Thread: What are you working on?

While waiting for my horn blanks to arrive for that Greaves Sheaf-Works, I figured I'd do a little work on this little W&B Bow razor from an antique store.





Unfortunately as you can see the scales are broken at the pivot.



They are Bakelite. There is a gap, which would have to be made up from epoxy or something like that if I were to glue them and then it would have to be shaped. I do this kind of thing pretty often with other materials but never tried with Bakelite.

Does epoxy work on Bakelite? Of course the pivot is a stress point so it'd need to hold well.

The blade itself is unfortunately pretty deeply pitted, and I chose to leave some of that and keep the etch. I am not in the buff-it-till-it-looks-melted club myself.



It is a little cleaner than the picture shows but not too much more.

I usually just make new scales when they are broken at the pivot. You can sleeve the scales for reinforcement of the pivot or you can line the scales. I do not know if epoxy will be enough by itself. I am interested in your results though. Good luck.

I've never tried to repair Bakelite, however I'm sure that others will chime in who have or at least have informed options.

Done cleaning and shaping the Gervais, was hoping to get scales done yesterday but that 2 feet of snow yesterday kept me busy all day long. On the other end the snowblower is running great!

Originally Posted by Martin103

Done cleaning and shaping the Gervais, was hoping to get scales done yesterday but that 2 feet of snow yesterday kept me busy all day long. On the other end the snowblower is running great!

That is an impressive save.

Looking good Martin. I am sorry about the snow.
A little activity in the hoarders corner.
I have been doodling this design for a while and thought I should try it. A little scrimshaw to start the day. It is not done, there are some details to work on yet, but it is a start.

Nice design Shaun..
Look forward to the results.

Originally Posted by HARRYWALLY

Well, I suppose in a way you're not to far off John. The balls had a funny shape to them, not completely spherical, so they would "curl". Suppose if you couldn't see which way the oblong was you could use the buttons to make sure you held it right.

Andrew, they are lawn bowls and made with a bias or weighted to one side - this enables them to curve. So if a right handed player holds the weighted side by his little finger in an underarm action the ball will curve to the left. If the weight is at his thumb it will curve to the right. This is the game that Sir Francis Drake insisted on finishing when the Spanish Armada was sighted off the south coast of England.

Really like the scrimshaw Shaun, the beauty of scrimshaw is that it is hand done and not perfect, I can see that on the scales, like the difference between a typed letter vs handwritten one, good work. Oh no need to be sorry about the snow I love winter and snow.

Shaun I am super excited to see the scales complete, I have a feeling they are going to look amazing Sir