To Dremel or Not To Dremel

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Originally Posted by Alembic

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

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Well if you are Dremel experienced simply be aware that you can heat the metal faster than you think because it is so thin. Buffing wheels can grab the edge and throw the blade. Lower grit sanding can come out very uneven (as I'm sure you're aware) but on something as thin as a razor you can end up with a wavy blade.

Personally, if it were restoring something that was my great grandfathers I would probably not use my dremel. Not just because of an increased risk of any damage, but also because I think I would want to spend extra time working by hand to get to know the razor. Its an heirloom, I think I would want to become a little more intimate with it.

Perhaps some sand paper and some Barry White... No, wait, not that kind of intimate. Seriously though, consider finding a bunch of music your great grandfather listened to, put it on in the background and start hand sanding. Its not often you will get to work on a piece that will mean as much to you, IMHO.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheBaron

Well if you are Dremel experienced simply be aware that you can heat the metal faster than you think because it is so thin. Buffing wheels can grab the edge and throw the blade. Lower grit sanding can come out very uneven (as I'm sure you're aware) but on something as thin as a razor you can end up with a wavy blade.

Personally, if it were restoring something that was my great grandfathers I would probably not use my dremel. Not just because of an increased risk of any damage, but also because I think I would want to spend extra time working by hand to get to know the razor. Its an heirloom, I think I would want to become a little more intimate with it.

Perhaps some sand paper and some Barry White... No, wait, not that kind of intimate. Seriously though, consider finding a bunch of music your great grandfather listened to, put it on in the background and start hand sanding. Its not often you will get to work on a piece that will mean as much to you, IMHO.

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Baron - Now you're talkin. You are a romantic after my own heart. I will be doing it by hand.

David

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

:):) 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 !!!!

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gssixgun,

Crap. I did not see page 2 of that thread. I stand corrected. Still, I think I want to do hand work on these just for the intimacy of it. But I understand the risks of a dremel if I decide to use it, and I do have the skills to use it.

I will PM you about something else.

David

Anti dremel techniques for polishing:

1) Use the polishing(rouge) bars directly on the blade. Just grab the bar of polishing compound and work it back and forth across the blade, wipping off with a towel between grades. I have done this in the past on a restoration of a gun barrel, on knives and on straight razors. It's done by hand, and therefor you have more control.

2)Use the liquid metal polish in conjunction with a piece of cork. You can get in tight corners and apply ample pressure where needed. The cork works very well to conform to tight corners etc...

Both of these techniques offer 2 common thing that you cannot achieve with the dremmel - CONTROL and SAFETY. You also do not need to worry about over heating.