Thread: pinning anomaly and question

OK...got this thing torn apart and here's what we've got. First off the pin is as straight as straight can be. The insides of the cowbone scales show even and equal wear patterns from the thrust washers. The thrust washers show even and equal wear on both sides. The blade shows even and equal wear from the thrust washers. the tang hole measures out to .082" and is straight and clean. The pin stock measures out to .061" and spins around in the tang hole with no binding. My money was on a bent pin, but beyond that I'm stumped. I'll put her all back together with fresh parts and see if I get the same results. Stay tuned...it may take a while before I can get around to this. Oh, and yes, I will test fit with Microfasteners nuts and bolts before final pin up.

I wonder if the wedge is not off a little, the angle of the wedge specifically.

Well, I wondered about wedge geometry, too, but I just got it all back together and here's what I've got. I used Microfastener's nut and bolt combo with fresh everything and tightened her right down. The "soft spot" was still there so I took another turn on the wrench and the problem seemed to get better...I took another couple of turns on the wrench and the problem got a lot better. I worked the blade through its arc a few times and it loosened up and started the soft spot thing again. I got under bright light and noticed that the thrust washer (on one side) was lagging then catching up while the blade moved from soft to hard spot. That begs the question...are the thrust washers supposed to remain solid in their positions during the rotation of the blade or do they rotate with the blade. Or beyond that, do they sit tight on the blade and rotate on the scale surface. I have to assume that they must sit tightly on the scale surface and only move against the blade in its rotation. I assume this from taking razors apart only to find that the thrust washers have stuck to the scales and not the blade. Anybody got any ideas, here? My next step will be to put a dab of superglue on the thrust washers in their proper positions and see if that alters the results. Any thoughts about this procedure?

Sand the inside of the scales at the pivot with 220, re-assemble and see what happens.. basically rough up the scales just a touch...

Am a perfectionist as much as most,but is it really that much of an issue?

Pixelfixed...when the razor flops around in the handles while you're trying to get a grip on the thing it is. I'm not really a perfectionist, but I feel that my restores should at least operate like most of the originals on the market. And besides, this is an engineering problem and I'm fascinated with stuff like this. Having said that, here's what I've done since the last post and the results thereof. First, I roughed up the surface of the scale (inside) and the scale side of the thrust washer to see if stopping the movement between the two would help. Actually I ended up putting a drop of superglue between them so now they are permanently attached to the scales. Then I took a piece of 1/16" I.D. aluminum tubing and turned it down on my dremel to slipper fit the tang hole. I pressure fit that and filed it flush, cleaned up the hole and reassembled the razor with a nut/bolt combo. After a good tightening I gave her a whirl...the blade flops out of the scales about 1/2" then comes under tension. The tension is pretty good until you reach about 10 o'clock (holding the razor horizontally and opening from left to right) then she lets up pretty good until you reach about 2 o'clock when the tension comes back. It stays under reduced tension until you are completely around in the arc of the razor. This is just crazy...the only thing left is the relationship of the wedge shape of the tang to the parallel surfaces of the scales. I do notice that the scales will bow in and out quite a bit as the blade is rotated in its arc. Well, I guess I'll give this thing a rest for the night and reassemble and pin again in the morning and see what I get. Thanks, everyone for your suggestions and more importantly your patience.

Hope you get it fixed,am at a loss as to what it could be,Might consider sending it off to M.I.T.

Pixelfixed, thanks for your support. I was just sitting here fiddling with the disassembly for tomorrows pin up and noticed that my Microfastener bolt was thinner than 1/16" and wondered if that had anything to do with it. I got my piece of 1/16" brass rod and fit it up by hand and squeezed it all together and guess what?...no binding! I may be on to something here. I'm all in for tonight, but stay tuned as I'll be anxious to get after this deal in the morning. When I was in 8th grade, I was given a math problem that I just couldn't solve. My aunt was visiting at the time and she offered to call her nephew who was, at that time, head of the mathematics department at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. After about a 3 hour wait and using all the resources available to him, he called back to say that he and the staff had come to the conclusion that the problem was written is such a way as to not be solvable. Don't for a moment think that I wouldn't send this thing off to MIT!

I hate to be throwing ideas out there, being as I AM considerably new to razors, but...I feel compelled. A couple have people have already mentioned it, and it doesn't seem like the idea is getting much attention. It sounds to me like the shape of the tang isn't a perfect square at the pivot point. It's hard to explain without an illustration, and I admit I have zero experience reassembling these things. Having said that, if the angle of the stamped sides are not not equal, it seems to me it could cause an issue. That issue might not be the issue you're describing, but it's a guess. Another thing you might consider is tightening down that pin while you have the blade sitting at the position in the scales that it's normally loose. If you tighten it through the loose position, and then your scales do some crazy flexion during opening/closing, you've pinpointed the problem as the issue I previously mentioned. You'll be looking at the blade ditch ( just made that up), seeing if it the individual sides twist away from each other, or towards each other. Now that I've said my piece, somebody please point out my silliness for even attempting a post this early.

Let us get this fixed,paint the tang with Dykum,let dry,assemble razor.work the blade back and fourth once or twice,disasemble,you will have your answere.