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.

Originally Posted by floppyshoes

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.

I also looked at vibratory tumblers on ebay. Looks like you can get some pretty good deals on them. Can't wait to see the after pictures and the results of your experiment.

OK here are the results so far...
Keep in mind I am using the walnuts shells still as just a cleaner, as soon as all the rust, patina, and gunk are gone then I use the corn cob with a metal polish "loaded in" and go for a nicer finish... So far the results are very promising, almost all the rust is gone, the patina has disappeared, and the blade and tang are beginning to take on a satiny shine. Notice the etch and the tang stamps are legible now....
Also though you can't see it, I can tell you that the blade still has a pretty good edge to it....
This is after 12 hours while I was sitting at work !!!!!!

I'm already impressed...
I didn't think the tumbler would really do much of anything.

Ahem!

What Glen has forgotten to mention is that there is a licensing fee for using this idea of mine.... A freshly restored, shave ready razor is that licensing fee - if the idea/experiment is successful. If it's not, well uh, then I had nothing to do with the idea in the first place!

Keeping my fingers crossed....

Originally Posted by gssixgun

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!!!!