smooth sailing on first custom scales then CRACK!

So I recently tried to make scales for a razor with Arcylic, i first cut out the scales with a bandsaw, then i shaped them up with a belt sander taking off the sharp edges on the acrylic and trying to round off everything, going up grits from 80 taking off all he scratches from previous grits. Then I was off to hand wet sanding though the grits again all the way to 1000. Then on to some white compound on the buffing on medium speed about 2000 rpm on 6 inch wheel... At this point I'm about an hour and a half into doing this! I was starting to get antsy and excited for my first set ever made. I got the first pin in and buffed it round, SWEET! Now to pin the pivot, swing and a miss! Cracked the scales! I have to say after that happened a piece of me died at that very moment hahaha... I was so close to finishing the scales and getting the restored razor in I could taste it... Well here are the pics I am still very proud of myself that I got that as far and as I did and still can't wait to give it another shot.
Attachment 213040
Attachment 213041

Looks nice, I never really ventures too deep into custom scales, but I did crack a few. It is heart breaking when you think back to all the time you put into it and in one second destroy all that work.

Accidents happen occasionally to the best of us no matter how careful you are. It's a minute of cursing and what not but little can be done. C'est la vie. I usually take a break until I'm mentally ready to start all over. Doesn't take too long and it's all forgotten. You should be proud either way.

very light taps with a very light hammer is the key!(tap on the cuticle of your thumb with your hammer without too much discomfort is about the right pressure) nice looking scales BTW.

Pretty scales! :rock: I'm always a sucker for bright scales.:p


Mike

Thanks guys I gave it my all, I think that the razor wasn't going to sit in them too perfectly it was good practice... Yea I agree I love the bright colored scales, I really wasn't going for a point on them either it kinda just worked out that way and I went with it lol... I felt like I was making a prison shank there for a little bit lmao

Attachment 213062

That's hard luck Fonzie; we've all cracked a few in our re-scaling adventures. The old vulcanite ones are particularly prone to it, ivory probably the least.

They were looking good too! Try practicing on some old horn or early plastics scales found on crap razors that turn up in junk shops. You'll soon get the hang of how hard to strike. "Not very" is the answer, as tintin described above.

Bad luck but I love the scales.

Just a couple of hints:

The point at the pivot, going in that direction, is going to impede stropping, ask me how I know :)
It will actually push your thumb away from the tang :(

If you put you finger on the anvil and hit the very edge of the cuticle (Pressure Point) with the hammer you can get an idea of how hard to tap, if it hurts you are tapping to hard

Popsicle sticks (Available really cheap at Wally World) are an awesome practice media, if you can pin them you should be able to pin anything..

How the Tang and Pivot point meet, is crucial also, if there isn't a good smooth meeting point there, the scales are way more likely to crack.. The angles matching is VERY important to proper function..


Hope that helps

When you taping the pin, the range of motion is about half an inch. You do not need more than that as you will be hitting the pin too hard, you will miss the pin (what happened to you). On a very positive note you next set will come together easier than the first since you already have experience how to do some things and how no to do others.

It happens.
I learned to pin on strips of 1/16" thick plexiglass with a steel washer between two strips. I don't know even know how many of them I cracked from mishits and trying to get the pins just a little bit tighter. Eventually I got it, but I still crack one every now and then.

Can they be saved? I have not worked with acrylic. I bet harrywally would be able to point you in the right direction, whenever he has a mistake he always seems to able to save it and in most cases it ends up better than his original idea.

Thanks for the tips everyone! I was hitting it hard in retrospect so it was my fault, I also heard that this material cracks easier than others... Thats actually good to know about it affecting the stropping process, I liked this mistake so much I was about to make another with the same shape. So u saved me some trail and error there, I cannot wait to get back on the gear, I will be updating as much as I can....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jfk742

Can they be saved? I have not worked with acrylic. I bet harryworld would be able to point you in the right direction, whenever he has a mistake he always seems to able to save it and in most cases it ends up better than his original idea.

---

That would be awesome if I could salvage them, I tried this crazy super glue and got it all over it since it could be buffed and it still cracked in the pinning process

It combines colors on the handle. If you put the handle on the razor will be very beautiful.

