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Cheap tool tricks

Toff

Well-Known Member
Here are some ideas I use to help out on the bench while working on projects.
Side view of the bench pin, mentioned elsewhere:
benchpin2.jpg

And the lowly tea ball becomes a useful tool for holding small parts for cleaning and will survive even brake cleaner solvent:
ZCT1sm.jpg

ZCT3sm.jpg

And ladies nail buffs and files are great for some jobs!
CheapTools001.jpg

Have fun!
~Richard
 
For cleaning and drying inside of the scales a pipe cleaner works very well! Those little thin chenille brushes are made for jobs like these:
pcleaner1sm.jpg

Respectfully
~Richard
 
To continue in the same manner... Not the tool sensu stricto, but an ordinary item with a non-standard application: ear/eye drops dispenser.
5 ml capacity, watertight, perfect completion of traveller's straight razor kit as a container of machine oil.
[img=200]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-6kea-L8HyPs/Ti3Gravt02I/AAAAAAAAARo/SnFkhdpr57Q/s576/25072011093%25255B1%25255D.jpg[/img]
 
Toff said:
For cleaning and drying inside of the scales a pipe cleaner works very well! Those little thin chenille brushes are made for jobs like these:
...Respectfully
~Richard

Cool! If you have those lying around that is. I use a butter knife wrapped in (high grit) sanding paper or some cloth/tissue for working between the scales.
 
Richard, Thank You!! I just love the good sense of a machinist or gunsmith for improv. tooling. The teaball was inspired!

Pipecleaners come in just cotton, or some with a plastic bristle interwoven w/ the cotton. These can be helpful for slightly more aggressive gunk removal. If you've not used them before, just be careful that any pressure does not press the wire core to cut into material unintentionally.

Gunk Removal:
3M (Green) scotchbrite is quite abrasive & will scratch metal, wood, horn, bone. That is, until its been well worn by kitchen dish duty. Once well worn, it will only scratch steel with substantial pressure.

Honda (motorcycle) spray cleaner and polish: safe enough for goldwash. Goldwash being so frail, you still have to watch the pressure - even w/ a soft cloth. Combined w/ the well worn scotchbrite is a great cleaner/polish for up to moderate corrosion and general gunk. For heavier gunk, either sandpaper, or the scotchbrite w/ automotive white rubbing compound.
 
Thanks for the extra information about cleaners. I hope others will chime in here with favorite tricks and processes.
~Richard
 
I just found that if you need tubing for fitting pins through pivot holes and you can't find any tubing (like me) aluminium cans (soda cans, beer cans, food tins, etc.) are very workable with regular scissors. Adjustable, too, just a bit more work getting it rolled up to fit the pins.
 
That's a great tip, thanks! I wonder if aluminium will be enough hard to survive for this purpose? But since I don't have and never have used any tubes for it, won't hurt to try on the nearest occasion. :thumbup:

cheers,
Matt
 
I guess brass tubing (what people commonly seem to use) isn't that hard either. And what you're basically doing is filling up space, so if you sand it down level with the tang, there should hardly be any pressure on it, besides the pressure that is on the pin. But that's why the filling is there, to prevent the pin from bending and breaking.

I just pinned three razors today (broke one pair of scales :|) and noticed that in all cases the pivot hole was wider than the 1.5 mm pins I had. That was actually the reason I tried to repin one razor (the one that broke), because the blade was, at some point, moving loosely around the pivot pin. That was a 6/8 Kropp, so a bigger pivot hole was to be expected, but the other two were both 5/8, a Morley and a Clauberg.

If it's a lousy solution I guess I'll find out soon enough :p
 
You may fill the hole with epoxy...

Cover one side with a bit of tape, then fill the hole from the other side, tape the again to seal the hole and allow to cure.
When cured, remove the tape and drill a new hole through the hardened epoxy.
 
Smythe, I was considering that as well, but I wanted to see if I could get them pinned yesterday, and the epoxy I have is slow curing (okayish after 4 hours, best left for 24 hours for full effect). But I'm considering doing it in the future, as I've noticed that pivot holes on many vintage razors are uneven, which may cause the pin to bend out of shape.

Although I really appreciate the reversability of 'tubing'. But then again, you can sand out epoxy too.
 
Well... the thing is, when they were making the blade they simply wanted to punch a hole... mind you, it is not that they didn't care about quality (the razor would still function just fine with a bigger hole). But even if the manufacturer had and "expensive" drilling machine back then, razor making didn't require precise drilling for the pivot, and it was convenient to punch a hole while forging when the metal was still red hot.

Granted, the hole being too much bigger than the pin will tend to make stropping a pain if the pivot needs tightening... and even if tight, would annoyingly feel lose for a few degrees before firming up. But the advantages of filling for a smaller more regular hole far outweighs leaving it as-is. So I suggest you not worry about reversibility if it makes life easy... and I don't suppose anyone who use/collect these razors would ever want to have it reversed if it's done reasonably well.

Patience...
... In future you could try liquid metal epoxy such as J-b Weld, if you use tape before it cures you may not need to sand flush, it looks like metal and will be hidden by the scales anyway.
 
You turned me around, I'll try it on the KROPP. For smaller blades I might stick with the tubing, one layer is fast and easy, and probably as effective.
 
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