Cleaning "teeth" or serated part of tang

How to you guys clean the serated part that is common on the top and bottom of the tang? I normally polish my blades with a buffing wheel on a grinder, starting with black compound, then white compound and finally polishing to a high shine with blue compound. I am usually real happy with the outcome of the blades afterward. But the buffing wheels never seem to do a very good job on the jagged area on the top and bottom edges of the tang.

I have a wire wheel that I have been hesitant to use on any of the blades that I have rebuilt. But maybe that would be the best way to get that jagged area of the tang, I'm not sure.

How do you guys do it?

Hi - Welcome to this forum. The serrated areas your are referring to are called jimps. I use a wire wheel on a Dremel tool to clean these areas.

Regards - Walt

wire wheel with the dremel works well on cleaning the jimps.

If a dremel is not available, dental floss works well paired with some metal polish.If you have a vice, stick it in there, and go to town.

I have been wondering that too, but without power tools.
After reading this thread I remembered I saw a toothbrush looking thing that had brass bristles laying around.....

If you dont wish to use power tools, go to the hardware store and buy a brass toothbrush.

Quite the contrary, I much prefer power tools. I tend to use my bench grinder a lot more than my dremmel. But that's because the dremmel, being small, is just a little more tedious than a few quick passes under a big buffing wheel. But the dremmel IS a great idea for the "jimps". And thanks for informing me of the correct name for them. I had no idea.

I use a fiberglass retractable bristle pen. It works the best for cleaning jimps, but the downside does suck because the bristles are prone to breaking off and can stick in your fingertips.

I found a downside to using the brass wire brush wheel for the dremel: you'll plate your jimps with a coating of brass in fairly short order.

Chris L

I dont care for my DEs as much as my straights, so I pulled out the power tools. I used this thing to take off all the rust pretty quick. It is some sort of ScotchBrite wheel with 2 layers. I am not sure exactly what its called. It is rather soft and leaves a nice satin finish so you might want to tape up the surrounding areas. It will be much less aggressive than wire wheels and do a similar job with only a few more seconds of work.
Never used it on jimps but seems like it would work well.

http://ftpusers.coffeenet.org/~cato/razors/DSC00895.JPG

I let the tumbler deal with them :P

A stainless wire wheel on the dremel works great for me in the initial cleanup of a razor before I put it in the tumbler...JUST WEAR YOUR SAFETY GLASSES!!!!!!!!!

I realize this is an older post but I have some jimps I need to clean up, and I wondered what speed do you use for the wire wheel on the dremel? Slow or fast?

Here's a picture of the jimps I'm trying to clean up:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1280/...038713f9_b.jpg

As you can see near the pin they're quite rusty.

It's going to be tough to get into the little ridges with sandpaper to get them shiny after.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RobertH

I realize this is an older post but I have some jimps I need to clean up, and I wondered what speed do you use for the wire wheel on the dremel? Slow or fast?

Here's a picture of the jimps I'm trying to clean up:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1280/...038713f9_b.jpg

As you can see near the pin they're quite rusty.

It's going to be tough to get into the little ridges with sandpaper to get them shiny after.

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Use a brass wire wheel on your dremel, it will clean it with out removeing any metal or even a brass brush will work good too

Ok, but ChrisL was saying earlier in this thread that he'd had problems with plating his jimps with the brass. You don't have that problem when you do it? What speed do you use?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RobertH

Ok, but ChrisL was saying earlier in this thread that he'd had problems with plating his jimps with the brass. You don't have that problem when you do it? What speed do you use?

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This is true it does leave brass behind its more of a film that comes off with polish or a light buff. I use it full speed with a light hand. But try low first and see how it goes the brass is softer than the razor and wont damage the jimps

a Popcicle stick and buffing compound... worked till I got my dremil :p

I use stainless wire wheel, lowest speed setting, and SAFETY GLASSES. Those little brushes do come out and at a high rate of speed. I use very light pressure and have not had any problems with gouging, or at least it's never been an issue for me.

I picked up a brass wire bit for my dremel and it did a great job, and yes definitely I saw the plating effect you guys mentioned. It seems to come off with polish, but I can still slightly see it. I'll keep at it though. Brass plating is better than rust in the end! ;)