Binging out a Henckels Friordur

My first new razor arrived today. I got a Henckels Friodur 7/8 Spanish point, scalloped back razor. I eagerly opened the package and stood there admiring the first razor that did not need hours of restoration before use. The blades come in a less than flattering generic black plastic scales. The blade has a nice satin finish and looks good, but it could be so much more. So off to the garage/workshop for a few hours of work.

Let me say, this is hard steel, I mean real hard steel. I have a commercial machine shop buffer/knife grinder and it took hours to get it here. There are a lot of factory grind striations in the blade but I did not want to do any sanding, I am just tiered of sanding right now. So I start off with some coarse cutting compound to work out some of the factory grind marks. I was on that for over an hour. Then off to the white compound for another hour and finally some MAAS on the finishing wheel.After 3 or so hours Oooooo, bling! I can’t wait for tomorrow, I need some sun for a few after photos. These after photos were with the less than flattering Florissant light in the kitchen, and just don’t do it justice.

Tomorrow, it goes in a fresh set of Bacote epoxy resin scales and a hone job. The scales are still curing but will be ready for prime time tomorrow. More to come…

That blade is gonna look great!!!!!:)

Once I get it finished, I am going to sell it. yup, your heard that right. I got it to work up, try it out and drop it on the BST, then get two more. I just enjoy fixing them up. I may turn a silver tip brush to match the scales on the next one. Eventually I will keep one or two for me.

PM sent.....doh! It's not for sale yet?

:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by crichton

PM sent.....doh! It's not for sale yet?

:rolleyes:

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Funny you say that, I have already gotten a couple about it. Maybe next order I will get 3, another Spanish, square and round. I am doing a scale job on an 8/8 Friordur for someone else in some nice tight grain lacewood in the near future. One of these days I will finish my 7/8 wedge restore. I have a tray full of shiny steel waiting scales, but I keep selling them off. The cobbler’s children have no shoos.

Nice work, Dave.

I can understand why it took so long to get those factory grind marks out. The rule of thumb I've read for buffing is don't expect it to get any scratches out--ever. Guys that do a mirror polish will grind up to the 5 micron level sometimes.

That's not really an option with a hollow ground razor blade, so it's just lots of time on the buffer. :)

Josh

Looking good!

I have the very same blade, really a super razor, as well as a 7/8 round point and have recently contemplated sanding one of them down to a mirror finish (I also am in the process of hand sanding a different restoration project as well...).

I had read in some other thread that using a buffing wheel may lead to overheating and loss of temper for the blade? How do you keep it cool while buffing it down?

Looooooooove these!!

Growing very fond of the spanish point too.

I'm still pretty new to buffing, but I haven't had trouble with the blade heating up too much. It actually seems to be more of a problem with the little Dremel felt wheels. I just keep the blade moving and don't hold it on the buffing wheel for more than a few seconds at a time.

It's best to use a 1750 RPM buffer, rather than a 3400 RPM model. Much safer that way.

Josh

Hmm, yes, I suppose the thread I read was in reference to using dremel wheels. I suppose because they have a very small diameter, they have a high edge speed, as opposed to using, say a 6" buffing wheel.

I may try and sand out the striations on one of my Friodurs too, and then use the buffing wheel to finish it off. I'm hand sanding another restoration, and it is tough work! (but worth it!:) )

Dremels run between 5,000 and 30,000 RPMs, I think. The buffer runs at 1750.

The difference isn't as dramatic as that, though. One revolution of a 10" buffing wheel moves about 31" of material over the surface you're buffing. One revolution of a Dremel felt wheel moves 3" of material over the surface, if you're using the 1" wheels.

There's math to be done in there somewhere, but I'm not the guy for it. :) I think a buffing wheel would run about half as fast in terms of surface feet per minute as a Dremel wheel going full tilt at 30,000 RPM.

One big difference is the bigger buffing wheel means the heat doesn't build up in the wheel as much, which keeps the piece cooler.

Josh

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Originally Posted by JoshEarl

Dremels run between 5,000 and 30,000 RPMs, I think. The buffer runs at 1750.

The difference isn't as dramatic as that, though. One revolution of a 10" buffing wheel moves about 31" of material over the surface you're buffing. One revolution of a Dremel felt wheel moves 3" of material over the surface, if you're using the 1" wheels.

There's math to be done in there somewhere, but I'm not the guy for it. :) I think a buffing wheel would run about half as fast in terms of surface feet per minute as a Dremel wheel going full tilt at 30,000 RPM.

