Thread: W&B 8/8 FBU shorty project

Originally Posted by JellyJar

Thanks for the offer, if you want to send some I'll be happy to try it for a future project.

I think the charcoal will work well. It's giving a nice black color and hasn't messed with the cure time. It's a little grainy, but I didn't grind it super fine, just smacked it with a hammer a few times. I'll run it through a mortar and pestle for the real fix.

The dye seems to have slowed the cure time for the epoxy and the color is purple when thin. I'll know for sure tomorrow. Oh, and this dye isn't a two part box dye. It's something called a pot dye my daughter told me about. It's premixed and stable for unknown amounts of time. Kind of a paste consistency. You can mix it with water or smear it on as the paste. $10 for a good size jar, probably get 20+ scale pairs from a jar. And as a bonus it smells like grape jelly . I haven't entirely decided if I'll use this or a box dye for the final soak. The purple tint makes me hesitate a bit.

The top left is the charcoal mix
Attachment 311665

Maybe leave out the dye. Just epoxy and filler of choice, let cure, sand to shape, steel wool to smooth it out. Then dye it.

That's how I do my horn repairs. Then soak um in Neatsfoot oil, of course.

PM me your address, I'll see if I can get some out to you tomorrow. I'm off work this Wednesday, my list of tadoo's for this winter are done, and I've still got some cash left over. Sooo, a bit of hunting in the wilds for the day, is in order.

Got my maps. Northern and Central/Southern, Ohio.
I'll be sticking with the best ones I've been to, in the northern section of the state.





Every red dot, indicates a antique store, or mall.

The malls are usually quite large. Like indoor flea markets, but harder to hagle prices. The owners of the mall make a percentage off the dealers that rent their spaces. Rarely is the seller there, so your dealing with the owners of the store. But they will contact the seller, if you have a legit offer.

I like the smaller stores. Prices are cheaper, and I can scan through them quicker, which means I can cover more miles and stores, in a shorter period of time.

The nice part about razors, is here in Ohio, bladed objects must be in a locked case. So all you need to look for is the glass cases. Brushes, strops n mugs, could be anywhere, so they get looked for after the razors.

PM on it's way. Thank you, very generous. That's my plan for the scale repair. Wow, you've got a lot of stores to wander through!. I've only got like 3 in a 20 mile radius. Fortunately, one is a co-op so there's multiple sellers in one location.

I got the epoxy repair cured and will start shaping/sanding next.

Here's what I started with. The inside of the front scale was pretty chewed up.




This is where I'm at now.


The tape was a temporary backing for filling the original pin holes.

Those should come out real nice.!

Got some tricks for bone n ivory, too.

And a couple more to test out yet

I'm becoming optimistic. It's kind of nice not trying to be pristine/perfect. I want to keep it somewhat...ah...rustic. It's been fun trying new things, just seeing what works.

Ooh, new tricks? Look forward to seeing them.

Originally Posted by JellyJar

I'm becoming optimistic. It's kind of nice not trying to be pristine/perfect. I want to keep it somewhat...ah...rustic. It's been fun trying new things, just seeing what works.

Ooh, new tricks? Look forward to seeing them.

Some blades you can do a complete restore. Some you are better to leave rustic or to use a term I hate.,"antiqued." The trick is knowing which to do what with. I, like many others here have sanded blades into tin foil trying to get all the pits out it's important to recognize when it's time to quit.

“Got my maps. Northern and Central/Southern, Ohio.”

Happy Hunting, take a flash light, cant count how many I have found in a crowded, unlit cases that I would have passed up without my little rechargeable and super bright, Fenix led flashlight.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

“Got my maps. Northern and Central/Southern, Ohio.”

Happy Hunting, take a flash light, cant count how many I have found in a crowded, unlit cases that I would have passed up without my little rechargeable and super bright, Fenix led flashlight.

That's how I found my scuttle. Diggin around on a table full of junk, when I spotted it on the shelf, behind it all.

Put it back in its box, and hid it away from wary eyes. Came back later that year, once I had the cash. It was still there.!!




BTW. The hunt went very well.


There's more about the hunt, in "Show n Tell"

Originally Posted by outback

That's how I found my scuttle. Diggin around on a table full of junk, when I spotted it on the shelf, behind it all.

Put it back in its box, and hid it away from wary eyes. Came back later that year, once I had the cash. It was still there.!!




BTW. The hunt went very well.


There's more about the hunt, in "Show n Tell"

WOW!! That brush and bowl are stunning. Well found (hidden and then found again) sir.

Pretty much finished up with the scales. Patched, sanded to shape and dyed. Got them soaking in oil for a couple of days.

I actually kind of liked the look they had before the dye, but I wanted to see how the paste dye worked. I'm pretty happy with it. It took very little of the dye to coat the scales. Let it sit for around 2 hours, the dye had mostly dried and seemed to really soak into the horn. A little rinsing and it looked pretty good.

You can still see some of the patched areas and I left a few scratches and nicks. I stopped at 600 grit and didn't spend as much time as normal on each grit to keep them looking a little rough. I think it will work well with the blade.

I've also got to say 10+ scales from this jar was a serious underestimate. 50+ may still be a bit low, this jar will last me a bunch of years. One step closer...

Finished shaping and sanding




Soaking up some dye