Thread: Lets hear some stories: Things gone bad in the shop...

Well, I just managed to ruin the scales that I posted about here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...-progress.html
Some of you may recall my "perfect is the enemy of good" thread in which I was whining about destroying a blade with the Dremel.

The good news is that I am learning from every mistake, and I don't plan on giving up (though, some of you may argue that would be my best option hehe). So, my first complete restore will wear the second set of scales that I make. No biggie.

But, still, I am in a bit of a foul mood over it. I imagine some of you guys with lots of experience that turn out some of the most beautiful razors I have ever seen have made some goofs in the shop as well.

So... Just for fun, lets hear about your notable foul ups. Tell me about your "ah *@$^&" moments in the workshop.

Anyone that restores if they admit it have plenty. But my worst was a rare 7/8 Wonderedge. It was back before all the buffers and the way we are doing them now. It was a dremal and sandpaper which I was pretty good at. This blade was really not bad but looking for that little extra I lost control of the blade and took a huge chunk out of it to much to salvage. It kills me because I have never seen one since.

The get the last bit to perfect got me once,

I was working on a "Pass it Forward" razor a rather nice Thistle...
I had finished the whole thing, now this was back in the "Adjustable Pin" days where everyone wanted those Micro nuts and bolts...
Well that let me take the blade back out again rather easily, and I had just started using a buffer, bad combination...

I decided that I could get the finish just a bit better, so I took the blade back to the buffer...
Certain hollow grinds, have a rather sharp spine edge when they are NOS, this Thistle was one... I pushed the blade just wrong, the buffer grabbed the blade and there was a ZZZZZZZZ PING ZING TING TING TING kinda sound, as the razor shot off the bench where it had been slamed by the buffer and pieces zinged across the shop...

I came away with a healthy respect for buffers...

Now the rest of the story: is that the huge thread about this razor being built and that it was going to travel across the county yada yada yada was lost in the "Great Crash" and all eveidence of that was erased for ever and ever ... some people speculated as to the true cause of that crash I think it was a piece of that Thistle

I had a set of scales that I was scaling for a wife for her husband for christmas this year.

She contacted me a little late for comfort, so, I was already on a deadline... if I remember right it was a Sunday night and I needed to get it out priority on Monday morning for it to get there on time... I'd say it was about 8pm..and I was putting on the finishing touches.. pinned up the wedge end, polished the pins..did final polish on the blade. Went to pin the razor into the scales..peened one side fine..went on to the other....tap tap tap tap tap... CRACK. I split the scale @ the pivot end all the way through...

ended up having to re-make the set from scratch...pulled a very late night. Scales are like potato chips..you can't make just one.


Other than that, just the little things... I've lost several wedges after my sander threw them to god knows where in my work area.. cut wedges too small... cut scales too short...etc..

Worst thing I've done to a blade was kill temper at the heel when I was goofing around on a grinder, but, I was just practicing on a junk blade so that was no big deal!

Does this count...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...nt-bloody.html

Originally Posted by Philadelph

Does this count...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...nt-bloody.html

Ouch! Thats brutal.

Originally Posted by Philadelph

Does this count...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...nt-bloody.html

WOW now that looks painful

that's gonna leave a mark......by the way, my right middle finger is presently super-glued and bandaged from a hand-sanding slip this afternoon. Did my thumb on Sunday. I hope these razors look good when I'm done hacking myself to pieces on them.

So today I was making my second set of scales ever, and for the first set I had done it all by hand, so this time around I wasn't gonna fool around for three hours just rough shaping them. I did use a coping saw to cut out the general shape and since I don't have access to a band saw I thought I would give the table saw a try to split the scales. It did cross my mind that I will probably destroy the piece, but why not give it a try. Sure enough.. just what I had thought, the saw grabbed it and smashed it to the ground. Oh well.. I had ripped several blanks from an old Plumb tree limb so, nothing ventured nothing gained.
Cheers

I was sanding the end of a pin on my 400 grit belt sander when the belt split. Sounded like a shotgun. It was turning at 3200 rpm. Slaped my hand about 20 times in one second, before I could get away. Don't know where the pin went and my hands were lacerated badly. too many small cuts to count and brused badly.