Thread: Lessons learned from my first rescale project

I recently posted a thread detailing lessons learned from my first attempts at fully restoring a razor (see here). In the same weekend, I also created a custom set of scales for another razor.

The razor in question is a J. Wostenholm wedge that sported a hideous set of orange scales. The scales did not fit with the look and feel of a 100+ year old razor - clearly the orange scales were a rescale. They reminded me more of orange popsicle and clearly need to be replaced.

I was actually surprised how easy it was to make the replacement scales.

SHAPING THE SCALES - I picked up some cocobolo wood from Woodcraft (1/8 inch thick stock). I cut two pieces about 1.5” by 6” (I did not measure – I’m just guessing as to their actual size). I then glued the two pieces together with rubber cement. I then used an old scale as a template and a Sharpie to trace and outline onto the blanks. All the rough shaping was done with the belt sander (a fresh 60 grit belt made light work of the process). I then proceeded with hand sanding with 150 grit sandpaper, followed by 400, 800, 1500, and 2000. The wood had a wonderful shine after the 2000 - I was quite surprised how well the wood looked after simple sanding. I drilled the holes, slightly hand sanded them clean, and carefully separated the scales. I then slightly sanded the backside of each scale to remove the glue residue.

MAKING THE WEDGE - The wedge was made from some ebony I had around from another project. I secured some sandpaper to a board and sanded the sliver of ebony against the board to produce the proper wedge shape. I had to periodically loose fit (i.e. no pinning) the wedge between to two scales to test for angle. At first I made the angle too wide (pivot end of the razor was too far apart). I eventually thinned the wedge to get the right angle. After drilling a hole in the wedge and sanding the holes clean, I moved to the pinning process. I realize that the veterans use mircofastners to test fit scales, but I didn’t have any at the time (I have since order them however). For this project I went ahead and fully pinned the wedge end of the razor. I then carefully ground away the excess wedge material on the belt sander and sanded down to a flush edge by hand (150 grit all the way through 2000).

FINISHING THE SCALES - At this point, it would have made sense to unpin the razor and properly seal the wood, but I was lazy. I spread the razor apart as much as I could and treated the insides with a coat of Tru-oil. I then pinned the pivot end, applied Tru-oil on the face of the scales and polished with ultrafine steel wool after the oil had dried.

THE RESULT - Excluding only the time it took the oil to dry, the entire process – from block of wood to finished scales – took less than 2 hours. (It actually took longer to build a makeshift light box and process the photos than it did to make the scales – getting decent pictures is a huge pain!) I’ll eventually put additional coats of finish on the razor, but 99% of the work is done. So how did they turn out? A perfectionist would say that the arc of the scales is not perfect and that the wedge is not 100% perfect, but I’ll tell the perfectionist to go jump in a lake. I think they are beautiful if you don’t mind me saying so. For certain, they are much better than the orange popsicle.

LESSONS LEARNED:
1. Rubber cement would have worked fine, I believe, if I had given it proper time to dry. My impatience had me working with the scales before the glue was fully dry, causing the two scales to separate a bit. In the future I will consider double sided tape or a glue that sets up faster (maybe contact cement??).
2. Due to impatience, I oiled the inside of the scales and fully assembled the razor before the oil fully dried. The result is that the insides of the scales were never buffed with steel wool. The scales are more “sticky” as a result (i.e. the blade feels rather snug when opening and closing) – not sure if this is a bad thing or a good thing though. I did not use internal washers.
3. As noted above, in the future I will use microfastners to hold the wedge assembly together for shaping. Using the microfastners, I’ll be able to dissemble the razor and apply multiple coats of oil and sand all the coats prior to final assembly.
4. I will also consider gluing the wedge to one scale as recommended by some. The wedge did move around a bit during the sanding and fitting process.
5. I’d be more careful not to burn the wedge. Before I decided on ebony, I had planned to use purple hart wood. However, when grinding away the hart wood on the belt sander, I ended up burning the material. The oily ebony worked much better.
6. For my next rescale project I will probably sand the project in progression, wedge and scales at the same time. For example, I sanded the scales through 2000 and then worked on the wedge. Next time I will rough shape with the low grit, fit and finalize the wedge, and then move onto sanding the whole assembly with the higher grits. With this revised approach, I could have sanded the wedge flush on the belt grinder without fear of ruining the 2000 finish on the scales.
7. After rough shaping, I rounded the edges freehand on the belt sander. I wonder if it would be easier to achieve a uniform look by rounding the edges using a router?

