Thread: Cleaning

Posted this in the other thread, meant to post it here.

I start any cleaning with a good spray down with WD40, scrape off any active rust with a single edge razor blade, then 000 steel wool.

Clean between the scales with a paper towel wrapped wood coffee stir stick. It may take repeated applications of WD40 to get clean.

Now you can look at what you have. For most dull blades, a light sanding with 600 W&D, wrapped around a wine cork, followed with 1k will leave a smooth finish that will polish well with any good metal polish and a paper towel.

You will be amazed what 15-20 minutes of sanding will do for a metal polish hand finish. Most scales will polish up with good metal polish. Make sure to sand in both directions, there are tons of post on hand sanding.

You can clean the tang pivot with a coffee stir stick wrapped with W&D or steel wool and a brass brush.

Professional restoration is all about time. Unless the razor is rare, unique or has personal value, most are not worth the cost of professional restoration.

Clean, hone and use them. A lot of “restoration” can be done with simple hand tools and time.

In a attempt to unpin I broke one of the scales. Oh well live and learn.

Originally Posted by Audels1

In a attempt to unpin I broke one of the scales. Oh well live and learn.

Poop happens.

Post a photo of the break and we might be able to offer repair possibilities.

You can also buy new black horn scales for not very much if you think the repair might be beyond your ability.

It’s not as simple as it seems. That’s exactly how I got into making scales. We have all broken scales, at least those of us who have unpinned scales have.

Originally Posted by DZEC

Poop happens.

Post a photo of the break and we might be able to offer repair possibilities.

You can also buy new black horn scales for not very much if you think the repair might be beyond your ability.

at this point repair is not an option the peace went flying across the room never to be found. LOL. I do have a set of black horn scales but thy are so much bigger than this razor.

Originally Posted by RezDog

It’s not as simple as it seems. That’s exactly how I got into making scales. We have all broken scales, at least those of us who have unpinned scales have.

The funny part is I removed the scales of 2 of the razors I did care to keep and thy came off fine..No not the one I wanted to keep.

Taking off scales can indeed be a PITA, I usually drill the pins out with my drill press, works mighty fine.
Or I don't remove the scales at all if I don't really have to.

I only restore what I have to to have a functional razor, nothing more.
I kinda like it that way too.

You know when you'll get really mad? when it happens to ivory scales. Dammit.

Sounds like you can now get the blade cleaned up really nice and learn to make scales. Remember that the wedge is a wedge shape. Not a spacer. I learned to make scales out of exotic hardwoods. Its harder to do than Horn. But buying black horn and making your own is fun too. Go for it!

Originally Posted by Audels1

The funny part is I removed the scales of 2 of the razors I did care to keep and thy came off fine..No not the one I wanted to keep.

I started with a batch of 10 and ended up with 6 broken scales (some came broken) and I had only bought 5 sets of replacement scales. But, I was able to fix at least 7 of them. But naturally, the ones I could not save were the one for the blade I was most curious about and one of the fancier scales. So, I definitely feel your pain. But, most of my issue is just learning how much you can try to force things (not much) to try to get the scales off.

But there is a ton of information for every step of the process. There is the library that has some detailed wiki type posts, but also learn the advanced search function. And, obviously, you can post questions in the forums and get tons of advice.

I've learned a lot from this forum, and the members. Once I got my feet wet in the restoration pool, I waded out a bit deeper n deeper, till I started swimming in my own style of restoration tricks.

It always, and still does bother me when I read a post about a guy discarding the original horn scales, because they had bug bites in them, or look shotty. Then throw on a set of cheap,acrylic scales.

Horn is simple to repair, and keeping the razor dressed in its first shoes, is a must, for me.

As found.



After.
All original, but the pins.