Thread: What's REALLY hard to make???? THE FREAKIN WEDGE!!!!!!!!!

You have seen this right ???

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...wers-here.html

Here is a very easy tutorial that Icedog did

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...og-method.html

A lined wedge

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...ned-wedge.html


An entire restore with a lot about wedges

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...r-restore.html

and a Vid from Undream

http://straightrazorpalace.com/video...rt-finish.html



Some things to note,
Start the wedge material at a point less than the thickness of the tang of the razor then taper down from there, you do not need to figure out that taper, contrary to what some believe take it to sharp if ya want... When you lay the scale on it you can slide it back to where you want the angle to be this is what Icedog is showing you very well in his. Then drill...

I have always recommended starting at 1/2 the thickness of the tang, but that is for ease of fitting not because you have to..

Watch the angle of the wedge from top to bottom,, it can get off there...

Watch when you are using power tools and a meltable material as you can warp it

Watch when doing metal wedges as the biggest mistakes are burning your scales or not enough taper

Read and listen to those links as there are tons of tips in there that you will miss by rushing through them...


And the most important hint of all,, Look at the old vintage razor you are tearing apart BEFORE you tear it apart if at all possible as those guys are smarter then all of us, and knew a bit about making razors, balance, flex, and function, correctly...

Nice. That sander willi be great for roughing out shapes and thicknessing scales. Be sure to keep your sanding area clean. I blew up the motors on two 4x36 sanders in less than a year. Now I find it worth spending ten times the money for a sealed motor. I wouldn't have gotten started without the little guys, though.

Take Gerrit's hand-finishing advice to heart. I'm getting pretty darn good at shaping on the KMG, but I still get the best results by hand. Sharp blades and clean abrasives are the tools for quality work. Power tools just speed up the beginning steps.

Two other things just came to mind while browsing...

Gluing in the wedge????
To get a perfect fit many are gluing in at least one side

The Vintage razors were made all three ways Mostly they are not attached, but some had one side attached, and some were one piece or fully attached...
In my eyes if they were done that way in the past, then there is no right or wrong... I will tell you that with problem blades and problem materials that extra point of adjustment at the wedge is nice thing to have

The tightness of the build ???

As you can see in the Restore and Customs Gallery in fact above in Phillip's build , we tend to build to tighter tolerances then they did in the past... One reason is that the set of scales we build is for one razor and is custom fit to that razor.. Many of the Vintage razor houses did not even make the scales, they brought them sized in basically sm, med, lrg, & x-lrg and went from there...
Be careful when you start getting into tighter builds as there are things that need to be taken into account.

For example that oversize pivot hole in many of the Sheffielder's that was not an issue in the original scales, could become an issue in a finely fitted build like Phillip is showing off
The fact that many of the 1800's razors have a angle to their tang, wasn't an issue in the old Horn scales, they just warped to the razor but when you re-scale in G-10 or Acrylic that is super straight you find an issue...
This is when is is a nice thing to be able to adjust from both ends and to know how to re-adjust that wedge

Originally Posted by gssixgun

You have seen this right ???

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...wers-here.html

Here is a very easy tutorial that Icedog did

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...og-method.html

A lined wedge

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...ned-wedge.html


An entire restore with a lot about wedges

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...r-restore.html

and a Vid from Undream

http://straightrazorpalace.com/video...rt-finish.html



Some things to note,
Start the wedge material at a point less than the thickness of the tang of the razor then taper down from there, you do not need to figure out that taper, contrary to what some believe take it to sharp if ya want... When you lay the scale on it you can slide it back to where you want the angle to be this is what Icedog is showing you very well in his. Then drill...

I have always recommended starting at 1/2 the thickness of the tang, but that is for ease of fitting not because you have to..

Watch the angle of the wedge from top to bottom,, it can get off there...

Watch when you are using power tools and a meltable material as you can warp it

Watch when doing metal wedges as the biggest mistakes are burning your scales or not enough taper

Read and listen to those links as there are tons of tips in there that you will miss by rushing through them...


And the most important hint of all,, Look at the old vintage razor you are tearing apart BEFORE you tear it apart if at all possible as those guys are smarter then all of us, and knew a bit about making razors, balance, flex, and function, correctly...

Thanks Glen
seen them. but using all hand tools sucked!!!

Originally Posted by PDobson

Nice. That sander willi be great for roughing out shapes and thicknessing scales. Be sure to keep your sanding area clean. I blew up the motors on two 4x36 sanders in less than a year. Now I find it worth spending ten times the money for a sealed motor. I wouldn't have gotten started without the little guys, though.

Take Gerrit's hand-finishing advice to heart. I'm getting pretty darn good at shaping on the KMG, but I still get the best results by hand. Sharp blades and clean abrasives are the tools for quality work. Power tools just speed up the beginning steps.

Agreed but after sanding for hours by hand I got a little crazy!!! I picked it up today and already have fixed problems with three sets of scales. Mon I tackle the wedge again!!!

I watched the series from undream last night and it made me wanna buy a belt sander and buffing wheel set and drill press. Greaseless compounds look alot easier than hand sanding through 1500.

Originally Posted by DerekC

I watched the series from undream last night and it made me wanna buy a belt sander and buffing wheel set and drill press. Greaseless compounds look alot easier than hand sanding through 1500.

Greaseless do seem alot easier however it is alot faster for something to go wrong, and ruin the blade. I just started to use greaseless, and was just using polishing compounds for a few months prior so I can really get the hang of the buffer. U would be surprised at how fast the blade can get hot on a sisal wheel and some black emory.

Hardly anybody copies the lead spacers often found on old razors, but it is true that the original makers knew what they were about. You can temporarily bolt or clamp two thin strips of metal to the tang (with the blade in the open position), insert a spacer half-way along if you think one is needed, and a piece of sheet lead at the rear end, then use a vice to squash the thing into the right shape.

I also like the wedgeless construction we sometimes see, with a single joint in line with the edge, and contouring of the inside of the scales used to give clearance instead of a wedge.

I picked up a belt sander, it made it quicker. I was able to ruin 2-3 pieces of wood much quicker with it.

Originally Posted by Stubear

Make slightly oversized to start with and then once the taper is right sand it all down flush with the scales. Thats probably the easiest way to do it IMO.

This is exactly what I do. This way you have a perfect match every time.

So after having some time to run some sets through I have come to realize my process was way off!! As has been stated, I leave the wedge end raw and form it up with the wedge installed with micro fasteners. Very fast and easy. thanks all. Just experimenting with different finishes and will start posting completions soon....