How to make and fit a lead wedge... the way I do it.

I frequently see rescaled razors with poorly fit wedges or worse yet a spacer someone thinks is a wedge. This is my first attempt at putting together a how to and I hope it is useful. I've used this process now for 4 years. It takes me about 20 minutes to make and fit the wedge.
Wedges are tapered. Ideally they have the same taper as the tang. They also set the depth the blade sits in the scales. If I'm working with a blade with a barbers notch I like the blade to sit about in the middle of the notch. Maybe a little less. If you measure at that point on the blade you will have your approximate wedge width. Normally when I make scales the blade toe will be between 1/16" to 1/8" from the end of the wedge. Usually this makes the wedge a little thicker than most of the old ones. The old makers achieved sinking the blade deeper with a thinner wedge by increasing the distance between the wedge and blade toe. Because of the wedge shape the further away the blade is from the wedge the wider the scales. Today most folks like to see the blade tucked up close to the wedge.
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The process starts with a 50 ca. round lead ball. Don't cast your own... head to the local sporting good store and buy a box of premade. Speer is a common maker.
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Next you'll need a flat faced hammer and a flat steel surface. You can use a regular ballpeen hammer but the face is crowned and it will make this more difficult than it needs to be.
Strike the ball squarely on the steel plate until it is wider than the scales. It will probably be about .120 thick at this point.
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Next strike lead on the edge holding the hammer face at an angle working from one edge to the other. Flip it over a few times as you strike to keep things even and flat.
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At this point the wedge shape has been achieved and is about .035 at the thin end and .120 at the thick end.
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Lay a straight edge across the wedge at the point you have determined for the final wedge thickness. In this case it was .100.
Most wedges are in the neighborhood of 9/16" long. Make a small mark on the lead that distance from the line.
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Now lay one scale half on the lead with the end of the scale at that mark. I use a sharp pencil to mark around the scale and get my hole location.
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A pair of dikes is used to cut the wedge and it is trued up on a 1" x 42" belt sander to the thickness line.
The center of the hole in the wedge for the pin is 1/8" from the thick edge of the wedge. After it is drilled use a counter sink to chamfer the edges.
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Assemble the scales to the wedge using micro fasteners and trim off the excess lead with dikes.
I hope you started with flat scales. If not you need to fix that now.
Hold the assembled scales up to a strong light and look for gaps around the edges were the scales meet the lead. NO gaps allowed. If there are any then something is not flat. If it's the lead and you are good with the hammer you can fix it with some well placed strikes. Another method is to use this wedge gizzzy to flatten the lead on some 100 grit paper.
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So you put it all back together again, hold it up to the light and 'damn' you can just see the tiniest of gaps in a couple places on one scale side. Don't chase your tale at this point trying to make everything flatter.
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Take a scraper and scrape out material in the center of the scales almost to the edge. Don't go to the edge or you will most likely have a bigger gap. This is an old carpenters trick for fitting molding and it works great here. Reassemble. Still a small gap...take it apart and scrap some more. No gaps allowed. Any gaps now will be glaring then you take the lead down to the surface of the scales. Now I know you can bump the lead to swell it up some and fill some gaps but it's not necessary if you do this correct in the first place and bumping the lead can create other problems.
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We're on the home stretch. Assemble the blade to the scales and if you are satisfied with how the blade sits start removing lead from the edge until you have about .010 proud lead.
Install your final collars and pins at this point. I left a little proud lead because I sometimes have to move things around a bit to get the blade closing on center.
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I remove the last of the lead with a single cut file being careful not to nick the scales to much. Follow with 400 grit paper and 600 grit paper and last to the buffer to re-polish the edges touched by the 600 grit paper.
Keep the buffer away from the lead. It's very soft and you will make a real mess of things.
This wedge's final dimensions were .045 at the thin end and .100 at the thick end. Perfect fit. NO gaps.

Great tutorial!
I like your technique.
Thank you for showing us this.
I'll be bookmarking it for a reference down the road.
:chapeau

Very nice method and a great write-up!

- mikeo

Great post, well written and photo documented. Sticky material.

Thanks for your hard work, taking photos of a process can be a pain in the rear.

Nice work.

That's a very nice write-up. Thank you!

I've got a couple of boxes of .490 balls for trying this out. It turned out that my muzzleloader likes .495 better so the .490s have been sitting around waiting for some something to do and this definitely is worth trying.

Awesome write up and pictures.
A 50 cal.lead ball...whoda thunk??
Just so happens that my muzzle loader is a 50 cal. TC.
Lead wedges galore!!!
Thanks for the info.

Pete <:-}

Seems everyone is getting on board with the outback wedge fixture! :D
Awesome Job!
Great idea, Mike! I am putting mine together a bit at a time! :tu

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

Seems everyone is getting on board with the outback wedge fixture! :D
Awesome Job!
Great idea, Mike! I am putting mine together a bit at a time! :tu

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I've been using this wedge gizzy for years. I think I have the patent for it around here somewhere. :rofl2:

This is a very cool technique, thanks for sharing.

Nice write-up Karl. Very helpful hints which should save me some time making my wedges in the future. Thanks! :beer1:

Awesome write up on the lead wedge. Lead is that classic look for old straights. Your work and attention to detail inspires me. I still need to make a jig like that regardsless of who has the patent. Thanks again for sharing.

