Thread: Double Arrow Quality ?????

OK guys we have been buying into the notion that these are OK, and hey I have honed a couple dozen and they are OK, not great, not even good, but they do give a passable shave, and for the price??? wow!!! what a deal ... I bought into that, until today... This is what I found after having some fitting problems on scales.... Hey I by no means think that I am perfect but I have made a few sets of scales, OK a few hundred sets, and every now and then you do find a warped tang/spine and you actually question your own ability to cut a piece of wood straight

Here is what I found on just checking 4 DA's against a known flat surface, I am holding the tang flat against the brass with my thumb look at not only the deflection away from the brass but also the curvature in the grind.... 1 out of 4 is pretty straight....

Pic #1 is OK then look as they get worse #3 and #4 are way way off

Compensate.

And I don't mean like the way my dad bought a camaro and took up the drums when he turned 48.

Aha Grasshopper..... You thought you'd get off easy with simply throwing some scales on a $12 razor?


C'mon now. Anybody can get a set of scales on a razor with a straight tang. Re-scaling a DA is what seperates the men from the boys....




I use a vice, and coerce that tang into straightening out like this:

How far to go, and how far is too far is up to you....

Mines straight ! In fact it's a 'straight razor'

You know, a lot of my vintage razors (mostly 1850-1875 sheffield) are only parallel to the tang on one side, and the other side is angled away at anywhere from 5 to 15 degrees. Is it a quality issue or just an old method of manufacture, or is that the same thing?

That 3rd photo is pretty bad though... lol

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

You know, a lot of my vintage razors (mostly 1850-1875 sheffield) are only parallel to the tang on one side, and the other side is angled away at anywhere from 5 to 15 degrees. Is it a quality issue or just an old method of manufacture, or is that the same thing?

That 3rd photo is pretty bad though... lol

On the old razors it seems that one side was grinded with a taper and the other was not.

On the DAs it appears pretty random, and is most like a result of the way they were cast/banged out.

Originally Posted by Seraphim

Re-scaling a DA is what seperates the men from the boys....

Aye. +1 on that

I just ordered four more DAs today.

Honed up another one today, took a pretty nice edge, and centers in the scales (that did require a bit of vice-work...):

lovely job sir

Just beautiful!

You don't just put lipstick on a pig, you give it a fur coat and fancy Italian shoes.!