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My McCoy & Sanders "Monarch" Project

Well while adjusting the pins last night to attempt to recenter the Monarch, the first tap with the back of a spoon uncovered a crack in the scales at the pivot point and it split off with the first tap. So now I have to make some new scales and reset the blade in them.

Since I am going to do this I may as well document it here for Progress sake as it is my very first razor restoration.

Here is what I am starting with:

Glued the scales back together so I can use them as a guide to trace on whatever scale material I ultimately decide on.

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As you can see in the photo there is a considerable amount of rusty funk around the pivot pin hole in the blade so that of course will be removed and polished back to new first. I will be doing most of this work tomorrow.
 
Got all the rust and funk cleaned up on the blade and tomorrow I will attempt to make my very first set of scales for this blade. Hopefully all will go as planned on that front. I have a black acrylic clipboard that I plan to use for the scales.

Here is the blade now all cleaned up:
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New Acrylic Blanks are cut and design drawn out for new scales. I have four blanks in order to double up the thickness with some clamps and epoxy.

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Back Up Plan in the even I am unable to negotiate the Acrylic. Either way this razor I am hoping will be a very nicely restored vintage when I am done.

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Got some work done on the scales today. I decided to go with the wood route and it is coming out nicely thus far.

From this super raged cut:
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To this with nothing more than hand sanding with sandpaper:
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Gotta give the mits a break for a few days though, my hands are killing me! LMAO
 
Finally got some time to work on this some more today. The scales in my Rookie opinion are coming along quite nicely and I have already fit tested the blade and it fits snug and neatly between them. Now to just let everything dry properly and mount that blade.

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Finally Done, pinned into the new scales and now all I have left is to hone it back to shave ready. I may make better scales in the future for it but I think these look pretty good for my First try:w00t:

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Nicely done, Nate. I have a a couple restore projects sitting on deck but haven't committed the time (the little that I have :mad3:). My hat's off to you, sir.
 
Nicely done, Nate. I have a a couple restore projects sitting on deck but haven't committed the time (the little that I have :mad3:). My hat's off to you, sir.

Thank you very much Jason, I know the feeling on the time thing. This one has been sitting idle for a bit while I waited for the advancement results to come out today. They did and I did not advance so I figured go ahead and get this bugger done.

I learned a very VERY important lesson today though. These things BITE HARD!! I miss calculated a stroke and it folded on my finger!!! Fileted me right open so at least I know it is VERY sharp. Now to heal up so I can use it. Right index finger is definitely a bad place for a cut when it comes to straight's.
 
Ouch!!! Been there! Wishing you a fast and a less painful recovery.

Thank you Ron, it is definitely sore today, I am keeping it bandaged up though and clean. Hopefully it will heal very soon. It happens to be the index finger so I cannot safely guide my Straight razors with it right now, back to DE's for a little bit for me until this is healed up LOL
 
De Scaled This One again and am going to use these instead as soon as I fashion a wedge for them.

If you can believe this, I made the initial cut for the rough shape and my Oldest Son did all the finishing by hand with Sand Paper on them. I cannot believe they came out this well!! That Boy Has Talent!!

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This Young Man is showing the promise of having great talent in making scales. I am really liking how these are turning out in his hands, the wedge is not perfect but we will work around that as we go with the finishing once everything is set in place and firmly cured:

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The Boy is doing EPIC work on this to make it as perfect as he is able! Very Proud Pappa right now!!!

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Currently the CA is drying to really seal the wooden wedge into the toe of the scales and once that is dry we are on to the finishing of the scales themselves.

What do these scales look like to you??

To me they are very much like Buffalo Horn Scales. They aren't but the sanding pattern he gave them really looks like them:thumbup1:
 
Well after a long process of decision making and procrastinating and some serious hard work. This Razor has now been Rescaled into it's final scales that I plan on doing. Perhaps some distant future owner if we decide to let it go or maybe even my Son if he decides he wants to resacle in the future might give it a new suit. This is as far as I go with it though. It does look great for wearing scales made by a 15 year old with disabilities though.

Here is the Monarch by McCoy & Sanders with a new lease on life. Only thing left is to hone it up to shave ready!

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Looks great, and sounds like a nice father son project.

I hope I'm not being to forward, but I'm curious about your sons disability. I have an 8 year old daughter with autism and know how trying and rewarding having a child with disabilities can be. I'm glad you have something to do together.
 
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Looks great, and sounds like a nice father son project.

I hope I'm not being to forward, but I'm curious about your sons disability. I have an 8 year old daughter with autism and know how trying and rewarding having a child with disabilities can be. I'm glad you have something to do together.

Oh not at all Troy, he suffers from mild mental retardation so he is a very slow learner. He is not up to his age bracket academically but he has so much drive it isn't even funny. He does his dead level best to impress and it shows in everything he is able to do efficiently. I completely understand what you mean, it can be very trying and frustrating at times but it it so worth it when they come out of left field with an over the upper deck home run like he did this weekend.:thumbup: He may not have been born perfect, but he strives more for perfection in everything he does more than anyone I have ever known.
 
Excellent work! I worked with special needs children for a while and it was the most rewarding thing I have ever done. If only it paid more, I would love to go to go back to that field. But I digress, what a great job and a wonderful father-son experience for you two.
 
Thanks for the answer, Isabell never ceases to amaze me. It can be so hard to get simple answer to what do you want to eat? Yet if we are putting a puzzle together she is grabbing pieces faster than me, and sometimes I think she is a better at spelling than I am.
 
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