I pin with a ball-peen hammer, I almost hit the pin horizontally. Quite hard, too, but once you get the hang of it the pins mushroom nicely and you get the feeling how to hit so the hammer "bounces off" the pin, so to say. TC (an Israël knife and razor maker) once explained, convincingly, why he did so as well. His theory was that lots of light taps pretty much flat on top of the pin did more internal damage to the structure of the pin than good. So far, it has worked nicely, on the whole.

With thin ivory (all vintage, of course), horn and bone I tend to hit less hard, but still in no way do I carefully tap the pin. I have broken my fair share of scales as well, though, but nowadays hardly ever. Just when I get frustrated with lacking tightness and know that I really should re-pin instead of pushing it. Crack, snap, bullocks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dafonz6987

That would be awesome if I could salvage them, I tried this crazy super glue and got it all over it since it could be buffed and it still cracked in the pinning process

---

Save them for a shorter razor one day?

Lots of good points in this thread. I've cracked one set of scales in pinning, and I was bent for two days lol. I actually glued them back together though and may use them on something for myself eventually. Very pretty burl wood.

Too bad, the kirinite in that color was going to look great. I like the look of kirinite, but haven't tried it with any of my blades yet. I'm not sure it would look very good with most of my blades either. The bold colors would probably clash with blades that have the deep black rust and pitting on them.

Are you going to make adjustments to the good scale and just make another mate for it?

I'm working on some custom scales as well. I've tried working with spalted/burl, but it was a PAIN! The horn I worked with warped really easily as well. I'm trying to make some scales with G-10 right now.

Keep us updated. Hopefully things will go more smoothly next time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JP5

Too bad, the kirinite in that color was going to look great. I like the look of kirinite, but haven't tried it with any of my blades yet. I'm not sure it would look very good with most of my blades either. The bold colors would probably clash with blades that have the deep black rust and pitting on them.

Are you going to make adjustments to the good scale and just make another mate for it?

I'm working on some custom scales as well. I've tried working with spalted/burl, but it was a PAIN! The horn I worked with warped really easily as well. I'm trying to make some scales with G-10 right now.

Keep us updated. Hopefully things will go more smoothly next time.

---

I've actually to this point only ever used spalted/burl wood. It can definitely be finicky though. I have horn...but I hate working it lol. Up to this point I've only ever used it for kitchen knife ferrules/spacers...and that tells me I DEFINITELY don't want to use it for razor scales. I have some resin scales epoxied up that I'm going outside to work right now though. Should be interesting.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JP5

Too bad, the kirinite in that color was going to look great. I like the look of kirinite, but haven't tried it with any of my blades yet. I'm not sure it would look very good with most of my blades either. The bold colors would probably clash with blades that have the deep black rust and pitting on them.

Are you going to make adjustments to the good scale and just make another mate for it?

I'm working on some custom scales as well. I've tried working with spalted/burl, but it was a PAIN! The horn I worked with warped really easily as well. I'm trying to make some scales with G-10 right now.

Keep us updated. Hopefully things will go more smoothly next time.

---

An I'm just keeping them and calling it quits on them, haven't had the chance to make new ones because I don't have the bench grinder going right now... Horn I use a lot for some g10 in the mail... I'm scared to use woods haven't used any yet but thought just scares me

You tap AROUND the pin creating a mushroom.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dafonz6987

An I'm just keeping them and calling it quits on them, haven't had the chance to make new ones because I don't have the bench grinder going right now... Horn I use a lot for some g10 in the mail... I'm scared to use woods haven't used any yet but thought just scares me

---

Wood itself isn't a problem. Something like maple or walnut isn't finicky. Some of the spalted and burl woods are so soft though the heat of sanders causes them curl and if they aren't lined they will be too flimsy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JP5

Wood itself isn't a problem. Something like maple or walnut isn't finicky. Some of the spalted and burl woods are so soft though the heat of sanders causes them curl and if they aren't lined they will be too flimsy.

---

This is why I only use wood I've had stabilized at K&G.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JP5

Too bad, the kirinite in that color was going to look great. I like the look of kirinite, but haven't tried it with any of my blades yet. I'm not sure it would look very good with most of my blades either. The bold colors would probably clash with blades that have the deep black rust and pitting on them.

Are you going to make adjustments to the good scale and just make another mate for it?

I'm working on some custom scales as well. I've tried working with spalted/burl, but it was a PAIN! The horn I worked with warped really easily as well. I'm trying to make some scales with G-10 right now.

Keep us updated. Hopefully things will go more smoothly next time.

---

p

Yeah this was going to be for a custom razor with the Scottish razor company, but once I was about to put it on this happened lol

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CrisAnderson27

This is why I only use wood I've had stabilized at K&G.

---

I've heard of stabilizing wood, that shit is crazy

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dafonz6987

I've heard of stabilizing wood, that shit is crazy

---

I mostly make high end kitchen knives, and stabilized wood is a requirement. Turns out, it makes sense for razor scales as well, as the environments aren't a lot different for the most part. Chef's knives deal with more acids, razors with more hot water. The fact that it's stronger and easier to work with is a bonus.

That said, with burls...it will still crack at the pivot if you're not careful. So...just be careful :D.

So I was all done with this Fredrick Reynolds faux frame back and i even had put it up as completed... Then I grabbed it today and thought that it probably could use a few taps... So I took it into the shop and first tap, CRACK! I was so careful to preserve the original everything on this razor! I went back inside and ordered a 4oz polished ball peen hammer even express shipped it! This is the last time this is going to happen to me... The last picture is the crack at the pivot pin

Attachment 216304Attachment 216303Attachment 216305Attachment 216306

I feel your pain!!

Two nights ago:

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...17_220054.jpeg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...17_220103.jpeg

Freaking gorgeous set of red/black recon stone scales...and BAM!!...crack!

I can relate as well. This happened about a week ago. I will probably be able to CA it back together though. (Ya I know it is a GD but I needed a project and had some wood sitting around. Attachment 216361Attachment 216362Attachment 216363

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by yotebuster1200

I can relate as well. This happened about a week ago. I will probably be able to CA it back together though. (Ya I know it is a GD but I needed a project and had some wood sitting around. Attachment 216361Attachment 216362Attachment 216363

---

sorry don't know all the a acronyms yet lol... What is CA? I know it's probably going to slap in the face obvious...

Great work on the wood and razor! Don't worry u won't catch any flack from me about a GD... In my mind it's just a razor that shaves, if ur talented enough to repair their flaw then that's a good thing right? Plus the Rockwell on them is huge gotta go at it with the gringer to get anything to happen to it...

It's funny u actually posted this picture I'm trying to make that point on the pivot end of my scales right now... I'm using horn and usually contour my scales round but now that I've gotten to the pivot end I was staring at the scales tryin to figure out my next move for like 3 solid minutes with the belt sander running the whole time... I ended up shutting that thing off and going to bed and calling it a night hahaha... Here give me a minute and I'll post a pic so u get an idea of what I'm talking about

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CrisAnderson27

I feel your pain!!

Two nights ago:

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...17_220054.jpeg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...17_220103.jpeg

Freaking gorgeous set of red/black recon stone scales...and BAM!!...crack!

---

Its the worst bro, there are certain things I never knew could make me cringe, like having a freshly honed razor then hit the edge on something stupid @uck... Slicing into my strop ouch... You know I should make a list because I can go on

So the first pic I think I'm close and the problem is it was a total accident how I got there so for the one on the far right I have no idea how to get it close like the other lol... i even took them apart to maybe even use the dremel...

the middle pic is the whole scale dsign (obviously lol) but I'm going to double pin her on the bottom... I just want something different, I think that's what I want to do is make eventually make my own unique style that maybe is new


Attachment 216376Attachment 216377Attachment 216378

That's a pretty good looking design :). One thin I would do is round off all of the corners a bit on the pivot end. It's amazing how uncomfortable even small rounded corners can be in a shaving scenario!

On the Gold Dollar thing, I agree completely. They're actually a lot of fun to modify, and some people like them quite a bit. Out of five I buy to modify, usually only 2-3 are even salvageable, but the ones that are invariably end up a nice shaver. I don't know if you can tell, but the razor in those red scales is a Gold Dollar as well :D.