Dubl Duck Scales

I just picked up this Dubl Duck Satinedge. Whoever had re-pinned this razor had done a terrible job so in my cleaning and mild restoring I replaced the hinge pin. I noticed that the holes originally bored in the scales to receive the hinge pin were not in line with each other. I hope that can be seen in the attached photo. I figured that this was going to cause problems for blade alignment with the scales but I re-pinned anyway. When the pinning was complete, just as I thought, the blade caught the scale. I've managed to adjust razors with two pins in order to correct this problem before but I'm not sure how to tackle the problem with this Duck. Any suggestions from the pros here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much in advance!

Attachment 210847Attachment 210848

There are a variety of options. Sharptonn did a thread not long ago about making the thrust washer tapered and gluing it in place. You fill the hole with epoxy and move it, you could also sand the inside of the scale to make the razor move over. There is also tapping the pins to make the blade move. It is all going to depend on a few things. Is the blade just touching as it closes? Is it grabbing the scale and inch from the tip? Tapping can move it a tiny bit. You also risk over doing it and breaking a scale. Personally with those scales I would take them apart and adjust them from there, likely by making a wedge thrust washer. http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...wers-here.html This is an amazing resource on how to for straight razors.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

There are a variety of options. Sharptonn did a thread not long ago about making the thrust washer tapered and gluing it in place. You fill the hole with epoxy and move it, you could also sand the inside of the scale to make the razor move over. There is also tapping the pins to make the blade move. It is all going to depend on a few things. Is the blade just touching as it closes? Is it grabbing the scale and inch from the tip? Tapping can move it a tiny bit. You also risk over doing it and breaking a scale. Personally with those scales I would take them apart and adjust them from there, likely by making a wedge thrust washer. http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...wers-here.html This is an amazing resource on how to for straight razors.

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Thanks a lot for the information Shaun. The blade is seriously catching the scale about midway. My initial thought before posting was filling one hole with epoxy as you stated and redrilling the hole. I didn't know if this was a workable idea or not. Seemingly from your suggestion it is a viable solution to the problem. I think previous owner tried "tapping" with a 16oz. hammer... the pin was really bent. I could hardly remove it! How would you go about tapering the tiny thrust washers? Do you have a link to Sharptonn's tread on the subject? Thanks again.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...ng-blades.html

I haven't had much luck tapping the pins to adjust the blade positioning, most likely because of what RezDog said, it only moves a bit.
Thrust washers are great because they can adjust the blade in more than one way. When blades are off they are either off from side to side because of the pivot holes, a curved blade or a twisted blade, all of which I've had to deal with. Thrust washers worked. There more than one way to make them, with nylon washers as they said, or how I've done it before with a regular pivot washer laid at the needed angle on top of j.b. weld. I've also un-pinned and filled with epoxy and re-drilled. But that can be a pain because it's likely to have a different strength/density than the scale material and the drill will likely wander.
Hope this helps, sorry if i presented redundant info..

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Originally Posted by MikeT

I haven't had much luck tapping the pins to adjust the blade positioning, most likely because of what RezDog said, it only moves a bit.
Thrust washers are great because they can adjust the blade in more than one way. When blades are off they are either off from side to side because of the pivot holes, a curved blade or a twisted blade, all of which I've had to deal with. Thrust washers worked. There more than one way to make them, with nylon washers as they said, or how I've done it before with a regular pivot washer laid at the needed angle on top of j.b. weld. I've also un-pinned and filled with epoxy and re-drilled. But that can be a pain because it's likely to have a different strength/density than the scale material and the drill will likely wander.
Hope this helps, sorry if i presented redundant info..

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Thanks Mike for sharing your much appreciated insight. I did get the Dubl Duck repaired with epoxy and a re-drill. The epoxy I used never seemed to get totally hard and stayed a little rubbery. The amount needed in the hole to realign the hinge pin did stay put when I drilled and the blade is now acceptably aligned, not perfectly centered, but it does open and close without any blade drag on the scales.

