Thread: The Butchered Blade

Originally Posted by Leatherstockiings

Tom, I saw your razor in SOTD. How was the shave?

Quite good! Sings a nice song. Tested the heel and it shaved close the entire edge. I went straight to the Escher after the 8k. May have refined it a bit on the 12k before. Not disappointed at all.
Only gonna get better with the strop!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Quite good! Sings a nice song. Tested the heel and it shaved close the entire edge. I went straight to the Escher after the 8k. May have refined it a bit on the 12k before. Not disappointed at all.
Only gonna get better with the strop!

Congratulations Tom, job very well done.[emoji106] [emoji106]

Have the drawing finished for the scales, now to cout out, and transfer to thin cardboard , like a cereal box.
That will be my pattern to transfer to wood.
Does anyone do it this way?
Explain, comments welcome. This is how we learn from each other.

I have never made scales, but that seems to be the way. If I may, I always like to see the end as close to the wedge as possible. Maybe about halfway across those 2 lines?
Purely an aesthetic thing.

Exactly. I like to cut a little large, then sand and shape, for better fit.
You can always sand or cut it off ,but its hell to put back on.

Originally Posted by outback

Have the drawing finished for the scales, now to cout out, and transfer to thin cardboard , like a cereal box.
That will be my pattern to transfer to wood.
Does anyone do it this way?
Explain, comments welcome. This is how we learn from each other.

The whole product looks better with minimum clearance at the wedge end. But!

Something to do is swing an arc with a drawing compass from the pivot to the tip of the toe bevel upward. That may save having to file the wedge if it is too close to the opening blade. I learned that one the hard way. A material that will shrink over time can need a lot more blade clearance at the wedge than a modern acrylic. I have had modern purchased horn shrink almost an 8th in length over a year's time. Sometimes it will swell in length. I have read that the old horn scales were heat formed and so were somewhat immune to atmospheric humidity problems. I have some router cut horn scales from back when that do a dance through humidity changes.
~Richard

Originally Posted by MikeB52

I didn't realize that AJ our source. Hey yea, props on the washers! Still haven't used the honey horn slabs I got off you. Saving them for some special 'to do's'.

Been way laid working on the truck and such last couple days in anticipation of next weeks travels so no real progress over here on my shave stuff.

been keepining up with this thread............
Yeah, Austin has the old collars. He sent me some almost a year ago.

Yep Mike, she was something special.

Back to the butchered Razor.....

Originally Posted by Leatherstockiings

Tom, I saw your razor in SOTD. How was the shave?

+1 to the above^^

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Good of you to say that, Harold.
Sharing techniques adds to the fun of the sport, IMO. Spending lots of money on equipment and keeping skills secret so guys think they could never accomplish anything is rubbish, IMO.
Simple things lying around and simple tools stimulate some to think of new ideas, esp as shared with others.
Lots could be learned here with more guys pitching in. Individual developments on other's ideas make for 'why didn't I think of that?' moments. From a light refresh to some serious mods, Gotta start somewhere!
Spread the word about this thread, grab an old razor, and participate!
Quite rewarding to get one shaving!

Speaking of which, I hope to have my frankenrazor through the hones tonite.

Originally Posted by MikeB52

Amen Tom, and I add my thanks for the guys reading and sharing as well.
I'm learning on every blade, and the help from folks trying their own with what they have is helping me to come up with new ideas as well.
keep em coming!

Originally Posted by outback

I agree as well.
Great info being shared does go a long way.
Being i myself have dove into restoring these ugly, rusted, pitted, broken objects, to beautiful works of usable craftsmenship again.
It's very rewarding in the end, of some heavy work.
Some times over 30-40 hrs. Of just sanding and corrections.
Not including, buffing and honing.
The rewards always trumps the work.

Thanks everyone.
For the rest of ya.
Grab a blade and jump in!!

Mike

I've been quite busy with some other issues here at home & i saw this earlier & have spent the last few hours reading all these posts. I have a W&B blade that is cracked at the heel & I wish it didn't have any stabilizers on it but I'm going to be doing a project with it soon. Great work guys, especially you Tom, you did a fantastic job on that straight. Here's the blade I need to grind the heel out of: