I'm using walnut that I bought at Harbor Freight straight out of the box...
RB
Printable View
I'm using walnut that I bought at Harbor Freight straight out of the box...
RB
try adding some rubbing compound, Turtle wax works great. The media needs to be slightly moist to work better.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razorburn
You will definately get better results by adding about a bottle of Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound to your walnut media.
Reviving this old thread....Lord it does my heart good to see a well-stocked, obviously loved and used reloading bench. I have quit casting my own lead bullets, but still reload 'cause I like to shoot LOTS.
Plan to try my tumbler on razors too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gssixgun
Thanks to the original poster and all who contributed!!
FWW, I hand sand through 1000 grit after scraping the shiny rust from a blade. After that, I am using the "Dupont #7" liquid "Clearcoat Polishing Compound" on the fine size walnut shells and getting a nice finish. I have three bowls for my HF small vibrating bowl tumbler. 1 uses coarse green plastic media for really bad non-razor stuff, 1 with fine walnut shell and #7 liquid polish.. to which I added some Barbercide as it did get some fine mold in it, and 1 with the steel shot for another non-razor process.
I have not used the corn cob as the walnut+#7 works for me prior to a final hand buff polish.
I think that each person will find what works best for them and the level f finish they expect.
~Richard
PS A nice way to mellow out is hand sanding while I ignore the TV ..I would be using all mechanical if I had to make a living at it!!:whipped:
Does anyone have a synopsis of this whole thread? I am thinking of adding this to my blade restores, but not sure I want to read all 33 pages.
-get a tumbler (2 is better)Quote:
Originally Posted by souschefdude
- get walnut and corncob untreated media
-get rubbing compound and polishing compound.
-Add the rubbing compound to the walnut media, and the polishing compound to the corncob media.
-Use walnut first, corn cob second.
I would advise to read the thread because there are some very nice ideas mentioned in there.
I was reading the SRP Wiki and found a link to a link to a link to a link that landed me here. 3 hours of reading at work later and I finished all 9 pages.
GREAT STUFF!
Thank you to everyone that's posted before me for being so generous with their experiences.
I spent a few hours last night with Mother's Mag and Aluminum polish on two razors that started with some minor rust and a fair bit of black tarnish.
I tried turtle wax rubbing compound by hand, nil results.
I tried green polishing compound by hand, this actually deepened the existing shiny parts but didn't do anything to remove tarnish.
I shopped around locally in search of Maas and Flitz and failing to find either, I tried some Brasso, nil results.
I started thinking about something that I could hold like a dremel, but with less rotational speed, or adjustable rotational speed. In nail salons, they have such a device where the speed is controlled via a foot actuated peddle... DING DING DING. I thought I was on to something, until I found this thread.
The nail drill does accept 3/32 size attachments, like small buffing wheels, which I could use for final polishing. But, the results I'm seeing in this tumbler thread are more than acceptable to me.
I'm thinking of going with 1 tumbler and buying a second bowl, as I don't have a dedicated space for this project. I'm also thinking walnut shells plus the rest of the turtle wax rubbing compound plus some Flitz for my first stage. Walnut shells plus ground green polishing compound for my second stage - I may add some turtle wax polishing compound if the green compound isn't adequate.
Thanks again to everyone for contributing.
Excellent work!
I am quite the avid chain mailler, and using lots of different types of metals to make my jumprings from, I decided to invest in a rotary tumber, and it cost me an arm and a leg, because everything in ZA is expensive. So my question is, can I use a rotary tumbler? I'm not sure if it would work because it has a rotating drum that may cause the blade to fall around(that the main idea of a rotary tumbler, because it has faceted walls on the inside that prevent the medium from just sliding around(as you may imagine smooth S/S Shot/Pins just gliding against smooth plastic) and I am afraid that this falling around might crack the edge, or something similar.
I don't know if a rotational tumbler would work or not for a razor as the vibratory type are quite gentle cleaning & polishing. I have run my tumbler for three days for a couple razors the other day with just walnut. I haven't run them with the corn cob yet. Keep in mind that I haven't used a rotational tumbler for anything other than my wife's little tumbler for rocks...I just "think" it may be a bit aggressive. On the other hand, if you had a larger tub and did one razor at a time you may have good success if the tub was 2/3-3/4 full of media. It would defiantly work quicker. It's probably one of those things that would work great or just the opposite.
