Thread: Straightening bent pin

Is it possible that prolonged and vigorous stropping can cause this? I've always wondered a bit about the structural integrity of the pivot pin on some razors under stropping - depending on how you hold it there'd be some force exerted at that pin. But then again, there's no reason why it should all be in one direction...

James.

Having just viewed the Bill Ellis CD, he mentions that celluloid is extremely heat sensitive. If someone had the blades displayed in case perhaps differential heat slightly warped them.

I too just received a Dubl Duck Goldedge and while viewing (as per Josh) the right hand scale seems just a smidge longer at the pivot, it appears to be because of fit in the bolster is off perhaps a bit. Ya gotta look real close. The blade is just a little loose when fully closed but snug in the shaving position. Other than that, the razor looks like new.

Oddly enough I have a tortoise-shell Flic razor, probably a lot like Greg's, that suffers from the same complaint. I had put it down to someone trying to tighten up the scales by re-peening the pin, but buckling it instead.

I've resigned myself to having to re-pin it at some stage.

I just disassembled two Henckels razors in preparation for a rescaling job for a member, and the pins on both were bent. Has to be from retightening over the years. The scales seemed to line up fine, but I didn't take a real close look.

I've seen your work, Josh, and I know you know how to peen a new pin. Is there any reason not to just do it? It's not unusual material is it, just brass?
I think it's the only way to fix it.

Originally Posted by Kyle76

the pins on both were bent. Has to be from retightening over the years. The scales seemed to line up fine, but I didn't take a real close look.

I too have found bent pins on about 20% of the razors i have pulled apart for re-scaling or cleaning etc. I would agree that it is from retightening but i also suspect some left the original workshop that way.

I am guessing it would depend on how experienced the pin fixer was or even how many he had done that day... you're bound to smack one or two too hard when you've got to work your way through a bucket of razors fresh from the grinding shop.

Greg Frazer

To DEwey's point, I could just repin them, but since they're otherwise in great shape, I'm thinking I'd like to just leave the original pins in. Right now my replacement stock is all brass, and the originals are nickel silver or something...

Greg, I agree with what you're saying. It just seemed odd that these Ducks were all messed up in the same way, especially given Pearlduck's reputation for quality control... The razors are otherwise marvels of quality.

I have seen this same kind of twisting on other razors, but it's really not very common. Maybe one in 10 razors, if I had to make up a number... Not common enough that I'd expect to see the same thing in three of the same model...

Anyway, it must be a coincidence. Of course, if enough of us started complaining about Ducks and lousy quality control, maybe eBay prices would come down enough that we could all grab some bargains.

Thanks, guys!

Josh

Well, just a quick update here... I had another member send me a Goldedge with the scales misaligned the same way--that's five out of six, I think. He'd asked me to repin it to alleviate several issues, so I drilled out pivot and tang-stopper pins.

The pivot pin was badly bent--it was almost twisted in the middle. The tang-stopper pin was likewise bent, although not as badly.

I repinned the razor with the Dovo replacement pins, since they better match the original left in the spacer end of the razor.

Wow--what a difference. You can really tell that the razor feels more solid, and it flips more nicely when you're stropping it. I've ordered some more Dovo pins from Classic Shaving and I'll be repinning my other two Ducks this weekend.

I still have no idea why this seems to be a particularly common problem on this model.

Thanks for the advice, guys!

Josh