Thread: When to do a re-pin

Ok, here is the first of my "pick your brains" posts.

Before I do any initial cleaning on my great-grandfather's razors that I posted, I was wandering how do you gentlemen decide to pull the pins and work on the blade separately from the scales? Do you always pull them irrespective of how much polishing you are going to do on the blade? Do you ever buff the scales while the blade is still pinned?

Here is the post from the Razors forum. Which ones would you pull the pins on?

Thanks in advance oh gurus of restore.


Here they are:
1. FWE Special - Solingen
2. Black Smith - SR Droescher, New York, Made in Germany
3. Lemaire - Solingen
4. KABAR - Union Cutlery, Olean New York
5. El Barbero - A Paris
6. Davide Collini, Milano
7. FRN Crown & Sword for my first restore
Attached Images

Originally Posted by Alembic

Ok, here is the first of my "pick your brains" posts.

Before I do any initial cleaning on my great-grandfather's razors that I posted, I was wandering how do you gentlemen decide to pull the pins and work on the blade separately from the scales? Do you always pull them irrespective of how much polishing you are going to do on the blade? Do you ever buff the scales while the blade is still pinned?

Here is the post from the Razors forum. Which ones would you pull the pins on?

Thanks in advance oh gurus of restore.

.

From your pics, I wouldn't pull any of them unless there is something wrong with the scales that we can't see (severe warping or cracking on the other sides for example)

Those scales look nice enough to not risk ruining them by unpinning and the pins look pretty good from the pics. you will be able to get the tangs and stuff clean and bright by using things like floss and those little dental floss/plastic pick things. And you should be able to clean those scales up pretty easily either with really light buffing or hand polishing.



For sure, I wouldn't be pulling the pins on the first two. I might pull the others but only if I just wanted to make some scales I liked better than the originals.

That's my take anyhow.

Here is a reply from a guy who doesn't know how to do a re-pin. I am really good at taking them out and breaking the scales in the process. I practiced on three separate razors and managed to break all three. So wait for the experts and follow their advice before you get too ambitious.

If there is a lot of grunge around the pivot area, if you want to sand and polish the blade more easily, if you want to put the blade in a vibratory tumbler re-pinning is necessary.

If none of the above unwaxed dental floss with metal polish and a soft toothbrush are helpful to get into the tight areas and so are Q-tips with the ends hammered flat.

Originally Posted by Del1r1um

.

From your pics, I wouldn't pull any of them unless there is something wrong with the scales that we can't see (severe warping or cracking on the other sides for example)

Those scales look nice enough to not risk ruining them by unpinning and the pins look pretty good from the pics. you will be able to get the tangs and stuff clean and bright by using things like floss and those little dental floss/plastic pick things. And you should be able to clean those scales up pretty easily either with really light buffing or hand polishing.

For sure, I wouldn't be pulling the pins on the first two. I might pull the others but only if I just wanted to make some scales I liked better than the originals.

That's my take anyhow.

Thank you for a quick reply. I want to keep all of the scales as they were my great-grandfathers. There actually is some scale damage on the Davide Collini razor, which is the second one from the bottom. It looks like somebody (maby even great grandad) tried to tighten the blade pin and did some filing on the area between the pin and the very end. I will probably do this one last and pull that pin to repair the scales.

David

Originally Posted by Alembic

Thank you for a quick reply. I want to keep all of the scales as they were my great-grandfathers. There actually is some scale damage on the Davide Collini razor, which is the second one from the bottom. It looks like somebody (maby even great grandad) tried to tighten the blade pin and did some filing on the area between the pin and the very end. I will probably do this one last and pull that pin to repair the scales.

David

Oh, forgot to mention... if there is one you want to be absolutely perfect, don't forget the most important step:

Send it to Max or Glen

Originally Posted by Del1r1um

Oh, forgot to mention... if there is one you want to be absolutely perfect, don't forget the most important step:

Send it to Max or Glen

That's pretty funny. I am not a newbie with tools, sanding and buffing, here are some of my pipes I make. But I'm not stupid either. I will take this into serious consideration. I don't know Glen or Max. How did I get in touch with them? BTW - I was always going to have Lynn do my honing.

David

Attached Images

Originally Posted by Alembic

That's pretty funny. I am not a newbie with tools, sanding and buffing, here are some of my pipes I make. But I'm not stupid either. I will take this into serious consideration. I don't know Glen or Max. How did I get in touch with them? BTW - I was always going to have Lynn do my honing.

David

Cool... check out the classifieds under member services

here are the links

Member services

Max

Glen

and it will be honed before it leaves their hands, rest assured it will be ready

Do not re-pin if there is no reason to do so. If the scales are loose you could first try to tighten them with a small ballhead hammer.
When i take old pins out i use very small file to flatten the other end of the pin. If you have any small-rpm grinder you can use it too, but you need some base to keep the scales steady.
Lastly i just push the pin out with a mandrel or nail. In this point the scale breaks, if ever.

Nice pipes, by the way!

Beautiful pipes you've made, wow!

Not sure if this was mentioned, but another good reason to re-pin is if you can't tighten loose scales because the pivot pin is bent.