, is a nice material. Howsomever it will show every deep sanding scratch til you have worked reversed diagonally up the grits to a polishing grit. then you may have to drop back a few levels to get the scratches that show up then.
Attachment 228813
If you look carefully this was at 2K grit. I had to drop back a couple levels to get the barely visible scratches out.
Have fun and don't get discouraged by having to go back a few grits more than once. I have worked aluminum and other soft metals most of my 50 year career and...I still had to go back more than once. The I could go and carefully polish with a new buff and fresh polish. By hand with an automobile polish, or Filtz, or Simichrompoly will do also and less chance of showing polishing feathers like on the right lower part of the top one above.
poly will work also.These are hammer formed but your solid ones will finish the same way.
Have fun!
~Richard

Those are some very nice scales Richard. I have 3 sets in aluminum. One is still on a razor, an old Shumate from Austin, TX. I want to take 'em off & put them in some originals. I got a really mint looking one awhile back & when I got it, I could barely see a hairline crack in the blade but it couldn't be seen in the pics on eBay. Rather than send it back, the seller & I agreed on a partial refund which was acceptable because I also got the original coffin with it. It was such a disappointment because the blade, aside from the crack was beautiful & now the one I do have is also a nice blade but not as wide. The seller felt bad & I told him not to feel bad about it, that I understood. We were both happy with the outcome though which is the main thing.
The one on top in the black scales has the cracked blade. It's very hard to see the crack but it's there on both sides directly under the "A". The one below it in the aluminum scales has the good blade.

Originally Posted by engine46

+1 on the scales. Are they pressed horn or something or are they something else like bakelite or celluloid? They almost look like pressed horn but I'm not sure............
They are way too cool to throw away. I'd use 'em on the same blade.

They're not horn, they're an opaque black plastic with gold streaks on top. I'm keeping them safe in case I want to put them back on. Today I made a mock up out of 3mm MDF to see what needs to be changed, I added extra size down the bottom as I wasn't sure how much I'd need to cover the blade with the thicker wedge piece.

I'll take some of the bottom off tomorrow and use that as the template for the aluminium jobby.

http://imgur.com/gpeEZMW.jpg

Been playing around with acid etching to Create contrast, dark blade mirror polished everywhere else. I am really not liking the results, not to worry. I can Always sand and polish out, l'll see what it's like when scales are on.