One big difference is the bigger buffing wheel means the heat doesn't build up in the wheel as much, which keeps the piece cooler.

Josh

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Ah thats not too bad you can do the math like this I guess using those figures.

For the buffer:
(31 inches)(1750rotations) / (1 rotation)(1 minute) = 54250" per minute

For the dremel it works out...
(3")(5krot) / (1rot*1min) = 15k" per minute
(3")(30krot) / (1rot*1min) = 90k" per minute

(3")(xrot) / (1rot*1min) = 54250" / 1 min ...
xrot = (54250" / 1 min)(1 / 3")(1rot*1min)
xrot = 18083 1/3

So with those estimates the dremel is about equivalent to the buffer if the dremel is set to about 18krpms. Above that's approx how many inches of material are rubbing across the surface per minute at the various rpms.

Aha, but let's also geek out and consider the difference in surface area in contact for each one?

A smaller dremel has a smaller contact patch, so is the heat more or less intense than a large radius buffing wheel?

I'm pretty sure the dremel with less surface area is going to heat up more rapidly, less surface area obviously equates to more heat as it doesn't have anywhere to go, whereas with a larger pad the heat would be spread out over a larger area and consequently be less.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bevansmw

I'm pretty sure the dremel with less surface area is going to heat up more rapidly, less surface area obviously equates to more heat as it doesn't have anywhere to go, whereas with a larger pad the heat would be spread out over a larger area and consequently be less.

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Sounds right to me. The Dremel felt wheel is maybe 3/16" wide, while my buffer wheels are 1/2" wide.

Josh

Well, I got up this morning and looked at the blade and thought to myself, I can do better. So off to the garage for another hour. This time I pasted a wheel in 0.5 chromium oxide and went at it again.

I don’t have time to read through all the posts, the wife wants to go to the store so just a fast post. Buffer, I have a low RPM purpose built machine, but you still cannot dwell long in one place. You have to keep the blade moving. A rotary tool runs much, much faster and will burn even quicker.

The sunshine glint on that last pic is MINT!!!

Well, I drilled the scales, fitted the wedge and seal coated it. Made my pins (I use 1/16 brass rod and peen them myself) set the stainless washers and put the blade bearings in. then peen’d it all together and stood back to look at it. Damn, that about sums it up. The wife saw it and ogled over how nice it looks. I am quite happy with how it turned out.

The extra blade buffing was worth it. It was time consuming but worth it. I have 4 or 5 hours just in the buffing. I still need to hone the blade but if shaves half as good as it looks, it will be one heck of a razor. I took these photos in the kitchen under the light, not the best light source. Once the sun comes up it will really shine.

So without further delay, Dave’s custom works presents…..

The dancing twins, with bling.

Isn't that big a$$ grin on your face worth all the buffin???
It looks fantastic..
Shows us all what a piece can look like.
WONDERFUL!

I got the razor honed up late Saturday and gave it a shave Sunday with two days of stubble. Clean as a whistle in two passes, I like this razor.

Sunday I decided to put in a third pin and spacer. The blade is just too wide to use just the pivot pin, the blade was to tight, the scales were pinching it. So I measured and drilled the third ping and worked the spacer into the scales. Much better, then I opened the razor like I was going to use it. I got the blade 180 degrees around and then it stopped. The monkey tail on this blade is quite long, it was just hitting the spacer, another 1/32 and it would have been good:cen . So, I had to grind out the pins and move the blade to another set of scales. That will teach me to make sure that not only will the blade clear the spacer but the monkey tail as well. on any other blade it would have not been an issue, I will reuse those scales on another razor.

The weather out here is lousy, gray and rain so I gave in and used the flash on the camera to get a better photo of the new 3 pin scales. The kitchen lights gave the photos a green tint; this is what it really looks like. I am happy with it.

I will remember your error on the spacer and the monkey tail.
Thanks for the further report on thee Bling.

She looks AMAZING Dave! What a beautiful razor!!!! :bow:bow

Ouch on the monkey tail. Been there, done that. More than once. :) It takes a while for this particular monkey to catch on.

Josh

I'm a newbie whose very interesred in purchasing that straight, dont know how to private message you, but if its not sold please let me know how much. Thanks!

Monkey see, money don't. lol (A Quote from Makar)

Dave, that looks awesome mate. Love the mirror finish as the factory grind marks are a little more than annoying. :D

That looked so much better after the last buffing... such a transformation.