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

The other night in chat an idea was hatched by ByronTodd and I, he brought up a Knife making trick that was being used which flicked a light on above my head!!!!
Being an avid shooter and reloader as well as a gunsmith I have several Brass Tumblers out in the shop more accurately called a vibratory cleaner I thought Hmmmmm I've used them to polish gun parts before why not a razor????? So I trudged over the snow into the shop and tossed in a old full hollow grind razor I figured that it would be the most likely to break...
Not exactly a controlled experiment but hey I am not a researcher
Right now after a few days of spinning we have mixed results.
1. The edge is fine no damage whatsoever...
2. The blade did show some promise of cleaning...
3. It was old corn cob media..
4. New Walnut Shell media with rouge is on the way, this is the cleaning media
5. New Corn Cob media with metal polish is on its way, this is the polishing media
6. I have 3 old rusted pitted E-bay blades on the way
7. I will run a controlled experiment and post the results in this thread....

I found and old thread on this, but it is about as vague as my first try, so before you go throwing all yer old razors in the spinner let's see what really happens..... Plus I was due for new media anyway so no big deal!!!
If any of the members from the old thread have done more research on this, please let us know.......
Anyone who does restoration, can see the time and finger saving possibilities here

Hmmm Indeed!

It seems I might have been blind to the other uses of my Dillon brass cleaner. Thanks for the suggestion - not just for razors but other small parts.

I was looking at vibratory tumblers on ebite the other day and had the same thought. I'm interested to see how well they work on heavy/deep pitting. Sometimes grinding seems to be inevitable.

The walnut media will polish quicker, but it'll leave more of a satin finish.

I'm not sure how I'd like something as fine as the edge of the razor abraded on by a vibratory tumbler. I guess as a last ditch effort to save a rust pile it would be ok but I've never been into rescuing them when they are that far gone anyways.

Its not really a tumbler. Picture the razor buried in a bucket of crushed up walnut shells - then just vibrate the bucket - not paint mixer shaking but a relatively gentle vibration like the vibrators some folks use at home for ..er health.

I know I've got one, I just don't think the edge will appreciate it , especially if it works its way into contact with the nut at the bottom or the side of the bowl.

All the speculation is great but this is why I am going to do before and after pics and check the edges before and after...
I will run as controlled an experiment as possible ...
Many of you have heard me say this before but being the slightly obsessive compulsive person that I am sometimes has its merits...
(I have never convinced the SWMBO of that)

I will post negative results on this thread as well
The first quick toss it in the pot and stir try, did not damage the edge of a full hollow at all, so I am going to proceed with high hopes

This is really funny timing. I was watching a show last night where they had a bucket full of sand that air got pumped into and the sand basically turned into quicksand. Objects would sink or float just like it water. Apparently it's used as a parts cleaner and I was wondering how it would work on razors. I realize this isn't the exact kind of machine your talking about, but it's similar enough to be weird to me. I think that the flowing sand would have less chance of damaging the edge, but I don't know if it would be overly harsh. Obviously it would only be the first step in a standard-ish progression, but it could take out the rust removal process and get rid of some pitting. Can't wait to see how your experiment turns out.

Very interesting idea. I wouldn't think the edge would be damaged. If anything I would think it would bring the edge back to a pre-bevel condition requiring honing from scratch, but that would be half the fun.

Chris L