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

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...