I also have a very nice Robeson that has a bent tang which causes the blade to scrape the scale slightly, if care is not taken in opening and closing the razor. I'm tempted to try the trick with the vise and the three alternately placed pins in order to straighten the tang but I fear breaking a very good razor. Any thoughts on this technique? I think I may just try the beveled thrust washers.

Thanks again for your time and help!

You might want to watch out for cell rot, especially on those transparent scales which are notoriously gassy. Often these razors already show signs of cell rot before they are dremelled up and resold on eBay.

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Originally Posted by Badgister

You might want to watch out for cell rot, especially on those transparent scales which are notoriously gassy. Often these razors already show signs of cell rot before they are dremelled up and resold on eBay.

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I got this one at an antique store... I am rather leery of straights offered on ebay. There can be a lot of small flaws that pictures don't reveal! This blade seemed to be pretty good. May have been a very small amount of this near the spine, or just minor surface corrosion, but it cleaned up very easily... Thanks much for the heads-up.

Yeah that cell rot is crazy! I'm watching my blades and scales closely. Had to separate my blades to make sure because before I knew about cell rot, I cleaned a number of blades, removed rust, fixed up scales, re-pinned, and then put them back... with no knowledge of cell rot! And to make it worse I forgot which ones! Lol
I've never fixed a curved in a tang. Always been nervous about breaking it... there's this putty stuff, oh I forgot what it's called will need to look it up, anyway it blocks the movement of heat. I always figured that if I really wanted to fix a bend, then use that putty to isolate the heat and then bend it very hot.. this is beyond my skill set though.

Edit: Yep, the Bay is often a dark alley where necessity and greed meet to play "patty cake" and pretend not to know each other..
Antique stores 5 years ago and beyond, had a great many blades and decent prices. Now they are most often stripped bare, or owner thinks that ridiculously high prices are okay because of how popular straight razors have become. Sometimes I luck out, and also have heard of some gold mines out there. BUT the Bay has become a necessity for me. Just need to be careful.

MikeT, I still seem to find Straights here in Illinois in the antique stores. I found this Duck and a Wostenholm near wedge a couple of weeks ago. They had quite a few more, but these were the only two that I wanted for now. I have a much larger collection of DEs (mostly Gillette) that I have collected over the past few years. Take care my friend!

Before you go to all the trouble, take a good look at the razor to see if there is any pitting on the blade.

Those scales are notorious for Cell Rot and probably why one scale is longer than the other, one has shrunken, a rot indicator. The wedge being larger than the scales is another.

May be time to re-scale and save the blade while you can. Also I would not store the razor with others, if it does go off, the gases can ruin others stored with it. Keep an eye on it.

10pups and others have posted tutorials on making replacements and transferring the bolsters and badges, in the Workshop Forum.

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Originally Posted by Euclid440

Before you go to all the trouble, take a good look at the razor to see if there is any pitting on the blade.

Those scales are notorious for Cell Rot and probably why one scale is longer than the other, one has shrunken, a rot indicator. The wedge being larger than the scales is another.

May be time to re-scale and save the blade while you can. Also I would not store the razor with others, if it does go off, the gases can ruin others stored with it. Keep an eye on it.

10pups and others have posted tutorials on making replacements and transferring the bolsters and badges, in the Workshop Forum.

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Thanks for the timely advice. Interesting comment on shrinkage of the scales, that would certainly explain the skewed hinge pin. I thought it curious that a good razor like that would be so poorly pinned. There is no pitting in the blade and the steel looks really good. I would not have bought it had it been pitted. I always take a magnifier with me and look at the blade closely before I buy a razor (at least since I bought one with fine pitting all along the edge that was not visible to the naked eye). Live and learn. And I have plenty of learning to do with Straights even as an old dude! :) Thanks again!

Yes, often they can be saved if removed from the scales in time. Make a tracing of the scales and remove any bolsters or badging and get rid of the scales.