Thread: New Idea??? Experimentation....

I think BT summed it up dead nut in the last post....
My 4th razor is spinning right now, it did not need any sanding or cleaning up so I put it straight in the CC(corn cob) to polish.... I will work on the scales that I am putting it in this week when I have time, and put a completely mirror polished razor together on Sunday.... This works for me, because I will be at work, and teaching class, until Sunday anyway, so it will be polished for me when I get back to it!!!!!!

BT, thank you so much for boiling it down.

Pics..more pics..

I've currently done four razors in the tumbler. There'll be no pictures from me, so you'll have to go on my interpretation. I'm using an RCBS tumbler with Lyman Tuff Nut Walnut media, and Lyman green (Chromium Oxide?)treated Corn Cob media. I've done two razors at one time with no problem. By using nothing less than 400 grit for minor rust and stain removal, I got a mirror finish on two razors. One razor that needed major pre-cleaning had reflective lines in the mirror finish from the 220 grit. This was really only noticeable at certain light angles. The fourth razor had some major pitting and staining going on. It polished up nicely, but unless there was some pre-grinding on my part, which there wasn't, this razor may have been unsalvageable if not for the tumbler. At least now it has some nice scales and will find a new home as someone's shave ready straight. All razors get 48 hours in both walnut and then corn cob. As a yearling newbie, this is my take: The time spent while razors were being tumbler polished was used on complete scale manufacturing for these straights, which to me, means more. I can spend more time creating and practicing on wood scale ideas that I wouldn't have alloted to me otherwise due to the time constraints of major metal restoration. Some guys may like working with metal more. I guess that's why schools have both Metal Shop and Wood Shop.

i have a tumbler and some old beaters ill try this on

I ordered my tumbler today. I do alot more straights so I got a nicer and larger one. I figure I can do my usual sanding to 400 and then toss them in and finish them my way so they are top quality mirror even more than they are now. I might experiment with the corn media and some of my course compounds to see if I can mitigate the pitting but I don't think pitting can be removed this way. It would require too much metal removal from some places and none from others but I think it might be mitigated some. At least this will help m to get the ones that don't need much work done and let me focus on the ones that need some grinding or heavy polishing.

You guys are great! Thanks a whole bunch for this thread. I have over 300 vintage razors to restore and this is an answer to a nightmare! I will also probably be useful for my handmade razors. Yippee! I still see the need for sanding out the pitting from the vintage razors but thats no big deal. The etching/engraving may suffer tho.

De-staining...has anyone tried Fabulustre? I break off a chunk and put it into an electric coffee bean grinder to reduce it to dust. Then I mixed it with MAAS. It has worked for me in the past.

If anyone wants to split the cost of some ceramic media then let me know. I can go 50/50. It would be worth an experiment. Let me know by PM and I will paypal you the money.

I am one happy camper now!

Ok, I have a little news to report. I threw in a russian blade I got off eBay and had it run for three days. The result:





It's an almost perfect mirror finish. I can still see some vertical grind marks, and some pitting left over that I was willing to live with but other than that it's great. I don't think the pictures do it justice.

The thing is, I didn't even use corncob. This is straight walnut, liberally loaded with CrO.

So YMMV, but I'm not sure I even need to switch between walnut and corncob for my restores as long as the CrO is added. I just monitor every few days and these are the results.

Byron u said u used turtle wax compound,is the 1 in my pic the 1 u used i already had this in my garage if not do u think this would be okay to use .I was unable to find wallnut localy so i am using corncob that is what i could find localy at a pet store. I dont know if this is good for this i will have to wait and see what my results are. The razor is not really in bad condition so shoud be okay i guess.

D2T where did you get your CrO to load your media with?

I have seen a few posts about using pet store brand walnut shells,has anybody here actually used it .Is there any difference in the grit compared to the gun shop purchased product and what were youre results.