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Help received, Part 2

tat2Ralfy

Well-Known Member
So its on to the Blade, what I do is use Abrasive paste on cotton mops (Greaseless paste in the U.S.)in 3 grits, 80, 150, and 300, I only use the 80 if the blade really needs it, because its rough stuff.

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I use a "Rat tail" in the bench drill, the fastest this runs is 2600 rpm, which helps to keep things cool.

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As does my magnetic blade holder, it also gives me a much safer way of gripping onto the blade whilst working it, both on the paste and later on the polishing mops.

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working carefully and being sure to cover the whole blade or tang (we need to avoid creating dips or flat spots) and always checking for things getting too hot, I work 1st with the 150 grit, then the 300, making sure before I change grits that the entire surface has only the scratches from the grit I am using, this gives the blade a uniform matt sheen, and its fairly easy to see if any pitting is still present, in which case I will keep at it until its nice and smooth. on full hollow grounds its sometimes almost impossible to remove all the marks close to the edge of the blade, there simply is not enough steel, also and well worth noting, you will find if you gently rub your finger down the blade from spine to edge, you should just be able to feel a slight "bump" just above the edge, the profile of the blade is a very slight figure 8, we dont want to remove that stabilising bump, so again its important not to go mad with the abrasive at that part of the blade.

After the Abrasive comes the polishing mops, again mounted in the bench drill, again not running too fast.
I use 3, a hard Sisal mop with a grey compound, then a softer stitched cotton mop with a brown compound, and to finish a soft un-stitched cotton and green compound.

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Working as before, I am careful to avoid overdoing it at the edge, and constantly check for heat, if the blade starts getting too hot for me hold with bare hands, I take it off the holder and holding it by the tang, fan it in the air to cool it off.

I make sure that I have worked the entire blade, and have polished out all the marks left by the previous polish or Abrasive paste before going on to the next one. Also it is important to remove all traces of polish both from the blade and holder, as we move to a finer finish.

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After the final mop I hand polish the blade with a good metal polish (I use Peek) and a soft cotton cloth, and inspect it to see if I need to go back to the mops to remove any marks I might have missed.

Now the blade is ready to mount in the scales, if the pivot hole is loose on the pin I will either fill it with epoxy and drill it to size, or fit a bush using the same tube that I make my washers from, in this case I opted for the tube, first I had to drill out the tang the right size, then I cut a bush, filed the ends smooth and pushed it into place.

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The blade was fitted with 2 thin friction washers inside the scales to prevent wear, my handmade washers went on the outside, and a gentle but firm peening finishes the pinning off nicely, the whole razor is then given one last polish by hand, and the finished item looks like this.

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All thats left is Honing, and boy was that fun! I used my Kai 400/1000 waterstone to breadknife the edge and form a bevel, once that was shaving arm hair I dulled it on glass, and performed a Dilocut with my Les Latneuses, stropped 60/60 on Dovo canvas and leather, HHT was as good as I get, I am just off to shave with the old girl now, thanks for looking guys and a big thanks for all the advice and help.

Regards
Ralfson (Dr)
 
Dr. Ralfson...
That is an outstanding job. Such precision and accuracy, and eye for detail!
Simply wonderfull!

You are not trying to steal customers from Ray, are you?:D

regards
 
Oh man. Quite a workshop you've got there, Ralfy! Ah, yes, custom motorcycles... It's all clear now...

Impressive, mate. :thumbup:

regards,
Matt
 
Thank you chaps :thumbup:
Matt nowadays I make these instead of Motorcycles:

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All handmade all by me of course.
 
Ralfy,
Very nice work, as well as the description you have given on the grindig and polishing phase. You should be very pleased with this.

Ray
 
rayman said:
Ralfy,
Very nice work, as well as the description you have given on the grindig and polishing phase. You should be very pleased with this.

Ray

Thank You Ray, both for your praise and advice with this:thumbup: I am very pleased and looking forward to doing another.
 
Great post, Ralfson.

One thing puzzles me though. The magnetic holder. Do you trust it completely to hold the blade, or do you still use your hands to keep the blade secured?

Kind regards,
Bart.
 
Dude, you have a nice setup there... love how that blade turned out:thumbup: .

One thing I do different though.... If I need to bread-knife the blade, it's the first thing I do before restoring... even before un-pinning.... mind you, I don't suppose it matters... just a habit.

Great restore Ralfy.
 
Bart said:
Great post, Ralfson.

One thing puzzles me though. The magnetic holder. Do you trust it completely to hold the blade, or do you still use your hands to keep the blade secured?

Kind regards,
Bart.

Oh no I need to hold the blade as well, very tightly :)

Smythe said:
Dude, you have a nice setup there... love how that blade turned out:thumbup: .

One thing I do different though.... If I need to bread-knife the blade, it's the first thing I do before restoring... even before un-pinning.... mind you, I don't suppose it matters... just a habit.

Great restore Ralfy.

Why thank you Sir Smythe, yes I too would work the edge first, esp on an unknown razor, I have fully honed before I started before, imagine putting all that work in and then finding the razor shaves like a piece of crap! :blink:
However I kinda got carried away with this one :D
 
This may be a bit off topic but, that machine you make... I think I may need something like it for my part of my razor restorations... but slightly modified.
 
Smythe said:
This may be a bit off topic but, that machine you make... I think I may need something like it for my part of my razor restorations... but slightly modified.

I do make many different Tattoo machines, what did you have in mind?
 
I have an interesting idea in mind but first a question...
I am not sure how it works but... Would I be correct if I assume that machine has a reciprocating action... Like a small electric hammer?
 
Indeed but think more like door bell, these are powerful little things, however they are wont hit really hard
 
tat2Ralfy said:
The blade was fitted with 2 thin friction washers inside the scales to prevent wear...
Ralfy,
What kind of inner washers did you use? Silicon? Teflon (PTFE)? Other?
 
maro said:
tat2Ralfy said:
The blade was fitted with 2 thin friction washers inside the scales to prevent wear...
Ralfy,
What kind of inner washers did you use? Silicon? Teflon (PTFE)? Other?

I used the original brass ones, they are extremely thin, I believe it would be quite a task to make them, however I do like a bit of a fabrication challenge ;)

My general ethic is "Why buy it if I can make it" I do love handmade things they have more of a soul, however not everything is within my skill range.
 
I take a liking to your ethic (as well as to Bart's romantic philosophy about the environment expressed in some other thread). :rolleyes:
In the high shool I used to try to make something even if I could buy it (which BTW wasn't so easy those days behind the Iron Curtain) just for the pleasure of building something, so I think I perfectly understand you. :thumbup:
I was just wondering what those washers were, as you didn't mention their origin.
Gold can be forged to rizla thin flakes but it won't work well for washers, will it? :lol:
 
tat2Ralfy said:
The washers are a slimmed down version of the ones I make in this thread http://www.coticule.be/the-cafeteria/topic/442.html :thumbup:
Yeah, I kept reading that thread while it unfolded but I though those washers were conical a bit, weren't they? Did you install conical washers inside? Or did you make them completely flat? If the latter option, wouldn't it be easier to cut them out of a brass sheet?
tat2Ralfy said:
I am afraid the only gold in this house is my teeth..lol
Judging from your posts, you've forgotten about your heart. :thumbup:
Too personal? We didn't drink a bruderschaft yet... :blush:
 
Bless you Maro.;)

yes the others were conical, so I re-machined my die to make them slimmer and using 600 grit wet/dry paper I took the tops off to leave a flatter profile, they are still a little raised just slimmer and sleeker, better suited IMHO to this sort of set up.

Best regards
Ralfson (Dr)
 
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