Anyhow, I really enjoyed the project and I’m pleased with the results. Thanks for reading.

I have found out the same point. when I shape the scales I wait to to do the end except ruff shape until the wedge is in place with micro fasteners to fit properly. I haven't found it needed to glue the wedge down as when its tight and if it's an actual wedge shape it holds in place fine when sanding.

You did a fine job on your first set of scales.

I've used a router with mixed results. Problem is that you are working with some thin stock and you have to really watch out for tear-out on the ends. I've quit using the router because of tear-out. I've found that I have better results roughing out on the belt sander (60-80 grit), shaping with sanding blocks (150-400 grit), then finishing it all up by hand using 400-2K grit. The finish depends on the material. I've personally gotta look into the fine stuff that's 2K+.

Looks like you did a good job to me.
I actually like the old scales also. If they are not cracked, I would remove the old pins and totally clean and polish them.
Put the old scales on another blade.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Looks like you did a good job to me.
I actually like the old scales also. If they are not cracked, I would remove the old pins and totally clean and polish them.
Put the old scales on another blade.

+1. Please don't trash the old scales. A lot of people(myself included) love those old orange creamsicle scales. Also a great job on the new scales.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Any of you want the old scales? I'm happy to send them to you. :-) (Before you respond, though, you should know that they are not in the best condition.)

Originally Posted by shooter74743

You did a fine job on your first set of scales.

I've used a router with mixed results. Problem is that you are working with some thin stock and you have to really watch out for tear-out on the ends. I've quit using the router because of tear-out. I've found that I have better results roughing out on the belt sander (60-80 grit), shaping with sanding blocks (150-400 grit), then finishing it all up by hand using 400-2K grit. The finish depends on the material. I've personally gotta look into the fine stuff that's 2K+.

I use a table router for template routing all the time and I have given some thought to applying the method to scale making but I have come to the same conclusion that there would be too much end grain tear out with stock 1/8" or so thick.
One solution that works really well is to use a drum sander on a drill press with a template follower, this is basically a disc of (in my case) 1/4" acrylic which is the same diameter as the sanding drum fixed to the table directly below the drum if you then fix your scale material to a 1/4" template with double sided tape, (ensure that the scale material is slightly larger than the template all round, you want to have some material to sand away) and then run the template against the disc the scale material is profiled by the drum to the exact shape of the template this method gives accurate and repeatable results every time and is a heck of a lot safer than a table router.

Very clever idea. Thanks for the tip!

Originally Posted by osdset

I use a table router for template routing all the time and I have given some thought to applying the method to scale making but I have come to the same conclusion that there would be too much end grain tear out with stock 1/8" or so thick.
One solution that works really well is to use a drum sander on a drill press with a template follower, this is basically a disc of (in my case) 1/4" acrylic which is the same diameter as the sanding drum fixed to the table directly below the drum if you then fix your scale material to a 1/4" template with double sided tape, (ensure that the scale material is slightly larger than the template all round, you want to have some material to sand away) and then run the template against the disc the scale material is profiled by the drum to the exact shape of the template this method gives accurate and repeatable results every time and is a heck of a lot safer than a table router.

That gave me a headache trying to visualize in my head... got a photo for us slow minded folks? it sounds like a great idea, I love templates.

Originally Posted by sidmind

That gave me a headache trying to visualize in my head... got a photo for us slow minded folks? it sounds like a great idea, I love templates.

Have a look here Template Sander - Lee Valley Tools The template guide is fixed to the drum, mine is fixed to the table below the drum, the Lee Valley one is neater though! I would advise that you use some form of dust extraction or at least a face mask, the dust these things kick up will choke you in a confined space!