Thread: What do you guys think of a Dremel?

I got mine from Tyler Tool - Discount Power Tools, Makita, DeWalt, Porter Cable, Milwaukee, Bosch, Hitachi, Delta, Dremel, Craftsman, Dremel, Rotozip, Festool, Fein and it comes in handy for almost every aspect of rebuild and restoration. It has so many accessories and attachments that if you get good with it, it becomes just about the only tool you need. :-)

Oh, and you'd benefit from getting one of the newer models with speed control so that you don't overheat or over-grind by mistake.

+1 on what was said about sanding/polishing INTO the edge, not away from. There is a good demonstrative post in the wiki that explains this nicely, entitled "Split Mandrel Sanding" or something like that.

Another good attachment is the 1" buffing cloth. It works well for a final touch.

I like the flex shaft rotary tools better than the dremel. Foredoms are expensive but you can get one of the Chinese knockoffs pretty cheap. The problem with the Chinese knockoffs is that their handpieces suck. They heat up really quickly. Fortunately, the foredom handpieces will fit. With the addition of a foredom handpiece, it will perform just as well as a foredom. I know because I've got both in my shop and use them both. With Foredom handpieces you can go up to 1/4" shanks, too. Very handy.

As others have said, make sure that you know the direction that the wheel turns and polish away from edges. The chuck recommendation is a good one, also. What I did was engrave the direction the dremel spins into the chuck. Its really important that you remember the direction, otherwise many attachments will catch on the edge of the blade and break or fling it.

Dremmel's are excellent. I've had one for years. I also have a buffer/grinder in my garage which is variable speed. The Dremmel will work well on razors, you just need to be aware of the heat, and feel the edge, and know when to back off. It can heat up the blade quickly. Dremmel's run at very high speeds, even on the lowest setting. The lowest setting is still considered to be to too high for straight razors. Still, it can be used, you just need to be careful. I use the Dremmel polish, Maas, and Mother's mag and aluminum polish which works well. You can go through 5 of those little buffing wheels easily polishing a razor. You'd be surprised how much dirt comes off one.

Got mine from Walmart. XPR 400. Didn't really care for cordless because you'll have to deal with replacing the battery eventually.

You can also get accessories from

www.widgetsupply.com

Aluminum Oxide Abrasive Buff Scuff Polishers for Dremel Type Rotary Tools: Widget Supply

Silicon Carbide Scuff Polishers for use with Dremel Type Rotary Tools: Widget Supply

Sanding Flap Wheels for Dremel Type Rotary Tools: Widget Supply

As usual I will add the dissenting opinion for the use of Dremel(s) for Cleaning/Polishing on razors....

Besides the danger to the blade, the un-evenness at which they clean and polish is worse... For quick polishing and spot polishing they are ok but for any type of blade wide restores I think they are a bad choice....


As I said I don't mind being the only one who thinks so....

If you decide to go ahead with the idea, make sure you figure out how to keep the edge safe....

use slowest speed possible. Or you will kill a lot blades. GL

I think that I should also explain the reason that you need to be very careful about the heat output.

As you may or may not know, blades are heat treated, and then quenched in an oil type solution which quickly reduces the heat from upwards of 1500 Degrees F to room temperature.
After that, the blade must be tempered in order to reduce the brittleness of the metal because after quenching during heat treat, the blade is almost glasslike and will shatter/crack easily. What tempering does, is slightly reduce the brittlenss of the razor. This is done by heating the blade up to around 400 F and allowing it to cool to room temperature slowly, usually by air. This is often repeated 1 or 2 more times. This considerably reduces the brittleness of the metal and makes if possible to handle the blade and for it to hold an edge.

SOOoooo.... What the Dremel is very capable of doing is ruining the temper on the blade. This is because you can easily raise the temperature of the blade to several hundred degrees if you are not careful, and if allowed to cool slowly the blade steel will temper itself again and again and make the steel too soft to be worth putting an edge on it as it will simply deteriorate. Imagine if you inadvertently tempered the blade 5 or 6 more times than it was originally, this would bring the steel right back to a pre heat treated state and would need to be re treated, if even possible.

A simple safety net while Dremel sanding/polishing is: If it feels to hot on the bare finger, its TOO hot!

If that doesnt make sense, sorry. But I just thought that I would explain the techs behind the danger of a Dremel.