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Thread: Project F.A. Clauberg Tonsorial Gem Gentleman's Set

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    Seņor Member (the name is Dave) DFriedl's Avatar
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    Default Project F.A. Clauberg Tonsorial Gem Gentleman's Set

    I have a F.A. Clauberg Tonsorial Gem that was my first razor, and it's always been at the top of my rotation.

    I picked up a second one on ebay today.
    F.A. Clauberg Made in Germany Straight Razor Great Condition Vintage ecb | eBay

    I'll need to clean and polish the new one up a bit. Intend to rescale them both in spalted sugar maple. I'm in the process of stabilizing the blanks now.
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    I intend to follow the advice here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...pic-heavy.html on making the matching scales.

    I shouldn't have too much of a problem with the scales, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do for a box for the razors. I'm not so great at making boxes, especially fancy ones.
    Last edited by DFriedl; 05-30-2012 at 11:48 PM.

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    Seņor Member (the name is Dave) DFriedl's Avatar
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    I received the eBay blade. I was suprised to find the razor in rather serviceable bone scales. I cleaned those up with some Oxyclean for another project and cleaned the blade up with a 300, 800, 1000, 2000, polishing compound progression. I left a little pitting on both blades, as these are 4/8 or 11/16 (small) singing full hollow grinds and there isn't a ton of material to work with. The remaining pitting, though close to the edge on one blade, is rather shallow. I think it should be OK.
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    Seņor Member (the name is Dave) DFriedl's Avatar
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    The scales are about as impregnated with polyurethane as I'm going to get them without a vacuum chamber, and dry, so it's time to rough out the scales:

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    And glued together with rubber cement for contouring:

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    Seņor Member (the name is Dave) DFriedl's Avatar
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    The scales were separated into pairs and thinned out, then separated. I'm encouraged to find that they smelled strongly of polyurethane as I sanded them, so I hope the polyurethane soak permeated them pretty thoroughly.

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    Numbered. 1 and 3 are front side scales, 2 and 4 are back side scales. Obviously, the side with the number written on them is the inside.

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    I found a use for the bone scales: my old Louper. The spine was always too pretty to be in the plain black plastic it came with. I cleaned up a couple of watermarks while I was at it.

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    Senior Member donv's Avatar
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    It sure looks like you've been having fun! I'm quite new at this latest addiction of straight razor shaving that I find myself involved with. Made many noob mistakes, but then bought a restored F.A. Clauberg Tonsorial Gem. I'm still learning, and I use that razor as a benchmark to compare other razors to. I'm sure there are many razors that are better, but I really like this one. I'm kinda envious of the one you got off Ebay, can't wait to see the finished product. Take care, donv

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    Seņor Member (the name is Dave) DFriedl's Avatar
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    Well, it's time to come clean on this one. Spalted maple is a real pain to deal with if one can't stabilize it properly, and mine broke repeatedly. I've since begun packing up the shop for an upcoming move. I ended up pinning the Claubergs in smoke and white acrylic scales that I bought from a source online, since I can't really fabricate scales right now. They look pretty cool (kinda like piano keys when viewed from the front), but aren't in the same league as what I had planned. Hopefully I'll get the full workshop going again sometime soon. Pics to come.

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    Senior Member donv's Avatar
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    Thanks for the update! I actually bought a new razor from SRD a few weeks back, Boker Edelweiss, but ya know what, when I tried it out on it's first shave, I still ended up grabbing the ole Clauberg to do my chin. I know it's true you never forget your first gal, maybe the same goes with razors? Good luck with the move, donv
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    Plausibly implausible carlmaloschneider's Avatar
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    Love the scales, esp the really mottled ones...
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