Since it came up, and I searched out a very old thread on it here is some info about a Rotary Tumbler too
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...k-tumbler.html
I've been saving lapped grit from my coticules and Norton 4/8k to try as polishing compound with my corn cob media. To save it I've just been wiping it off with a paper towel (the same towel for many many lappings) then letting the towel dry out.
I'm going to add it in soon, but wonder if I should moisten the towels with a little mineral oil before dropping them in. My thought is to tear the towel into little pieces and let the paper shred away but leave the grit. If I don't add a little oil, I'm afraid the grit will either settle on the bottom of the bowl or will drift out into my workshop.
Any thoughts/suggestions?
Thank you.
I would shy away from adding oil, somebody on this thread just added some CrOx powder to the media and it worked fine, I would guess the Norton powder would be about the same...
I do not know this from experience I am just thinking here, so let us know either way please...
I doubt it would settle to the bottom due to the circulatory action that happens, but it's an interesting concept indeed. I look forward to the report...
I too am interested in this. Thanks for being willing to try this.
I have used 1 micron diamond paste and it worked great, I do not see a reason for a hone grit not to work.
I'll give it a try tomorrow or the next day. Got some new walnut shell and Turtle Wax rubbing compound, and have a blade running in that right now. I had started with Cabela's red-treated walnut shell, but I think that was jeweler's rouge and it did nothing to the steel blades.
I did speed up loading the rubbing compound by cutting it into the shells as the tumbler ran. Think adding cold butter to sugar, or lard to flour. Same action. Ask a baker if this makes no sense to you.
My Naniwa 12k should arrive today, so I'll have that much more lapping grit to add to the corncob. I'll have nothing to compare to, since this is my first go-round with the tumbler. I know that early in this thread people did very nicely controlled comparisons. Unfortunately, I can't quantify my grit size or amount, only whether grit-loaded paper towels will give up the grit to the media.
I could sacrifice 1/8" of a coticule, add x teaspoons of lapping dust to x cups of corn cob, but then someone would want to know whether it was better or worse than if I'd used LPB or La Veinette. Not going near that can of worms, not me!
OK, here's what little I can conclude so far, after running the corncob mix for about 24 hours:
BBW grit will shake loose from a paper towel but Norton 8k grit will not.
Can't really say anything about whether I got more polishing action from the media.
However, Norton 4k grit on a coffee filter makes a great polishing cloth. It will clean the black out of pitting without actually sanding down the pitting.
My next experiment is to cut a car chamois into 2 x 4" squares and load those with lapped hone grit. Faster than the tumbler, better contact with pit bottoms than sandpaper, and safer than buffing. In theory, at least.
I just started using a tumbler on some of my recent acquisitions. I bought some Kay-Tee corn-husk bird litter to do the second run, but the stuff looks like it's really large grained. How large should the corn husk grains be? Does it matter?
Ok I am going to have to order some media for my tumbler. Also I saw early on in this thread someone asking about sandblasting. Might I suggest Baking soda. Its not nearly as harsh as most other blast medias and much harder to over do it. Not sure if it had been mentioned as I didn't read the entire thread. Yet!
I just finished reading all 30+ pages of this thread and have been researching vibratory tumblers. I thought I'd share this one at cabellas : Cabela's: RCBS Vibratory Case Cleaner
They have a $10 mail in rebate through the end of the year, which will help a bit.
I'm also interested in some of the media choices that have been discussed as I also restore vintage watches. In jewelry making they use stainless shot to burnish metal jewelry pieces. Those machines are a little more pricey since the motor has to be larger to handle the weight of the shot. There's also magnetic tumblers (google it for anyone interested)... but I won't even go there. So what I'm looking for is some kind of media that won't round off the straight lines/profile of a watch and that also won't get little bits of dust and particle trapped in the crevices. At this point I'm only thinking about using it to shine up the watch case, not the mechanism, btw. We don't have a lot of extra space, so I'd be interested in finding one media that could do everything, particularly with the addition of a polishing grit like Chromium oxide to the hopper. If anyone has tried any other media choices, please report back with your results.
I use walnut with Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound and corncob with Flitz. Works great for razors and my brass cases of various caliber...
That looks awesome.Quote:
Originally Posted by denmason
I really appreciate the input from this post.....'saving' in my subscribed threads.:)Quote:
Originally Posted by gssixgun
Just checking in to see about vibratory tumbler recommendations nowadays. Which brands and models have held up well. The one listed on the Midway website still sells for under 40 but it's out of stock there and much more expensive elsewhere. The Harbor Freight one is up to 60 but found a 20% off coupon (read some negative things about this one throughout the thread though). I found this one on Amazon for under 40 shipped, but wondering if it's big enough?
