Dremel Tips?

So, My birthday is coming up soon, but my parents are going to be out of town for it.. Unbeknownst to me they got me a gift early.. I have been using my father's dremel a lot lately (playing with razor shaping... Creating thumbnotches, and turning a round point square) And having difficulty as he had a veeeery old Dremel (2 speed, mind you)

Well, The short story is that I woke up this morning when a heavy box unceremoniously thumped my head... This shocking thump turned into a wonderful gift, a brand new Dremel 4000 model, with all the trimmings, and a ton of varying sizes of metal grinding heads...

JOY!!

That being said, I was wondering if anyone who works blades in this manner could give me some tips... I'm doing fine at grinding blade tangs into thumbnotches (although, I'm still only practicing on junk razors) but having more difficulty on the regrinding tips...

I have succeeded in making a round point into a square point by simply slicing the tip off (with frequent quenching) using a cutting disk, and then rounding off the spine on my greaseless compound... However, I tried to create a barber's notch in that (remember, junk blade) and blew the temper very swiftly... Also, I've toyed with trying to create an oblique/french point, but have no clue how to create that shape... Cutting disks are too fragile and would chip if they weren't going in a perfectly straight line, and I fear that my metal sanding bits would blow the temper on thin blade metal...

Anyone have advice on dremel tip styles and wielding techniques for reshaping a razor's point?

Thanks,
Jeremy

Neat!

Now, go forth and buy yourself a Dremel flexible shaft. It's much easier to wield this, than the Dremel-tool, itself. Also, buy yourself a variable-speed foot switch for it -- it's much safer than without.

I look forward to reading about your restorations-to-come, and remember: if you don't post photos, it never happened. :)

Smooth shaving!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JBHoren

Neat!

Now, go forth and buy yourself a Dremel flexible shaft. It's much easier to wield this, than the Dremel-tool, itself. Also, buy yourself a variable-speed foot switch for it -- it's much safer than without.

I look forward to reading about your restorations-to-come, and remember: if you don't post photos, it never happened. :)

Smooth shaving!

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Already looked into the shaft... Need one of those!

As for the foot switch... The model 4000 comes with a speed dial from 5krpm to 35krpm... And an on off switch, rather than a little dial for power/speed (it's off until you set the speed with it) this one has two separate parts, one for speed adjustments, and one for power... It's working well now... We'll see about that.

Cheers,
Jeremy

I agree with the flex shaft... it will help you out a lot. Also, if cutting away a large area (point mod/crack removal) I like to work from the thick side toward the edge.... so for a point change, I'd probably go from spine to point. I do this because I think it's less likely to shatter your blade in unexpected ways when you have an established cut in thick material, instead of introducing the tool to the edge.

For a crack near the shoulder/stabilizer, I would start very near to the tang and work in... same reasoning as with the point modding.. Always going in small portions and cooling the blade between.

I've used everything from cut-off wheels, to grinding points, and even sanding drums for this kind of thing.... but I really do it all on my belt grinder now.