My latest project... Plexiscales

I posted earlier about my first attempt with plexiglass, though, it was more or less just a test to see if it would work (I put the first blade I ever restored in it). Even though it came out nicer than I thought and shaves quite well, I knew I could do better. So, I set out to design some better plexiglass scales with a nicer blade.

And the results...
Before
before back
before front
before face
After
closed front
closed top
full front open 1
full front open 2
all

As I'm still learning, and the last time I touched any wood/plastic work was grade 8, I decided to keep the scales simple. No elaborate or fancy designs that I could screw up :)

I traced out some old scales I had and used that as a template. Cut those out and then spent a while rounding out the edges with sandpaper. I actually progressed from 100 to 2000grit sand paper. I originally was thinking of stopping and leaving it as a frosted look; it did kind of pull a neat change of opacity when I put them in water, made them more transparent than when dry. A neat effect, but overall I felt it didn't look as nice, so, I polished them clear.

Like my other plexiscales I only used superglue for the wedge at the end. The glue fills in the striations left from the sanding, so when the pieces are together it's transparent and blends together as one. Unfortunently I failed to sand the wedge perfectly flat, so there's a small part that the glue failed to fill and is opaque :shrug:

I drilled and pinned the blade with little hassle. The blade sits almost perfectly center despite the very slight misalignment in the scales. It's barely noticable and doesn't effect the razor at all; it's probably less than 1/64" but I notice it because I'm abit of a perfectionist.

I should have made the wedge thinner so that the blade rests higher in the scales. The edge does not protrude through the back side of the scales, even with pressure, but, it's close. It's also one of those flaws that won't effect performance in any way but will probably bug the hell out of me.

I'm not sure if I want to pin the end, as well as put a third pin in for the shank to rest on (so that the blade sits slightly higher). I feel the razor has a certain charm in it's minimalist (so to speak) way, but it also looks kind of plain. What do you guys think? I guess it kind of depends on my pin/collar supplies too. Somehow a bunch of collars that I order from vlad seems to have dissapeared :shrug: I think one of my cats was knocking around all my stuff :mad:

The blade itself is in good condition. It was hard to sand off and lose that nice "King Cutter" that was across the face. I guess that's the price I pay for wanting a nice (but not flawless) mirror polish. Despite all the sanding, there's still some minor micropitting near the edge. I'm not sure if it will effect shaving - it's so small and minor I doubt it - but I guess I'll find out tomorow.

She wasn't the easiest to hone. It came pretty sharp when I got it and I didn't want to risk injuring myself so I dulled it. As a result, I had to hone through that, but even after establishing a good bevel, it just didn't hone as smoothly as my others. Never the less, with the help of my pasted paddle, I got 'er to a nice keeness and the only thing left to do is the test shave.

Anyway, lemme know what you guys think. And if anyway cares, I can post the results of the inagural shave as well.

Ya know, I'm a big fan of organic scales (especially wood) like the ones Gary, Bill and Vlad are putting together and I drool over them each time one of them posts. I've got some wood and when I get time I'm going to try and replace every single one of my plastic scales with wood ones.

That being said, I think those plexiglass scales are stunning. I love the minimalist look and I think they're completely brilliant. You did a stupendous job and although I'm still a major fan of the organics I wouldn't replace those for anything.

-- Gary F.

Pretty good job. Only two things I would do. Next time make the scales a tiny bit wider. Second, put in the third pin. You can still do that pretty easily. Get wood beads at a hobby store. (they are easier to sand to thickness than the glass ones) Since you can see everything, it's easy to place the pin in the right location. Make sure the hole you drill is in the centerline of the scales. Just run the bead under the tang so that the contact of the blade and centerline of the scales match up. Mark and drill.

Nice work Jason. Does your source also have translucent blue plexiglass? If you are working with opaque scales, just mount the blade on a single scale with a pin running through, position it the way you'd want it to where it comes just short of the shank resting on the spacer and mark your hole. Drill from the inside and use it as a template for the hole on the other scale. That's the way I'd do it but I wouldn't mind hearing about a better way from the real experts.

Bill,

Are 3 pins better for plexiglass and similar materials in general or just for his specific design there?

Thanks

Glen F

gary,
Thanks for the comlements, glad you like it. I too love the look of wood & organics (probably because of vlad's stuff :)), but these were the second set of scales I've ever made. I have some wood blanks for scales, but the plexi is dirt cheap, fairly easy to work with, and comes in a nice thickness. All these reasons made it fairly ideal for me to get my feet wet with scale making.

Bill,
Thanks for the advice. As soon as I finished I knew I should have made the scales wider. But, as I'm a beginner, and only traced some old scales, I took my chances.

I will add-in the end and resting pin as well. I spent some time trying to picture what it would be like with the other pins in there, and I think it would be quite nice. I'll see if I can find some wood and glass beads. Despite glass being harder to work with, I have plenty of time and like the whole transparent thing I got going so far anyway.

Ilija,
My source is home depot. Didn't see any coloured plexiglass, but I was only looking at the small sheets. There might have been some coloured ones, but if there were, it would have been in sizes much to big for my purposes.


One other thing I was thinking of trying for some future scales was some sort of coloured inlay. That is, I'll carve out some pattern in the scales, and then fill it in with some sort of epoxy dyed with colour. I have no idea if it will work (or if the dye will effect the adhesion/polymerization of the epoxy). But seeing as it's at a minimal of expense, I'll probably give it a shot sometime.

ToxIk... you're welcome.

Quote:

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Bill,

Are 3 pins better for plexiglass and similar materials in general or just for his specific design there?

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Because the blade is so close to the back of the scales, the wedge is a smidge thick, and I think it spices up plexiglass.

Very nice job. You do have patience for sanding and polishing. :)

For a supply of plexiglass in various colors try looking up an industrial supplier of plastics in your area. Then call them and ask for scrap pieces of thin plexiglass. Most have more than they know what to do with and you can pick it up cheap. What they consider scrap you can make scales from for the rest of your life.

You may also find that they have various colors of scraps too. I picked up a lot of plexi, polypropylene and pvc from a local supplier as scraps for tinkering.

Ask them about the plexi solvent cement: Methylene Chloride. Don't know if it will give you better results than CA but it seeps into the tiniest of cracks and melts the plexi surfaces together.

ToxIK, nice, very nice especially as these are some of your first. Check out the attached pic of Maestro Levis clear scales, much thicker as Bill refers to.

Cheers

Gary

Toxik,

Those plexiglass scales look really nice. A very minimalist and clean look.

Ed

Thanks for the tips Jason/Vlad. I actually know of a commercial plastic supplier in the area and if they have some good colored scraps, I'll definitely keep you posted and save some extras.