Thread: Bent tang

Lo and behold, look what the mailman brought me today! On the left is a beautiful Joseph Elliot, no problems there. But on the right is a Clark & Hall I picked up for a song - it's in fine shape for being (suppposedly) over 180 yrs. old except the tang is bent and slightly twisted. It's bent enough that it won't go through the scales, which is a problem since I"m planning to shine and hone that beauty up to use. The question is, can I put it on my vise and carefully taptaptap it level - or is there a chance it will break? I don't have any razors I don't use but in this case I'd rather keep it as is if there's a chance of breaking it. Bottom pic shows a top view. Sorry about the quality, all I have is a camera phone.

wow, looks like someone ran over that tang with a truck.

If it was me, it would be....EXPERIMENTATION TIME

I would try clamping the razor in the vice closest to the warp and slowly bending the tang back. If it felt too hard, I would stop and make with teh tap-tap-tap.

If that didn't work, I would try the ol' torch & tap, or torch & bend routine.

Disclaimer: I haven't done this with razors before, so don't hold me responsible for broken blades, loss of fingers, 3rd degree burns, sheared tangs, hair loss, erectile dysfunction, bitterness, anomie etc.

Guess experimentation is the only way to go - I was hoping for a 'voice of experience' but no such luck.

ooh... torch and bend! More apparatus required=an even more well spent evening.

I would NOT use a torch. You will burn the temper out of the blade and it will be garbage. I would take the blade out of the scales, put it on an anvil and use a sheet metal hammer to gently tap it straight, or straight enough to make it usable.

Originally Posted by cannonfodder

I would NOT use a torch. You will burn the temper out of the blade and it will be garbage. I would take the blade out of the scales, put it on an anvil and use a sheet metal hammer to gently tap it straight, or straight enough to make it usable.

I was thinking that the vice jaws would act like a heat sink and keep the body of the razor cool enough.

You think it would wreck the temper even if you only heated from the pivot hole back?

Originally Posted by cannonfodder

I would NOT use a torch. You will burn the temper out of the blade and it will be garbage. I would take the blade out of the scales, put it on an anvil and use a sheet metal hammer to gently tap it straight, or straight enough to make it usable.

That's what I was thinking, just looking for other opinions. Yeah, I'm kinda leery about burning it. I'll take a hammer to it this evening and see how it goes; it shouldn't take much to make it usable.

The vise jaws will act as a heat sink and keep the heat from traveling too far. There is also a compound called Heat Fence that will do the same job. You glob it on like peanut butter and it protects the area not wanted to be hot. Heating only the tang willl not ruin the hardness of the blade unless you go too far. Watch out which direction the torch flame is going and avoid pointing down the long axis of the blade.

Really the tang of the razor does not have to be hardened. It may not be hard if it bent in the first place, and a little hammer work will correct it anyhow.

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

The vise jaws will act as a heat sink and keep the heat from traveling too far. There is also a compound called Heat Fence that will do the same job. You glob it on like peanut butter and it protects the area not wanted to be hot. Heating only the tang willl not ruin the hardness of the blade unless you go too far. Watch out which direction the torch flame is going and avoid pointing down the long axis of the blade.

Really the tang of the razor does not have to be hardened. It may not be hard if it bent in the first place, and a little hammer work will correct it anyhow.

I have used that Heat Fence (or a diff. brand) before, it's pretty cool stuff. *rimshot*

Seriously though, it works great.

OK, I put it in the vise and tightened up enough to get it close, then set it on top and tapped it relatively straight (no heat). Straight enough to go through the scales, so now I just need to shine it up and put a good edge on it. Thanks for the feedback, everyone!