To Unpin or Not to Unpin, That is My Question

So I'm fairly new to razor restoration, but I have piened a LOT of rivets, so up till now I've been fairly cavalier about unpinning razors to clean and restore them. But I have some nice older razors that have original pins in them, and I'm starting to wonder if it's worth the extra bother to try to preserve them.

The blades are rusty and the scales need a LOT of cleaning - and in many cases there's corrosion and/or gunk around the pivot. They'd all be very easy to clean up if I unpinned them...

Before I unpin them for easy cleaning, however, I thought perhaps I should ask whether there is an intelligent way to clean those up while preserving the pins?

Does the extra work seem worth it?

What are people's thoughts on unpinning, and tricks for avoiding it, if that is desirable?

Thanks!

Its always good to unpined so you can give the scales a good cleaning and polishing. If they are horn and dry you can soak them in neetsfoot oil. It is also easier b to clean any rust on the shank at the pivot area.

To use or not to use and just look at. That is my question....What are you waiting for? Unpin them suckers, clean them up, and let's move them to your rotation!

There's a right way and a wrong way and if you don't take em out you'll never really clean them out and it will look it.

If you got the skill and tools just do it.

If there is no rust between the scales and you could not tell when done whether they were unpinned or not then leave them. On the other hand, the pins themselves are not really the thing that's usually best left intact, it's the collars. If you can unpin without losing or damaging them or, as in my case, have them soaking in a shot glass and have the wife toss them down the sink, then repinning using the same collars is a non-issue. That is of course if you are proficient at pinning.

If crud under the scales is what you are concerned about you can use dental floss and 3M Marine to clean around the pivot. I also use a fingernail brush and plain old soap and water to clean in between the scales.

Some light paste polish, an old toothbrush, Q-tips smashed flat with a hammer......Dental floss. Rinse and brush. Hair drier and look.
Go again if necessary.
Don't ruin anything nice. Get some junkers to practice with.

Some things on unpinning and pinning in the stickies way up top on this subforum.

Thanks all - good advice on both sides.

I'll look through the sticky posts and see if that helps any.

I appreciate all of the answers!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Johntoad57

To use or not to use and just look at. That is my question....What are you waiting for? Unpin them suckers, clean them up, and let's move them to your rotation!

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+1 for just looking at them but I have been told in not so many subtle ways that is very frowned upon round these parts.......lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Johntoad57

To use or not to use and just look at. That is my question....What are you waiting for? Unpin them suckers, clean them up, and let's move them to your rotation!

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Only to use. I don't have any that I don't use. But that's a good distinction.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

If there is no rust between the scales and you could not tell when done whether they were unpinned or not then leave them. On the other hand, the pins themselves are not really the thing that's usually best left intact, it's the collars. If you can unpin without losing or damaging them or, as in my case, have them soaking in a shot glass and have the wife toss them down the sink, then repinning using the same collars is a non-issue. That is of course if you are proficient at pinning.

If crud under the scales is what you are concerned about you can use dental floss and 3M Marine to clean around the pivot. I also use a fingernail brush and plain old soap and water to clean in between the scales.

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I have had very little luck saving collars, but I'm going to look through all of the pinned posts and see if there are better methods than I've been using so far.

Thanks!