Thread: To Dremel or Not To Dremel

Originally Posted by Alembic

Thanks. I actually have a great deal of experience sanding and buffing. I am a guitar maker and a pipe maker.

In spite of that, I am going to follow the advice given and stick with hand work. I have no reason to go fast. And if fast is the only benefit, with ruining my razors or hurting myself hanging in the balance, there is no value in it for me.

Thanks again.

David

Dremel is handy for certain tasks, usually outside razor restorations, but it is a fact that you can really speed things with it if you know to use it.

For all works i've done with old razors, knives, furnitures, whatever, i like most the ones i've done with my hand tools only.

Many years ago one of my shooting friends said something about Dremels which may chime with those in the U.S. There is a school of thought that says so much damage has been done by amateur gunsmiths with them that there should be a 'cooling-off' period when purchasing one.

Variable speed rotary tool is very much usable for resto work if you know how to use properly and are skilled with your hands.
Foredom sells 500rpm-20-25k rpm tools, but you can get a Chinese knock off for a lot cheaper. I have used mine from rough sanding all the way to 2k sand paper, but mostly I go to 1500 then tumbler.When you put your razor on one of those magnetic backed jugs then the work on the the edge becomes so much more easier, and the chance of destroying the edge is much smaller.

Originally Posted by mainaman

When you put your razor on one of those magnetic backed jugs then the work on the the edge becomes so much more easier, and the chance of destroying the edge is much smaller.

Stefan, I've got one of those magnetic jigs with the aluminum heat sink. Are they really effective in dissipating the heat enough to prevent damaging the temper ?

Originally Posted by TheBaron

I actually have a lot of dremel experience from past crafts and hobbies. I tell people all the time not to use a dremel because most asking are usually trying to find a shortcut. I do use my dremel for some sanding when making scales and for inlay work. I even use it for some polishing on parts of the metal. I would never use it early on in the restore and certainly would never ever use it to do any sanding on the metal.

My point of view is, if you have enough experience to use a dremel for a restore, you would not have to ask if or when you should use a dremel for a restore.

TheBaron,

Your point is well taken. I do have the experience and skill for a restore. But the razors in question I am restoring belonged to my great-grandfather and I have never restored a razor before. So I was looking to find the why's/why nots. Again, I could care less about speed.

David

Originally Posted by mainaman

Variable speed rotary tool is very much usable for resto work if you know how to use properly and are skilled with your hands.

Dremels are extremely valuable and powerful tools that can do a lot of good in the right hands, and a lot of damage in the wrong hands. Btw @ someone earlier in this thread: dremels are fairly good quality tools.

I sometimes sand by hand for umpteen hours, and sometimes with the low rpm grinder I built and for which the design is in the wiki.

I have paid my dues handsanding, and have reached the point where I can confidently use my dremel with a flapwheel on a 200 year old John barber razor to remove pitting damage. However, it is really not something I'd advise a newbie to do, and I still do the rest by hand.

The good thing about doing everything manually for many razors is that you really get a feeling for what you are doing, and if you make a mistakes they are not fatal.

I use my Dremel buffing wheel all the time, that and a glass of ice cold water, I don't see what the problem is at all. I have hand sanded before, and I find the results to be much better with a Dremel imho.

I dremel for a minute or so, then once the blade begins feeling warm to the touch I then dip in cold water for a few minutes, and repeat until it's finished.

I find using the dremel only for final polishing is useful, for fixing bad rust or pitting marks only hand sanding will do.

I use the Dremel with car polish to get a mirror finish. High speed, and I do not get close to the edge I try to just leave that area as is.

cheers,
David

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Stefan, I've got one of those magnetic jigs with the aluminum heat sink. Are they really effective in dissipating the heat enough to prevent damaging the temper ?

I am not sure about aluminum, I use stainless steel plate on top of the magnets and have never had heating problems while sanding, and Imean not temperature change whatsoever. If your aluminum plate is thick enough it will work just fine I think. I use sanding barrel made the same way as described here .
I have however noticed the blade would heat up when polishing with maas and CrO. The blade will not be so hot as to not be able to touch, but its where I try to be more careful.

Originally Posted by Alembic

Ok, one more.

I have the Lynn Abrams DVD and he uses a Dremel with a buffing wheel along with MAAS. Then, I read a post here where gsixgun says Dremel is a no no (read Perfect Is the Enemy of Good). Too easy to catch and ruin.

So, my friends, please help set me straight.

Thanks

David

You need to re-read that, I even gave tips about how not to make mistakes...

But yes I do not think Dremel's are a good choice for Razors...

Here are my thoughts, Amateurs don't need the speed, and can do everything by hand, you are only doing your razors anyway..

Professionals rarely stay with the Dremel, as the buffers are so much better..

So the Dremel comes out by three types of people, either a total newb that wants to do things fast, which is where we get the most disaster stories...

Or the guy that is starting to move from only doing his few razors to doing his many razors and we get an occasional disaster story..

Or the guy that is moving from doing his razors to doing other peoples razors and hasn't gone to a buffer yet, and he is pretty good at using the Dremel and the safety tricks.... Once you use a buffer the Dremel is rarely used again...

Now when you talk modifications and such then a Dremel is the KING !!!!

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Stefan, I've got one of those magnetic jigs with the aluminum heat sink. Are they really effective in dissipating the heat enough to prevent damaging the temper ?

I've said it before: If it is not hot enough to blister your fingers, it won't hurt the temper. If you never sand in 1 spot for a long time, the general temperature of the blade will tell you when to take a break.

I use my dremel buffing wheel with the razor resting on wood (not exactly known for good thremal properties ) and I haven't ruined 1 razor yet. the trick is to always maintain contact with your fingers so that you feel the blade temperature.