A very well written, and photographed "How To;" Congratulations!
These are the things which make the SRP site a great place to learn and enjoy.
~Richard

That is pretty much the way I have made my lead wedges in the past but w/o the gizzy thing. I first saw that gizzy thing when outback made his some time back in the Butchered Blade thread. My last wedge I made out of brass I used a DMT & made my wedge perfectly flat that way & putting the angle on it at the same time by applying more pressure on one side of the wedge. Nice writeup!

Thank you all for your kind comments. I'm considering doing another on making a set of traditional styled horn scales. My way of course.:) I'll have to see how the pictures come out and if they make sense in a written description. I think editing to limited number of photos will be a challenge.
Here is the last picture of the finished wedge with the final polishing complete. It did not make it into the tutorial because I was limited in how many pictures I could post.
Karl
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Nice!! Are those horn or plastic scales? Nice tute on the wedge.

I though the same thing about photo limit.

Glen showed me, that you can upload 10 photos, then reply to you own post and add another 10 and keep replying until you are done, so it is all in order and easy to read, see the post I did on a pic heavy thread on making a smiling edge. Don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it.

Here is a link to the thread, Make me Smile.

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Originally Posted by outback

Nice!! Are those horn or plastic scales? Nice tute on the wedge.

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They are black horn thinned to .105 thick from Masecraft Supply. The collars are brass beehive style from Austin Kennedy.

Well, I have posted in the Butchered Blade thread I believe how I make my horn scales. I did some honey ox horn awhile back. Perhaps I may have to post my method also so everyone can see the different ways of making them but to make a long story short, I make my pattern, cut the basic set out after flattening the inside (blade side) on a DMT. I then put them together with my double sticky sided carpet tape & I will then drill my pin holes. After that, I will go from left to right, right to left on my belt sander to get my contour I want & I finish off with progressions of wet or dry sandpaper from 240 all the way up to 3000 grit, then polish. My first pic is a brass wedge made using a DMT. It doesn't look thinner on the opposite end, but it is. The next one is a set of honey horn before going to the belt sander & the last two are after I finished them. The first finished pic looks like one is more flat on the top but it isn't, just the lighting or something.

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Hey Steve, like the brass wedge for those honey scales, you have some talent Brother, Happy Holidays to you and all the other Gent's.

I like your method Karl, no messing around, fit and finish look great, getting it done nice with the carpenters trick.

Very nice write up. I notice you warned against polishing on the buffer. I have sanded up to 800 and used a buffer with white rouge with good results. I did this a few days ago because I was working with bone that seemed to take its best finish straight off the buffs.

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Originally Posted by BeJay

Very nice write up. I notice you warned against polishing on the buffer. I have sanded up to 800 and used a buffer with white rouge with good results. I did this a few days ago because I was working with bone that seemed to take its best finish straight off the buffs.

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I meant to keep the lead wedge off the buffer. It is very soft. Hold the scales at an angle to the buffing wheel and just kiss the edges of the horn scales to polish them where the 600 grit wet/dry paper marked up the scales.
The scales are final polished before assembly while they are still paired up with double sided tape. I use Black Magic sold by Jantz Supply on a stitched cotton wheel after 600 and 1200 grit wet/dry paper. Followed by green rouge or pink scratchless.

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Originally Posted by BeJay

Very nice write up. I notice you warned against polishing on the buffer. I have sanded up to 800 and used a buffer with white rouge with good results. I did this a few days ago because I was working with bone that seemed to take its best finish straight off the buffs.

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Yep, the white rouge seems to be best for the final polishing from what I have read & experienced.
BTW, Merry Christmas Everyone :mexwave::mexwave:

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Originally Posted by engine46

Yep, the white rouge seems to be best for the final polishing from what I have read & experienced.
BTW, Merry Christmas Everyone :mexwave::mexwave:

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Here are recent scales done in bone and horn. Both using Jantz Black Magic and Pink Scratchless as a final polish. We all have our own favorite compounds to use on various materials I guess. These work best for me.
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Very nice.
Love the Frederick, one of my best shavers

Awesome write up, thank you. Would you say lead is hands down a better whee than a hardwood?

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Originally Posted by Maxx

Awesome write up, thank you. Would you say lead is hands down a better whee than a hardwood?

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I don't know if hands down it is the best but lead is very traditional and the old makers seemed to know what they were doing. Wood if not sealed will absorb moisture and can swell and shrink and maybe even rot over time. Oily woods like ebony would be a good choice I think. I occasionally use it. You'll probably get a lot of opinions on the best wedge material. Can't say I've ever seen an original wood wedge in a vintage razor. Plastics, lead, brass, and pewter come to mind. Bone and ivory would be good natural materials too but I don't remember seeing them in vintage razors either.

Great timing with that information. I recently took the scales off a Wostenholm but not the wedge pin. I am still hand sanding the blade as not much free time with a 1 year old and a newborn but i wouldn't have even thought to check the wedge as it was dirty and stuff and i thought it was of the same wood as the scales. Just took the wedge pin out upon reading your reply and am pleasantly surprised to find a metal, probably lead, wedge. Now to find a 50 cal lead ball! Thanks very much for this write up, never ceases to amaze me how this forum just always has a whole procedure laid out for whatever step I am or will be undertaking.

Happy New Year!

Awesome thread! Thanks for the write up.