So I got this beater of an Old Type with a big crack in the handle for cheap so that I could try out an Old Type. It's got the typical small crack at the head end, but the rather large crack at the ball end bothered me because I could feel it when I held the razor, and while I was cleaning it the ball popped off.
Considering there wasn't much to lose with this piece I decided to try solder to fill the crack and reattach the ball. All I had on hand was an electronics soldering iron, and I quickly discovered that an old brass razor is very effective heat sync. I would never be able to melt the solder into the crack with an electronics iron alone, but fortunately I had a nice large electric heating element in my kitchen. so I laid the handle on the stove burner set at 6 and let it get nice hand hot, then tried to smooth the lumpy solder down into the crack, and all around the joint where the ball slides into the handle. It came out pretty lumpy, but a minute or so with a small file took care of that. It's not exactly a thing of beauty, but it's sturdy, and it feels nice in the hand again, what more could I ask of a tired old razor like this? Oh yeah it also shaves real nice
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Considering there wasn't much to lose with this piece I decided to try solder to fill the crack and reattach the ball. All I had on hand was an electronics soldering iron, and I quickly discovered that an old brass razor is very effective heat sync. I would never be able to melt the solder into the crack with an electronics iron alone, but fortunately I had a nice large electric heating element in my kitchen. so I laid the handle on the stove burner set at 6 and let it get nice hand hot, then tried to smooth the lumpy solder down into the crack, and all around the joint where the ball slides into the handle. It came out pretty lumpy, but a minute or so with a small file took care of that. It's not exactly a thing of beauty, but it's sturdy, and it feels nice in the hand again, what more could I ask of a tired old razor like this? Oh yeah it also shaves real nice
Before:
After:
Detail:
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