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Straight Razor Restoration Thread
- Thread starter Luecke3262
- Start date
Michael Phillip
Shave Member
The shine on that one came out really nice. Are you using a buffing wheel?
Yes
Yes sir, thank you! I use 4 wheels with black Emory, green stainless, red jewelers rouge, and white Diamond. I’m considering a third setup to use greaseless compounds with lower grits which would work through rust and pitting, but I worry that it would round edges and alter the look of razors, so I’m still on the fence. I always forget that I hand buff with Mothers Mag & Aluminum polish after every buffing session.
Late evening project: Case Red Imp 133
I first cleaned and sanded the blade up to 3000 and then buffed it off till it was nice and shiny. Next I reblued the tang with a couple coats of gun blue(I’ll paint the lettering red when I’m done). The scales were shrunken and unsalvageable, so I made some new ones from Red Pearl Kirinite which was gifted to me by @Fenster. I salvaged the wedge and the inner pin washers, you gotta be environmentally friendly.
I’ll finish it up in the morning. I may have gotten carried away.
I first cleaned and sanded the blade up to 3000 and then buffed it off till it was nice and shiny. Next I reblued the tang with a couple coats of gun blue(I’ll paint the lettering red when I’m done). The scales were shrunken and unsalvageable, so I made some new ones from Red Pearl Kirinite which was gifted to me by @Fenster. I salvaged the wedge and the inner pin washers, you gotta be environmentally friendly.
I’ll finish it up in the morning. I may have gotten carried away.
Thanks Tim!
Finished! That’s my first full restoration in the new shop! Need a few more tools to really round it out, but I’ll be there soon.
Michael Phillip
Shave Member
Awesome, the scales came out amazing.
Awesome, the scales came out amazing.
Out…Freakin’…Standing!
Thanks a bunch guys! It was a late night, but a lot of fun and totally engrossing! Now I need to throw it on the stones and give it a shave!
Most Fantastic Work my friend! Very impressive!
S.R. Droescher No. 79
The scales were really tired and scratched up, bolsters were tarnished. Blade was lightly rusted and covered in low grit scratches. I cleaned the scales, hand sanded them smooth and then buffed them inside and out. The material is a neat kind of translucent butterscotch which you can see through in some spots(sanding progression(600,800,1000, 1500,2000, 2500, & 3000 followed by buffing with 4 grease compounds). A huge thanks to GERRY @Fenster for gifting me 20lbs+ of buffing compound, it’s amazing stuff compaired to Dico compounds from Ace Hardware. Super generous of you!
I used the same progression on the blade to remove 99% of the scratches for a near mirror finish!
The scales were really tired and scratched up, bolsters were tarnished. Blade was lightly rusted and covered in low grit scratches. I cleaned the scales, hand sanded them smooth and then buffed them inside and out. The material is a neat kind of translucent butterscotch which you can see through in some spots(sanding progression(600,800,1000, 1500,2000, 2500, & 3000 followed by buffing with 4 grease compounds). A huge thanks to GERRY @Fenster for gifting me 20lbs+ of buffing compound, it’s amazing stuff compaired to Dico compounds from Ace Hardware. Super generous of you!
I used the same progression on the blade to remove 99% of the scratches for a near mirror finish!
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Cut_Throat_Mike
Jr. Shave Member
Looking Foward to seeing the results!
Hey, All. I'm new to restoring straight razors and I'm sure I'm not as good at it as most of you, judging by the amazing pictures I'm seeing. But I'm gravitating toward trying to do it. but I'd also like to develop tricks for getting nice results. My latest obsession is casting resin copies of classic scales so that I can put them on the cheap, loose blades I've been acquiring and restoring. Are there people here who have been casting scales? I tried a few different resins but I'm getting great results using urethane resin. I made the scales in the pictures using that stuff, based on silicone molds I made of a couple of classic designs. (I didn't really finish cleaning them up, filing off the excess, etc, because I haven't quite got the process perfected yet, and the colors are just based on the dyes I happened to have on hand). My questions are these:
- Should I try to find a way to put a 'tell' into the mold, like a copyright 2022, or something, so no one will think I'm trying to pass them off as the real thing (you honestly can't tell they're not genuine)?
- Would anyone like to collaborate on a repro resin scale collaborative?
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Hi Jeremy, I have PMd you
Hey, @jbro44 , Just a friendly heads-up that you will not be able to use the TSC name or logo on any of your stuff you make as it is copywrited, and if you are looking to start selling or advertising stuff on TSC you'll probably have to become a hobbist or vendor, but we're more more than glad to have pictures and posts about the stuff you make, just read the TOU's to be sure you don't do something you shouldn't and are following the rules.
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