Thread: First Restoration

Originally Posted by TwistedOak

Although it has the wedge pin, if the scales and wedge are stuck at all I would treat them as a one piece and just clean out the wedge pin hole.

That's about what I had thought. I'm well out in the woods when it comes to scales anyway.

Those scales can easily snap. Treat them as one if the wedge is glued. You might have to drill a slightly larger hole for the 1/16 peen rod to go through. Don't try to force the rod. Looking good so far.

Thanks, I'll do that. what would you recommend for cleaning on those scales? I don't know if light sanding would be feasible given the raised scroll work. Maybe a polishing compound of some sort?

Originally Posted by jfleming9232

I don't know if light sanding would be feasible given the raised scroll work. Maybe a polishing compound of some sort?

Indeed, the inside you can easily, but carefully, clean with some wet high grit sandpaper. The outside I would just use some non abrasive polishing compound or plastic polish. Q-tips help clean around the embossed parts of the scales.

Thanks for the..........(wait for it)........"Tip"!

Bit hard to see from the pics but I looks like you will need to sleeve the pivot, the hole in the blade looks like it is flogged out. I did a W&B with an elongated pivot hole in he blade. I drilled it out just enough to fit a little length of brass tube with an ID of 1/16. This may not be essential, but might take up some slop at the pivot.

Stu

Good Point, Stu. I checked the blade with some 1/16 rod I had and is definately overgauged. A sleeve would be appropriate here. Thanks.

I've also found that a Green non-stick-pan-friendly non-abrasive scotch brite pad works AWESOME at cleaning up intricate celluloid scales. You can scrub and scrub on them and it only takes off the dirt without scratching the scales.

These ones

Thanks for the advice on the pads. I assume those are the ones without soap in them. I'll pick some up and give it a try.

OK.....after many hours of work, I have something to show for it. I used a progression of sandpaper (150 through 1200 grit) and then some polishing compound and a variable speed buffer and the finish is better than I had hoped. I can still see some of the scratches from the sandpaper, though. The scales cleaned up beautifully with just some soap and water ( and a toothpick around the scrollwork). So, here are some pics for reviews and comments. Don't hold back on your comments 'cause I wanna learn from this. I have a couple of more that I want to work on but I really want to know what areas I need to improve on before I tackle some of them. As always.....thanks to all for the input and advice.