Thread: Hinge pin mechanics

Gugi described the elegant action of the hinge/scale interaction very well in another thread as such.

Gugi's post;


There's one more nuance to this. Without taper you have a permanent stress on the scales/pivot in any position, which means that over time they deform a little and relieve the stress a little making the scales looser than what you want. So you have to retighten them.

With the taper at the wedge and the tang and flexible bowing out scales the extra stress (which causes the increased friction and scales staying tight) only during shaving. Provided you keep your razors closed when no shaving there is no deformation/loosening. It's a pretty simple design, but more complicated and sufficiently subtle that many novice makers/restorers do not understand its functional importance and go with a simpler design which works fine in the short term while the maker is still trying to part with it and during the first impressions by the customer.

And some (even big talkers with claims and aspirations to be among the best) are so confused they have been making scales with reversed taper on the wedge.

And then sometimes you see microfasteners advertised as a 'feature' to solve the problem of retightening the scales, but I look at it as poor way to try to compensate for a flawed design.