Anyway, I figured there may be some opinions established about them by now or maybe you reloading guys would have an idea where to find a good cheap one.
Thanks to gssixgun for starting this thread and everybody else who posted. I read through most of it and it seems like a fun thing to try.
That "nano" may be a bit small. I use a Lyman Pro Magnum & the one before that was one that Cabela's put their name on & it held up for a long time. I'm just going to say "no comment" on the Harbor Freight stuff.
I started hand sanding my first ebay razor and realized the only way to preserve the etching well was the tumbler.Quote:
Originally Posted by shooter74743
I actually did pick up the Harbor Freight because it was convenient. The nut that holds it on was too loose and it shook free and bored a hole in the plastic cover. I did fix it by stacking a bunch of washers and lock washers and a tighter nut. The good thing is they have a 90 day return policy.
I'd used just a smidge of Blue Magic to polish out some water spots and it worked great. It also made a big difference when I added it to the crushed walnut in the tumbler - I put a whole 7 oz container in there (probably overkill, but after running it in there for 5 days or so and thinking I was done I re-upped the stuff with the bottom quarter of the jar). I've since found a 4lb tub on Amazon for $25. Over 10 times as much for about 4 times the price.
Attachment 129208
I would love to see how that works out in the end. I have a blade that has some etching on the face that might benefit from this treatment as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by RADisorder
To jumpstart an old thread. Just wondering how u went saving the etching on the blade Jonah?
I am SOOO glad I found this site a month ago... and SOOO SOOO glad I found this thread. Got my first razor a month ago...DOVO Best Quality, now own that and a new Ralf Aust, a vintage Boker, and 2 W R Case and Sons. Was going to leave it at that for a while but I sniped a Wade and Butcher last night off of Ebay with Masonic etching. Since I am past master of my lodge, I couldn't pass that one up. I immediately ordered every know grit of greaseless buffing compound and a half dozen buffing wheels and was gearing up for my first restore as soon as my razor arrives. I should also note that I am a retired Law Enforcement Major and I have what in the South passes for an impressive gun collection and in California equates to several life sentences :) Suffice it to say that I reload for EVERY gun I own ( a LOT), so all of those supplies are on hand.
It might be early onset alzheimers, or the recent onset of Razor Acquisition Disorder but it never dawned on me to drop a razor into my vibratory cleaner ... and I have several lifetimes worth of walnut and corn media in the barn. Yet another reason I LOVE this site. Thanks a bunch guys for your insight and the help you are giving me in reducing the learning curve. I am on 2 other sites with forums such as this ... a reloaders forum, and Predator Masters ... and I have found that it is MUCH less painful to learn from others experiences. I will post before and after pics when I get the razor. Thanks again guys ... great thread.
This is not a new idea iv seen a thread on another forum where a chap was also a gun nut he did try it and posted his results... DISASTER!!! Was the general vibe.
I don't know what he did because this is one of the BEST ways to clean up a razor. I have had EXCELLENT results which I do believe others on here have had also.Quote:
Originally Posted by razornut
Ditto to what Chevhead said. My only compliant is that can take awhile to work on really dingy blade. Read through the thread, you will see nothing but success stories.
I'm happy with my disaster before and after:Quote:
Originally Posted by razornut
Attachment 167983
Attachment 167984
Attachment 167985
That's my first restoration ever and I used the tumbler. So, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss. This thread was started six years ago and I'm sure quite a few other have had success since. I read through the technical threads in the spirit of experimentation. Sure, any technique can go wrong, but that's the nature of any craft.
As Matt says, it does require a lot of patience. Also, it hasn't worked well for me when trying to do multiple razors. I've read it works for some people though.
Well the results speak for themselves. He must have had bad luck :-(
Yeah, it's worth a try if you've got an etching that might be damaged with pure sanding.Quote:
Originally Posted by razornut
Great thread!
Profiled!
:chapeau
Great read guys some real talent.
Did anyone ever have any luck with razors with the scales still attached in the brass tumbler?
I am considering this method but if you have to unpin every razor then I will just get a Harbor Freight 6" buffer and put 4" wheels on it.
Please do not put a razor with the scales on in a tumbler... that's just not going to turn out well... pinning isn't hard at all and the brass for the pin is cheap. You can do it with a kitchen spoon... and running it on a buffer is also going to be pretty dangerous, you are better off trying to use a dremel or a jeweler's polishing tool or something along those lines that smaller and speed adjustable.Quote:
Originally Posted by ProudMarineDad
