Thread: Razor hits the scales - a fix

Fairly often I encounter razors that after restoration and fitting in their restored or newly made scales do not quite fit. The blade is shifted to the side and touch or even can't close between the scales. In SRP wiki there are a few ways described to deal with the issue, but I personally never liked any of them. After a while using the filed washer method, I saw a hint in a thread of another way of getting around the fitting problem, and finally after almost 2 years of using it I have the time to make a tutorial.

Here is a razor that I pinned today that did not fit in it's original scales.
The blade is strongly shifted to the left and the toe hits on top of the scale.



The fix is to make a slanted counter bore, I'll call it a pocket, on the inside of one of the scales right where the pin hole is, so that when a washer is placed there it will lay slanted such that it will pus the blade in direction opposite to the scale it touches.
For the task I use a Dremel and a diamond bit, that happens to be the same diameter as the standard washers from Microfasteners that most of use use.




Here you can see how the washer will fit in the pocket so that it will push the blade away from the scale:



After the adjustment the razor no longer hits the scale.



If needed one can make deeper pocket and use 2 washers, they will not be as obvious as when used without modifications



I am not a fan of two washers so I try to avoid that scenario as much as possible.

After a bit of fiddling with the pin holes, which were also a bit misaligned, I get the razor to almost center

Finally after pining the razor is pretty much centered.





A few words of the process of modifying the inside of the scales.
This method requires a bit of caution, one has to remove little bit of material at a time and test to make sure things fit correct. One does not want to mess up a brand new set of scales or some beautiful scales by overdoing the pocket making the scales unusable.

While using that method I have noticed some blades do not fit vertical between the scales, probably because of torque in the tang. After the fix such blades close but are not vertical between the scales , instead they are slightly slanted. I have not played with addressing that problem with my method, I think it will work.

Excellent post and photos! For me, depending on what the scales are made of, a little hot/warm water soak usually is enough to "convince" the scales to bend enough to center the blade.

I'm with you Stefan. This is how I do it also.
I did however do one recently, and after this modification the tail of the razor would rub the inside of the scale when opening. You know what I mean?
Something to be careful of anyway when the angle is great.
Thanks for the tutorial
Grant

This is great. Thank you for this. Ive only done 2 razors so far and im currently working on my 3rd. Ive been using the double washer method on both my first 2. Ill definitely try this on my current.

Originally Posted by baldy

I'm with you Stefan. This is how I do it also.
I did however do one recently, and after this modification the tail of the razor would rub the inside of the scale when opening. You know what I mean?
Something to be carefull of anyway then the angle is great.
Thanks for the tutorial
Grant

I have not had that problem yet, but that must have been one really bent tang hehe.

I have used a variate of ways to straighten them out. Washer shimming is easy for minor corrections. Something like horn can be softened in boiling water then close up the razor and the scales will form around the curve of the blade. You can also sand the wedge to throw more angle on one scale. Some old razors have crooked tangs, if you are careful you can spot grind the pivot to straighten them. With wood scales, both sides need to be the exact same thickness, if one is a hair thicker or the finish a little thicker it will make one side stiffer than the other and throw the blade off center. On those you can just sand the stiffer scale side thinner. You can also drill the pivot hole at a bias to straighten the blade, among many ways of doing it.

I will have to give this a try on and old one and see how it go's