Thread: What are you working on?

I used to do my Grady 305 guide boat every winter. I got it from new and did all the maintenance myself. It was a big job but everyone thought my boat was much newer than it actually was. I have had people ask to polish their boats but none of them were well kept enough for me to want to even try. It takes a lot to hold that buffer all day long. It is not an easy job. I am not surprised about your elbow. Ice is nice.

Ice has been my best friend for the past week. I finished a 25 footer before starting this one.
So that's 58 feet of boat in 6 days.
Two different compounds, then polish, finished by hand waxing.

And folks say I'm crazy for using a dremmel. I don't have the power in my hands to cut a piece of 1/16 brass rod at this time.

Nice work all around gents. Nice looking scales and razors. Outback, it's great to see one of the boats you work on, yeah I can see that's a lot of work and I'm sure I don't even know the half of it!

I've been working on cleaning up a Wade & Butcher FBU I found in an antiques store in NH last summer. Someone had rescaled it at some point using hard pressed leather and copper rivets. The result was a lot of trapped moisture next to the blade, especially the tang. The tang stamp is half gone because of it. Here's a picture from the day I found it, I was able to talk them down off the price a little due to the condition. The tag said "would clean up great!" but I wasn't so sure at the time.

I cleaned it up by hand only, no power tools. I was limited in how much I could do because I didn't want the grind to get too thin, I didn't want to lose the etch, and I didn't want to lose much width. The edge had some pitting so I did lose a little width but it still measures 17/16 or so. After working the blade clean, the blade face was finished with 800 grit wet/dry with a dab of Mother's then 2000 wet/dry with a dab of Mother's going spine to edge with a small leather backer. I have some horn, a hunk of lead, and some washers ready for the next steps.

I set a "test bevel" and it looked good under magnification. I'm pleased that I will be able to save this one. These are always way, way out of my money range so I feel really fortunate to have found one in the wild for a good price, even if it has some condition issues. Next is making scales.

It is a shame about tHe tang stamp. I think is is likely to be a long term resident in your shave rotation so as long as it does not bother you it is not an event at all. They really are quite pricey these days. It looks like a good clean up.

Originally Posted by RezDog

It is a shame about tHe tang stamp. I think is is likely to be a long term resident in your shave rotation so as long as it does not bother you it is not an event at all. They really are quite pricey these days. It looks like a good clean up.

Yeah, the rust on the tang stamp was unfortunate. I'm just happy at least some of it survived, more than I thought at first anyway. Not much I could do about that but tiptoe around what was left.

Originally Posted by xiaotuzi

Nice work all around gents. Nice looking scales and razors. Outback, it's great to see one of the boats you work on, yeah I can see that's a lot of work and I'm sure I don't even know the half of it!

I've been working on cleaning up a Wade & Butcher FBU I found in an antiques store in NH last summer. Someone had rescaled it at some point using hard pressed leather and copper rivets. The result was a lot of trapped moisture next to the blade, especially the tang. The tang stamp is half gone because of it. Here's a picture from the day I found it, I was able to talk them down off the price a little due to the condition. The tag said "would clean up great!" but I wasn't so sure at the time.

I cleaned it up by hand only, no power tools. I was limited in how much I could do because I didn't want the grind to get too thin, I didn't want to lose the etch, and I didn't want to lose much width. The edge had some pitting so I did lose a little width but it still measures 17/16 or so. After working the blade clean, the blade face was finished with 800 grit wet/dry with a dab of Mother's then 2000 wet/dry with a dab of Mother's going spine to edge with a small leather backer. I have some horn, a hunk of lead, and some washers ready for the next steps.

I set a "test bevel" and it looked good under magnification. I'm pleased that I will be able to save this one. These are always way, way out of my money range so I feel really fortunate to have found one in the wild for a good price, even if it has some condition issues. Next is making scales.

Tuzi I'm always excited to see your final product. Good looking blade so far.

Originally Posted by xiaotuzi

Yeah, the rust on the tang stamp was unfortunate. I'm just happy at least some of it survived, more than I thought at first anyway. Not much I could do about that but tiptoe around what was left.

It's still looking good. Nice work!

Fine job there Tuzi

I'm sure you'll have it for a long time, looking forward to see your final pics

Originally Posted by xiaotuzi

Yeah, the rust on the tang stamp was unfortunate. I'm just happy at least some of it survived, more than I thought at first anyway. Not much I could do about that but tiptoe around what was left.

It looks like you were able to preserve the blade etching nicely, well done.

Originally Posted by nightcap

It looks like you were able to preserve the blade etching nicely, well done.

Thanks, yeah that was certainly a big concern. Even with the tang stamp half gone I'm really glad the blade etch is ok.