Thread: My first restoration... sorta

Step 1: The blade. Done.
Step 2: The scales...

I've hosted the pix over here. I have intermittent pics between sandings as well, but didn't post those.
Lemme know what you guys think so far I wasn't going for a full fledged restoration, just something to learn on.

I recieved 3 ebay specials in the mail that day, and needed one to start off on. The begall had the most wear on it so I chose that one. Thanks to vlad and Bill's excellent advice about removing pins, I had no problem seperating the blade from the scales. The scales are nothing special, but were dirty so I cleaned them off and then got to work on the blade.

I started off by taping the edge of the blade (to prevent ruining it) and then taking 180grit sanding discs to the razor with my dremel on low speed. The stuff works fast to remove minor staining and corrosion, but damn, they don't seem to cover more than a few sq. cm before needing a fresh one. I didn't remove all the pitting and/or staining (as is evident by the finished pictures), but I figured I'd move ahead anyway.

From here on in it was all hand sanding, and more hours than I care to remember of it. Starting with 600 grit then 1000 grit, both thoroughly. Then about half as much 1500 and then carefully and thoroughly with 2000. I then finished it off with some 5µ paper from Lee Valley. From some prior experience, this stuff produces one nice finish, but takes 3 times as long as any other paper and twice as much of it.

I found it tough to sand the face of the blade. Being a convexed area, I can't just use a flat surface to sand it on. Need to find a better way of getting in there.

After that... too damn achey from half a full day of sanding so I went to bed

The next day I recieved the scale kit that I ordered from vlad (damn they're sexy!) as well as a sample of MAAS and simichrome he was kind enough to include. I started polishing the blade using my dremel buffing bits on the lowest speed. Tested MAAS on one side and simichrome on the other. Vlad had told me that he prefers simichrome for polishing metal over MAAS and after using them both, I agree with him. They both seemed to be able to achieve a comparible finish, but the simichrome did it faster and with less of it. I went over the entire razor with polish, but I didn't go over as thorougly as to remove all the striations left from the 2000grit & 5µ papers. There was still some stains left on the blade so there was no point in going all the way with the polish.

I figured it would probably be best to not hone the blade until I had it in the scales, but I couldn't resist and busted out the waterstones anyway
Spent some time between a japanese 1k and the norton 4k to form the bevel, and then about the same on the 8k and 4k. After I had it passing the HHT I finished it up on the pasted paddle from tony. Once I was done with that, it was nice and keen... Can't wait to give 'er a test shave. D'oh! Need scales first

For some reason the point of the blade didn't seem to achieve the keeness that the heel would. It was close, but not truly uniform. Not sure why. Could be my honing technique, but I made sure that the point of the blade was in contact with the hone. Could also be that the edge of the blade isn't uniform either; the heel end being thicker from spine to edge than the point.

Ohh well, I can figure that out later. I did achieve my goal of learning in the process though.
Some things I learned:
-I need some sandpaper between 180 and 600 grit
-water spots and staining go deeper than I thought
-180 grit sanding discs remove less steel than I thought
-a mirror polish is sexy
-don't HHT over the hone, it's a pain to get little hair bits off of a smooth wet surface
-vlad is insane for doing this multiple times
-I will go insane soon

Well, that's it for now. Next up I need to make some scales. I'll wait for the restoration CD from bill to arrive first though.

Nice job Jason. You definitely need sandpaper between 180 and 600 grits. Try 180, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000. You can skip 800 and 1500 but I find it easier not to skip these when sanding by hand.

I would not try to go from 180 to 600 in one step. Too much sanding at 600.

To get all the pitting out you are better off sanding by hand otherwise it takes too much time switching disks. Hand sanding takes about 3 to 4 hours per face at 100 or 120 grit. Then you need to go through 150 or 180, 220 or 240 .....

If you have striations after polishing then these are most likely lower grits. 600 most likely, maybe some partially sanded out 180. 1000 and 2000 leave a satin looking finish with difficult to make out striations. 600 and below leave what looks like rounded off scratch marks.

It is going to be harder on the next job. The harder part is not the sanding which is the same, it is convincing yourself to start sanding that is the real hurdle.

Heheh yeah. I did a lot of sanding at 600. Didn't have anything in between at the time, but I went and picked up some 220 and 400 (couldn't find 320). Now I have 180discs, 220, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 and 5µ. I think I'm stocked for a while

I'm almost certain the striations left aren't from the lower grits. When moving up in grits I'd sand perpendicular to the previous grit's striations untill they were all gone and then one again perpendicular to the current grits striations until those were all gone. Except for the 1500 and 5µ, those I just went across the stria once instead of twice.

The 2000 did leave a nice looking satin finish; and I would have been happy to stop there. But, I wanted to try the polish's just to see what they could do.

Well, Now to learn how to do scales... and/or get to work sanding my boker and genco

Well, I finished step 2: the scales.

open
blade
stamping
closed 1
closed 2

I had a sheet of 1/8" plexiglass and decided to see if it would make decent scales. Stuff is cheap, and I needed to learn, so I didn't have to worry about ruining it. It felt a little flimsy, but once I got everything together it ended up sturdier than I thought and I'm quite satisfied. Though I'm sure some sort of acrylic would be better.

Glad I took the time to learn on something more or less disposable. Was very easily reminded what a pain in the ass it is to work with superglue I decided to glue the wedge instead of pin it. I did this because the glue fills all the striations left from sanding and left the entire back end transparent (except of course for the spots I missed ). The blade also sits very well in the scales. Comes in almost dead centre. I figured I'd need a shank pin (or whatever it's called) to help restrain the blade, but it turns out there's no need. Despite using the original scales as a template, my scales seem to be just a tad big. Ohh well, lessons learned.

Hey that looks really nice. Job well done.

Thanks Richz! you seem to be the only one who appriciates my work so far

Originally Posted by ToxIk

Thanks Richz! you seem to be the only one who appriciates my work so far

Ok, I like it, too

Looks good, plexi scales are funky.
There is still some pitting on the blade, right? Are you planning on sanding that off one day, or is this as much as you're willing to invest?


Redwoood

Those clear scales are a trip!

Thanks guys!

Redwood: That's all the sanding I'll be doing for this blade. It was my first attempt and it isn't a very valuable blade (that I know of). So it was more or less practice. The genco I posted in another thread (and viewable here) I sanded much more thoroughly and polished to a near flawless mirror polish. I really love that mirror polish, but it's a pain to keep perfectly clean.

The plexiglass scales are quite easy to make. The 12x8" 1/8" thick sheet of plexiglass was about $4, so it was at a nice price point for me to practice making my first scales out of. It feels kinda flimsy when I'm working with it, but it's about as sturdy as just about most other plastic/celluloid scales I've come across.
Wish I had a bandsaw or something though. cutting out scales with a coping saw takes some time; and, the way plexiglass likes to grip the blade, it can be a real pain too.

I'm working on another set of plexi scales, cept this time with nicer rounded edges. All the sanding seems to have taken off about 1/32-1/16" of the thickness, so right now they're feeling a little light. Definitely not going to be putting any big blades in these ones. I'll post the results when I'm done.

Jason,

Keep some WD-40 spray around and spray the blade of the coping saw before cutting the plexi and once in a while during the cutting. The lubricant will reduce fricition so plexi won't be melting as much and it will also prevent the melted plexi from sticking to the blade.