Thread: Should I buy a Dremel?

Personally I would listen to what the mentors have to say because they have usually done everything and that's why some guys can get away with using power tools and some guys can't. It's not the tools fault for messing anything up it's the user so I would us hand sanding and wd40 and take you're time with it. and you'll still have all your fingers hopefully she when your done

Any auto parts store will have fine grit wet and dry, supercheap etc...

Safety first, of course. Wear eye protection and don't let the edge get up off the anvil. Don't let the buffing wheel turn opposite to the blade edge. Lynn has a great demonstration on the "World of Straight Razor Shaving" DVD, as far as what sort of soft buffing wheel and compounds to use. (I'd never use an actual sanding wheel.)

BTW, I'm new to shaving with SR, but NOT new at all to working with metals. I'd rather work with metal than wood or anything else, actually. The first thing to learn is that metal is not "dead" material. On one level, it's as alive as our own most basic components; the molecules and atoms are always in motion. Atomic movement is just faster in softer materials. Metal has a way of "aligning" itself to whoever has their hands on it the most and it's hardness/slow molecular movement helps it retain that personal imprint for very long periods of time. This is true of the metal hand tools we work with, metal musical instruments, metal weapons and of course the metal being worked. It's the most trusted substance in the world and there is a certain comfort and confidence that a man gains from pursuing a mastery of it.

Originally Posted by Furcifer

Safety first, of course. Wear eye protection and don't let the edge get up off the anvil. Don't let the buffing wheel turn opposite to the blade edge. Lynn has a great demonstration on the "World of Straight Razor Shaving" DVD, as far as what sort of soft buffing wheel and compounds to use.

Some more cents:
Dremel is great for polishing, BUT sanding by hand.
FIX the dremel, hold the blade with both hands, approach carefully and stay light.
Final polishing by hand.

Here is the specific tool I use it works well.

My first run in with a Dremel was catastrophic. It probably took less then 2 minutes before I caught the blade edge & the blade exploded in shrapnel. I was thunderstruck.
Right after that I made my magnetic sanding block.
Wont make that mistake twice.
Darl (Tarkus)

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


Something to think about

I had that same idea once. I also had a Dremel and was familiar with using it.
Luckily I only ended up chipping the every end of the blade so I was able to easily correct the chip with little visible damage to the blade.
Don't really think about trying it again. Not as easy as it seems it should be.

Originally Posted by avionics

I won't use wd40.this stuff leaves residue and do u want that on ur face??

By the time you're ready with the razor, any trace of it will be gone.
Patternwelded steel is fluxed with borox and etched with ferric chloride and hydrochloric acid.
You don't want that on your face either
So it's a good thing that by the time you're using the blade, all traces of that stuff are gone.

True, if you've never cleaned up the threads on a bolt with a wire wheel (and caught your thumb a few times to learn how to use rotational direction to your advantage)or sharpened a lawnmower blade or reground a drill bit to 60 degrees for steel on a bench grinder, you might be in over your head starting with a fine full hollow blade and a high-speed rotating power tool. Fixing the Dremel can help, but it's still all about control. Hold it by the tip of the spine and the tang, blade down, and only contact the side of the wheel that is rotating towards the deck. Never hold tight or use pressure, because if it grabs and you let it rebound back up and then down on the wheel, the blade is GONE. If you ever let the wheel rotate opposite to the blade edge, the blade is GONE.

I also like to use those larger scotchbrite-type 511E wheels for removing serious pitting, but they require more skill than a felt wheel. I recommend fixing the Dremel and holding the blade for these, unless you've worked with 3M roloc disks, die grinders and such things a lot. For more finishing with the MAAS metal polish and the 414 felt polishing wheels that Lynn uses, I'd lay the blade FLAT on the anvil and only let the wheel turn in the direction of the blade or better yet, towards the tip (keep the Dremel behind the spine, so the wheel wants to climb from tip to tang) the way Lynn shows in the DVD. As long as the blade edge stays pressed against a hard flat surface, your chances of grabbing chipping the blade are far less.