Thread: big goof

I won a ERN crown and sword described as minty.on closer inspection the blade was very loose it wasn`t centered,the scales were slightly warped,I may be wrong but vintage razors have brass pins ,these were very hard ,what looks to be stainless. So after reading the forumsI thought I would tighten her up a tad, as you dont want the blad swinging around in the air,well I don`t anyway.Bet you can guess what happened ,one buggered handle.
So back to the forums and I will be starting on the scale making adventure in the morning,let you know how I go
Kind regards Peter

Peter,

Sorry to hear of your problems. Chalk it up as a learning experience. You can always find a set of nice scales from one of the vendors here and re-scale your razor. If you want to do it yourself, I believe ClassicShaving.com sells scales as well as new pins. I'll bet that Bill Ellis could help you out too if you want to send it to him.

Ed

Hey -- good oon you for giving it a go anyway. Now you've got the excuse to go on the adventure of scale making. I wish you luck!

I hope to be starting on some restortion myself in a couple of months. I will be interested in your experiences, adding them to those already posted here.

Keep us posted Peter. I'm keen(lol) to find out what you come up with.

X

Peter,

Consider it a blessing in disguise. Unless you were hitting too hard, the scales probably were ready to crack. Just tightening the pins gave them all the incentive they needed to complete the journey. They would have gone that way sooner or later.

Now you have a good reason to start making scales.

The scales would not have broken if there wasn't already an issue with them. The pins in a vintage razor shouldn't have been that hard, either.

My guess is that someone tried to repin it in the past, and botched the job. They messed it up, and then got rid of it knowing they couldn't fix it correctly. Anything you did would have made it worse, so now you have an opportunity to make it much better.

You can either buy a new set of scales, or you can make a set to look like you want them to look. I chose to do the later. I had an old spike point blade that had a set of celluloid scales on it that were starting to rot. I decided to replace them,so I went and bought a small piece of maple to make the scales from, and then just started thinking through what I wanted it to look like when it's finished. I drew myself a pattern, then cut the maple to be slightly larger than my pattern, and started shaping them out.

When I ground the ends of the old pins off, I discovered that whoever had put the scales on it had used a plain 1/16"brass pin, but the blade had a 3/32 hole in it, so the blade was never being held in place correctly, anyway. I went to a local crafts store and bought a couple of pieces of 1/16" brass rod, and a couple of pieces of 3/32" brass tube (which happens to have a 1/16" ID).

Right now, I'm putting finish on the shaped scales, and hope to put them on and pin them in place either this weekend, or next week. I stained them lightly, and I'm using Cyanoacrylate glue for the finish, wiping it down with boiled linseed oil. It has a great, really deep looking finish on it.

My only regret is that I couldn't find some really highly figured maple to start with. I had to take what I could find, and I would have rather found something with more figure in it. Otherwise, I'm really happy with what I've got so far.

Go for it, Peter. The worst you can do is have to remake the scales if they don't turn out like you want them!

Thanks for all the encouragement,anyway the scales are made and hanging off the blade,these are the first I have made and wont be the last. I`m not realy happy with them,but there not bad for my first go
If someone could please tell me how to post pitchures I can give you all a squizz . The blade itself is not exactly certered however it dose`n hit the side when closing.At the moment Ithink they are a little bit too thick and could use about another 4hours of finishing ,finer grades of wet and dry buffing etc
Now it needs to be honed and used .If it feels ok with them that thick I will finish it properly ,if not I will thin themm up a tad and then finish then
Once more thanks for the support
Kind regards Peter

Originally Posted by bg42

If someone could please tell me how to post pitchures I can give you all a squizz .

Load the pic into a folder you set up in the Gallery for yourself and, once there, just tell it to copy the pick. Come directly to the forums and post it. Should be that easy.

X

sounds simple but when it comes to these types of things ,simple is what I am . I have been trying to get a folder together ,I thing I have ,but I dont seem to be able to get any pics in there
Any further help would be great
Kind regards Peter

I`m getting close after a few hours I have managed to create a folder and place the required pic in it ,but I cant for the life of me see how to transfer that pic to the respective forum topic
any help would be greatly appreciated
Kind regards Peter