Disgustingly Pleased With Myself...
I had an epiphany tonight, sometime between midnight and 3AM....they don't come too often, so I figured I would document it here. As some of you know, I focus a good deal more on maintaining the originality of razors than rescaling or regrinding them. While I have the GREATEST respect for the amazing craftsmen here who do such marvelous work of that type, it's just not for me. I buy a LOT (probably $4,000+ worth in the last 2 months) of razors - the good, bad and the ugly. And like most of you when you started working on them, I have screwed up so many times - buying razors with cracks I didn't notice at first, defective edges, cracked scales, etc. And even when I bought good ones, I have managed to have them vibrate off of the workbench, scorched blades, cracked nice scales....too many mistakes to count. And whenever i made one, I threw the results in boxes (aside from broken blades), trying to salvage what parts I could. I ended up with blades for the most part, and broken scales - from which I collected wedges, collars and washers. Once every great while, I got a bad blade and a nice set of scales - although I frequently cracked the scales when trying to remove the blade. But tonight I got an old Pipe razor off of eBay, with a blade that was cracked and so hone-worn, I couldn't make it shave ready if I tried. But it had a decent set of horn scales, so I went about the task of removing the blade and preserving the scales (the Wiki was REALLY useful). After around 1/2 hour of very tense work under magnification, I had managed to file down one side of the pivot pin to the collar and CAREFULLY drilled through the center of the pin, till it was weak enough to pop the collar off - I was thrilled that i managed to save both of the collars on the filed side. I then, very gently, used a pin punch to tap the pin down (this is where the scales usually crack) far enough to use a pliars to pull the pin out the other side. I was also able to save the other two collars from the other side. I was delighted - I had a set of late 19th century horn scales and the original collars from both sides of the pin. I took a brass pin and following the Wiki pretty closedly, cut it, filed the tip and piened it in a vise until it resembled the original pretty well. I then removed it, filed the pinched end and slipped two of the original collars down the pin to the piened side. The blade I chose to replace the Pipe was a Wyeth's of approximately the same age and shape. I had saved the broken Wyeth's scales so I knew they matched both the material and size. I then pressed the long pin through the hole in one scale, slipped the new blade onto the pin and finally the hole of the other scale. Using a tweezers, I carefully picked up the original collars from the other side of the pin and slipped them on - perfect fit. I then cut the pin down to about 1/16th of an inch, filed the pinched metal and then gently piened that side. I was so nervous, as i had come this far and didn't want to screw the pooch at the end. To make an already long story shorter, after about 5 minutes of very tense tapping, I realized that i had not only pinned my first razor, but i had done it using ORIGINAL scales and collars. The only thing new was the pin! While I can see using my most critical eye that it was not perfect, it looks REALLY good and I was just so pleased with the accomplishment. My greatest desire is to have someone pick up a razor I worked on and have them not notice that anything was done.
I will try to post some pictures of it. I know it is not nearly as good as some of the stuff many of you have done, but it was a major accomplishment for me. It is at these times, when we look back on all the mistakes we made, and the stupid things we did and realize that those sometimes expensive lessons were not wasted. While I'm sure that many more screwups await me in the future, tonight (or is it morning?), I am damn proud to have done some damn good work.
Thanks to all of you guys who put up with my questions and helped!
Gonna have a cold one now! :beer2:
