Thread: Twisted Sheffield

I've dealt with that too. Take just the blade and lay it on a flat surface take a picture and post it. Preferably in the same format as these

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K, ty. I'll do it tomorrow.

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Looks to me like the scales are warped. They should be dead flat. You can use steam or dry heat to straighten them out as much as possible then sand flat on the inside. Lots of how to articles here on how to do that. As mentioned make a wedge so the scales will function correctly and make the scales thin. Say .110 thickness. Since you have to flatten them anyway it's a good opportunity to thin them out. Take a look at this link for some ideas. http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...-way-i-do.html. In the sticky there is also an article on how to make a wedge gizzy which will make it easier to make a proper wedge. Taper or contour the edges of the scales so they don't look like flat blocks.
Hope this is of help and Good luck.
Karl

That is the bad thing with a lot of modern horn blanks. They are heated and quickly pressed flat. Vintage horn was heated and then pressed flat with heated plates under a lot of pressure and longer. Same way embossed horn scales were made except for flat plates. Vintage horn seems to keep there shape better. I've noticed with modern horn that if you get flat blanks its better to work them and get them pinned up as fast as possible. Better chance that they will hold there shape better. I've had blanks that started to curl from sitting to long and if you just sand through the curl there is a higher chance that they can delaminate and peel apart. Keeping them from drying out helps a lot also. In the end though the hassle is worth it since not much can compare to a good pair of horn scales.

New pics




Scales flat.



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I'll try to post a video of how I solved it

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I love it
I have a blade that had broken scales "surprisingly" that I am playing with that is twisted & has a bend to offset tang just to help it along,
I have filed the pivot area slightly to get the twist & bend closer to vertical and centered
then treated the horn scales like a distorted old pair by heating & packing each side of the blade to center it, actually bending the scales rather than straightening them like usual.

also make sure you use thrust washers this will reduce the surface of the pivot area needing filing and it gives you a little bit more movement room to align the blade.

I seem to be having difficulties posting a video but basically what I do is I twist the blade while I pin to force the pin to shape in a dramatic way. It's really complicated to do and I'm not 100% sure if it's the best way to do it but it worked for me. Definitely don't use this on more fragile materials. Typically I hold the blade like this while I pin off razors.

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The first step to fix the problem is to make a wedge instead of a spacer. Then the scales will function properly. The way it is now you should expect the scales to bow in in a bout a year or two and then the razor will be wobbly in them and very uncomfortable to use.

I have had a good number of razors that did not like to close center and I have applied several different fixes to the issue.

* You can drill the pivot holes at an angle to compensate for the centering issue. That does not always work on already drilled holes and also on blades with punched out or oversized pivot holes.

* file one of the scales at an angle at he pivot area so that it will shift the blade towards the center.

* file one or both washer accordingly so that they push the blade towards center.

Here is a razor I had to deal with that was ground with bias to one side on top of being twisted to that same side. My solution was to file one of the washers, place it accordingly to correct for the twist, and glue it to the scale so it does not rotate as the razor opens and closes.

Regarding the warping of your scales, you need to be sure that you match the grain properly. Horn has a natural curve in it, and you want to make sure that the finished scales will have the grain like this: () and not like this: (( or this: )). A wedge will work with this natural tendency to bow, a flat slab spacer will not. You should try to have the taper of the wedge match the taper of the tang.

Here are some examples; all are old Sheffield razors that have been re-scaled except for the Joseph Rodgers on the right, which is original.