Thread: Where to buy Scales, Wedges, & Pins ???

I was curious as to any good sources for you basic vanilla plastic, celluloid, etc.. Scales & wedges, and washes, spacers, & pins.

thanks in advance,

Tony

http://www.classicshaving.com/page/page/523001.htm
has everything you need but they are quiet expensive I'm still looking for a cheaper option

I too, am also starting MY first restoration project, (Pix appearing soon).....

This prices on Classic appear totally inflated and beyond retail...

I was hoping for a more reasonable price structure and a wider more wholesale range of choices...

I'd like to buy a boxes of 100-200 pins, or 200-300 spacers, 50-100 collars, 200-300 washers, 100 wedges, etc..etc...

Thanks in advance,

Tony

I'd say you're looking to go into a new business Tony.......hahahahahahaha. Check out Bill Ellis' restoration CD.

Lynn

Not really, I just can't abide spending $3.00 on a 2 cent pin, spacer, or washer...

or $35.00 on 25 cents worth of plastic scales...

I don't mind spending money on "custom made" stuff...

I'd just like to be able go to the "Str8 Razor Hardware Store" and buy a box of.... like I'd buy a box of screws in a normal hardware store....

TG

Nah... I think it's that I've become a RAD-aholic...

What turned the tide for me was digging up a rusty old RAZOR at a local junk store, and simply applying some MAAS and watching it come back to life....

I have a technical background, I was an apprentice machinist at 16, so even if I'm a little "rusty", most of the restoration techniques are familiar to me, and I love turning something that's little more than useless trash back into a funtioning, useful thing of beauty...

If I were to think of a "new business venture" for myself, it could be along the lines of "rescuing" old & neglected, artifacts, restoring their function and beauty, and then giving them a new lease on life...but perhaps in a much wider and more global concept...

Who knows? maybe Razors is a good place to start with such an idea...

Frankly, however, IMHO str8 razors is a specialty interest of a tiny minority of maniacal collectors and enthusiasts...probably not enough potential but to provide a few aging baby-boomers like ourselves with a hobby...

It would be interesting to continue this dialog as to which other industries, crafts, artifacts, products, and commodities, might fall into such a category that would lend themselves to such a treatment......

Tony

Originally Posted by adjustme69

I'd say you're looking to go into a new business Tony.......hahahahahahaha. Check out Bill Ellis' restoration CD.

Lynn

You know, I'd kinda like to track down where classicshaving.com get their stock of pins and stuff...I noticed they're mostly Dovo, which aren't much good for the two English meat-choppers I'm working on. If I can sniff out some wholesale source I've half a mind to set up an eBay store and just sell the stuff at cost.

washers/collars at www.microfasteners.com
pins are cut from 1/16" brass rod, a hobby store or knife store is a good source, also Ebay
wedges and scales are hard to find, most people make their own stuff.
Dovo sells to classicshaving. You have to buy in bulk.
El cheapo plastic scales are available for $7 plus shipping.

Check out the Restoration forum. All of this stuff is discussed.

Thanks Randy for the info!

A variation on the classic blacksmith's brad/nail swaging/forming die, which is the first thing you make in any high-school machine shop, could make these pins very nicely....I think I did this over 40 years ago... All you really need is a fairly decent drill press and a few scraps of 1/4" mild steel....

1.) Get two 2" x 4" pieces of 1/4" mild steel.

2.) Locate, drill, and, fabricate, & install 4 1/4" locator pins on the the corners of the bottom piece.

3.) Locate, and drill through 4 1/4" holes to match the locator pins in the bottom pice to the holes in top pice so that you have a nice matching die.

4.) Making sure that the assembled die is firmly clamped closed. Drill 10-20 holes of the various sizes of brass rod that you use, all the way through the top pice, and half way through the bottom. You may even want to bevel counter-sink some of the holes for a slightly counter-sunk pin...

6.) To make pins, insert cut lengths of rod all the way into the holes of the assembled clamped die, and trim off 1/16"-1/32" above the top surface of the die.

7.) With a light jewelers, peening, tack hammer and a peening tool or a concave setting punch or similar tool, lighty begin to swage down on the head of the brass rod with light taps... The head of the rod will begin to mushroom into a nice round rivet head...

8.) To remove the pins simply unclamp the die and lift off the top plate...and gently press down the top plate on a smooth uindrilled hard surface like an undrilled piece or 2 x 4 steel...

9.) The pins may stick, so you may have to VERY lightly tap the underside of the top plate... Lubricating the tool and the brass rod with WD-40 BEFOREHAND will probably make things a lot easier...

10.) In another life, I had the dream machine shop, and I could have whipped this tool up in the time it took for me to post this article...

11.) I'm curerently without a machine shop or any HEAVY tools other than some hand tools and a dremel tool. If anyone on this forum decides to make this tool, I would be imost grateful if we could work something out re: my getting a steady supply of pins....

All the best,

Tony

The brass rod can be found over here in the UK but I've never found anywhere that sells washers yet. A major pita when you only want a couple of pins and washers as ordering from the US can be expensive or difficult.