Dubl Duck Wonderedge Restoration - MINTY?
I finished the DD Wonderedge restoration. I got the W&B and this razor on e-bay at around the same time. Some of you might remember me showing off my first DD WE. Serves me right for showing off. I will be hawking this one off too on e-bay later on.
This blade was in much better shape than W&B but the scales were in worse shape. The pins were loose, the scales were slightly warped and the blade was going into the scales.
It also looked like someone tried to repair the loose pivot pin with a soldering iron on the back side of the razor. The pin was off center and a bit recessed with some of the celluloid pushed up around it. They also had some burn discoloration or rust stains on the back edge near the pivot pin. Some of this discoloration is still visible.
The scales also were showing a micro fracture starting at the pivot pin but the fracture went only half way to the tip but it certainly looked like it was going to get there sooner than later.
Being the original DD scales I could not just toss them out so I decided to give them a go and try to repair. I could always toss them out later.
The blade had some rust on the tail and a few spots on the tang. The faces were tarnished but no rust or pitting. There were a few random scratches that looked like they came from the razor bouncing around in a drawer unprotected and getting scratched up against other razors.
Unfortunately, in my eagerness to restore this razor I did not take before pictures. Most of the restoration was done a few weeks ago.
I apologize for the large images but I wanted to show as much detail as possible because I need feedback regarding what is to be considered the state of this restored blade.
The blade and scales are restored. These original scales were repined with brass pins and washers.
http://www.winpte.com/str8/DD_WE_Closed.jpg
Blade closeups:
http://www.winpte.com/str8/DD_WE_Blade.jpg
Scales closeups, the brass is polished but does not show up in the photos:
http://www.winpte.com/str8/DD_WE_Scales.jpg
The blade was easy to restore. I did not need to get below 320 grit for the tang and tail. The faces I tried to give a satin finish with some satin finish disks but today I just resanded them with 400 & 600 grit. I restored this razor before the W&B and did not like the wavy grind lines on the blade faces. Hand sanding same as W&B gave a much better result.
The scales were another story. I removed the original pins and blade. I filed the heat deformed pivot pin area so that it did not protrude above the surface. Now I had some pits and gouges to deal with.
I decided to drill out the pivot holes and line them 3/32" brass tubes as I do on most of my scales. This would at least prevent the scales cracking at this position. Epoxy was out of the question so I used CA (crazy glue).
On a hunch I decided to fix all the gaps and cracks with CA also. I gave the top part of the scales from tip to about 3/16" below the pivot pin two heavy coats of CA and let it dry. On the back side it filled in all the deformations and on the front it filled the micro fractures and to reinforce the scales near the pivot pin.
A thick layer of CA tends to dry milky white but when filed, sanded and polished it becomes perfectly clear. If you held the razor in your hands you would not notice the CA glue on the scales. The only thing noticeable is a slight thickening of the scales in that area when you run you finger on it. But you would swear that it is a slight deformation of the cellulose unless told otherwise.
I filed the CA to even it out, then hand sanded very carefully with 320 grit sandpaper to feather the CA onto the original celulose surface. No bumps allowed, it has to be a completely smooth transition. The reason you have to sand carefully is because CA is much harder than celulose and if you sand both at the same time the celulose will sand down faster than CA and you will never get a smooth transition.
Afterwards I used 400, 600, 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit. Polish with MAAS. I find that MAAS works better than Simichrome for polishing plastic. After the polishing the scales shine and you can't tell where the CA finish ends and the cellulose begins. It is that smooth.
Some of the underlying discoloration from previous damage is visible on the back side of the razor but it looks like internal discoloration to the cellulose and not a pitted surface.
The final challenge was to straighten out the warping so that the blade does not bite into the scales when you close it. They were a bit twisted and bent in on the side where the blade goes in.
I remembered reading a post here about dipping cellulose scales in boiling water. Eventually I mustered up enough courage to use boiling water. I tried very hot water but that did not work. Once I dipped them in hot water for a few seconds they became maleable enough to straighten out. Dunking them under cold running water to cool them froze them in their corrected state.
I can't remember who posted this information but I thank you profusely. It saved my butt because I could not make the blade go in the center any other way.
Overall, the W&B was a lot more manual labour but this one was a much more challenging restoration project. It would have been easier to just scrap the scales and make new ones but I wanted to preserve as much of the original razor as I could.
What do you think of this restored razor?
