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Have a few blades that were in my dads collection that are generally in good condition but need to be refreshed a bit. I don't want to invest in a bench top or floor buffer yet so what are my options? I have a dremel and polishing wheels as well as air die grinder with polishing attachments. Am I way off target here? Impossible with these tools? If so what is minimum entry for cleaning the blades. They don't have pitting to get through, just surface scratches and such.
Maas metal polish, and a microfiber towel you will very suprised with the results! And of course some elbow grease..
Absolute minimums. Initial clean up/evaluation and final polish: Newspaper with Mothers Mag and Aluminum polish.
Satin to Mirror finish: 800 - 2k wet and dry sandpaper.
Pitting removal to Satin finish: 320 - 600 wet and dry sandpaper.
I really would not suggest using any power tools with a razor unless you have a lot of experience. Besides the abrasives / greaseless compounds are an investment.
Jonathan
Thanks all..
Understood on the power tools.. I was leaning towards the dremel and white compound but the ideal of catching the edger and either destroying the blade or removing a body part... well, you get it.
I have 300 through 1500 wet/dry paper.. use it on a lapping stone to sharper wood chisels scary sharp..
Also have Mother's, Flitz and Simichrome polish.
I'll have a go at doing it by hand. No stranger to elbow grease.
Try the Flitz. You will be surprised how much it cleans it up!Quote:
Originally Posted by MikekiM
You don't want to use the dremel because of the high speeds which can create too much heat!
You can ruin the temper and render the blade USELESS.
I don't want to discourage you from learning in a safe way to use power tools to restore razors.
I do use a Dremel to help with cleaning out pitting, and other tasks. I just practiced on things that would have been hard to break or hurt myself. EDIT: If you hold the razor with some part of your hand behind the area being worked on you will stop before you burn your self. Which is low enough to do no damage to the temper.
Once you are ready to try on a razor get a cheap Gold Dollar razor to abuse. You may even get a good shave from it.:)
Jonathan
Like others have said..just try some Mothers (what I use for final polish) and a rag to see where that gets you. A Dremel can be a God send or a nightmare depending on the day.
Thanks all.
I checked out the first candidate blade and without doubt needs some attention with the wet/dry first. I'll take some pics along the way. If I can't get the results I want by hand, I'll post back for more help!!
Use WD40 as a lubricant with the wet/dry - it helps to stop it clogging up
Update...
I went at the blade with a progression of 600 through 3000 wet sand paper and then with Simichrome. It came out awesome..Though, I broke the cardinal rule I failed to take pictures of the blade before I started, never thinking it would turn out so good. There are still some marks from the original grinding, but the Rattler Cut Co and blade etching are in perfect condition. An owner somewhere along the way, not too long ago, had chosen to etch the blade with "1991" over the manufacturers etching on the show side and "JP" on the other. That's now gone.
I have a set of inexpensive scales to mount the blade in before sending it out for honing. I can see myself getting hooked on doing this. I have a nice inventory of exotic woods from my old woodworking days..
I'll post some pics of the after (I know, I am a numb-skull for not doing the before), just trying to workout where to pin it.
The pin I have for the pivot is a much smaller diameter than the hole in the blade.. How tight should that tolerance be? Is this a case where the hole needs to be filled and redrilled or does the pinning process and the spacers tighten things enough?
how big is the pin hole. 1/16, 3/32,1/8 etc. You can buy rods and washers in these diameters.
I haven't been at this long but I have popped the scales off some razors and was surprised to find none of them with nice holes in the tang. In fact some of my oldest razors look like the hole was punched by a blacksmith with a pick shaped punch. All it does is make the blade move back and forth a little and is only a problem if the blade hits the spacer. (or if your obsessing about it.) You can put bigger pins in or re-drill the tang and put a tube in as a spacer. This is what I have seen from other posts. I personally can be obsessive over how things fit but in this case is it worth all the work? If you do make a spacer I would make sure it doesn't stick out and hit the shims. This might keep the pin from tightening the scales down on the blade. Then you will have a tight fitting bearing and the scales will be floppy.
I may leave it as is, but I was thinking of filling the hole with epoxy and then redrilling it...
I have never had to fill a blade pin hole and re-drill it. I;m not saying it cant be done or shouldn't be done I'm just saying I have never felt the need to do it. Pin it with 1/16 rod and see how it reacts. If you really need to make them tighter then you can do what you want. I usually am happy after I have pinned the scales and don't worry about the nominal movement. You can also do like 10pups says and put the next bigger rod in it. Let us know what worked for you-
I use a dremmel with 1" felt wheels and various compounds after the sandpaper.
A tip is use the power wheels using a flat surface plate or glass to
#1 prevent catching the edge and launching it at someone. Believe it or not it is then likely to catch on the spine using it across the blade.
#2 If you sue a granite surface plate it absorbs the heat and helps not to burn the blade
Stingray