Also... enjoy the smell! Horn has quite a quite a 'singular' meaty, animal, almost fecal smell when you work it. 
Re-scaling my favorite razor
- Thread starter burgsprinta
- Start date
A dremel should be ok for rough shaping the edges or general shape of the scales but the sanding drums are too small to use on the face or main flat part of the scales. You'd end up with peaks and troughs so when you get an approx end shape put down the dremel and sand the faces by hand. If you don't think you can do that put a sheet of sandpaper on a countertop and use its flatness to get the faces flat.
Once flat contouring comes into play but it's not as hard as it sounds when you're doing it by hand as it's slow enough to make corrections as you go. In contouring your fingers can be better than your eyes so run the scales between thumb and forefinger regularly to keep yourself on track.
Wood you can just sand away but with horn I'd suggest wet sanding to help clear the paper of debris. It also helps keep the breathable stuff down to a minimum.
- Thread starter
- #23
Well, the scales broke today. I guess 200-ish years is a lovely run. I'm gonna try it on my own. I'll report back once I get started.
This is one of many I have done in horn, the beauty of horn is its very easy to work with you only need hand tools but I will help you in any way I can.
But this one is in honey horn a Wade & Butcher 7/8th Rattler
That was done with a frett saw belt sander then sanding by hand up to 8000 grit then hand polish
But this one is in honey horn a Wade & Butcher 7/8th Rattler
That was done with a frett saw belt sander then sanding by hand up to 8000 grit then hand polish
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- #26
New scales are here. I wish they weren't predrilled. Hopefully this will work.
- Thread starter
- #27
All done (sort of...) The horn is warped slightly, and i bent a pin.
You can file, sand, and polish the pivot pin to get a smoother, finished pinhead.
Trippel stacked washers at the pivot are thick and can make stropping, honing, and shaving awkward, but they do look cool.
Do light taps around the edge of the pin to prevent bending the pin with heavy blows in the center.
A proper wedge will help the scales from warping by keeping them in tension.
You can straighten warped scales on the razor, by running them under hot water from the faucet and shim them with popsicle sticks or Tongue Depressors
Heat until soft, shim and let cool.
Trippel stacked washers at the pivot are thick and can make stropping, honing, and shaving awkward, but they do look cool.
Do light taps around the edge of the pin to prevent bending the pin with heavy blows in the center.
A proper wedge will help the scales from warping by keeping them in tension.
You can straighten warped scales on the razor, by running them under hot water from the faucet and shim them with popsicle sticks or Tongue Depressors
Heat until soft, shim and let cool.
- Thread starter
- #29
So I put the razor in boiling water for a minute, and let it cool, with the razor fully closed. Seems to have straightened the scales out pretty well. I did that before ei saw your posts after doing a Google search.
I sanded down the pins a bit as well, after reading your post.
Also, I've also gone through through a sandpaper and polishing compound progression on the scales themselves, and have achieved a pretty decent polish.
I'm also able to see the writing on the blade again, after doing some very light polishing on the side of the blade. It's very faint, as it has been since I got the razor. It's a well used 200+ish year old blade after all. The writing doesn't show up in pictures, because it can only be seen at the perfect angle, since it's so faint. I didn't do too much polishing because this blade is old, and I want it to look old. I wanted to remove enough of the black oxidation to be able to read the etching but I didn't want to go far enough to remove it entirely.
Any way, here are my latest pics. This is a good razor to learn on. It's an excellent shaver, but not in an heirloom quality state of preservation, so it's perfect to learn some basic restoration on.
By the way, I forgot how hard these old wedges are to hone. The grind isn't quite perfect, so I have to hone at a slight angle
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- Thread starter
- #30
Yes, yes it does.Also... enjoy the smell! Horn has quite a quite a 'singular' meaty, animal, almost fecal smell when you work it.
On another note, many delicate souls go to great lengths to avoid honewear 
but there's something about the look of a well used Sheffield wedge, all that history I guess.
but there's something about the look of a well used Sheffield wedge, all that history I guess.- Thread starter
- #32
I have some razors that's are mint/NOS or near mint. Some with very little to no hone wear. But this one is my shaver. It's getting used. The smiling shape makes it easy to maneuver. It give the best, most comfortable shave of all my razors, with the least irritation.On another note, many delicate souls go to great lengths to avoid honewear
What I used to do, once I scored one I liked, is try to find a duplicate in great condition to just preserve. I paid maybe 20 bucks for this one maybe slightly less than a decade ago. The edge was chipped. It was in rough shape. But something about it looked really cool.
If I could find a duplicate in less worn condition, I'd buy, reasonably priced, just to preserve. This is the only one I've found, though, in any condition.
- Thread starter
- #33
Aside from the smile, the honewear is as bad as it seems on photos. It's still a wedge. It's still flat on both sides, or as close as it ever was. But it's got a lot of black oxide build up in the middle of the blade, making 2D photos appear as though the spine has been flattened out. It's still a triangle in profile. A rough one. The grind isn't perfect. But I, for one, love a smiling wedge. I love the aesthetics, I love the history, and I love the shave they provide. I really love the history though.On another note, many delicate souls go to great lengths to avoid honewear
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Here’s a pair of blonde horn scales I just finished making up this morning for an old Sheffield wedge I found in an antique store. Just traced round the originals. A slab of blonde doesn’t look like much but once you work it you end up with an incredible transformation.
Nice job, @thp001! Yeah, the transformation is pretty amazing - wonderful material.
Thanks
This was actually one of those easier pieces of horn where I only had to flatten once. I’ve got a pretty solid workflow down now so these can be knocked out in an hour if I’m concentrating on one job only, also end up finding shortcuts along the way without compromising the final result, eg. I only sand to 400 grit before going to the buffer whereas before I went up to 1000. Quality buffing wheels matched to the right compounds can really speed things up.How you do this in one hour is beyond me. Takes me an hour just to flatten the horn on my belt sander, trace, rough cut, rough shaping on the belt sander and drill the holes. That said, I am getting faster and finding shortcuts. If I could get a pair down to four hours, I would be very happy. I should also buy a skill saw. My biggest challenges in terms of time are:
Drawing a line that is easy to see. Black ink on black horn is hard for my old eyes to see. Drawing a line in masking tape works, the additional layer of masking tape again reduces accuracy.
I use a cheapo belt sander for rough shaping. My guess is there are belt sanders/grinders that would allow me to better see the material being removed.
Drawing a line that is easy to see. Black ink on black horn is hard for my old eyes to see. Drawing a line in masking tape works, the additional layer of masking tape again reduces accuracy.
I use a cheapo belt sander for rough shaping. My guess is there are belt sanders/grinders that would allow me to better see the material being removed.
Tip for black horn, use a scribe to scratch the outline into the horn rather than use a pencil. Much easier to see.
I do have the advantage of a 2x72 belt grinder but I don’t spend long on it at all. Just sanding the outline to shape and beveling the edges. After that I use files and hand scrapers to do all the shaping before going over everything with 220 grit paper then 400 grit. Next it’s onto a Chemcote yellow stitched buff with Tripoli compound then a loose cotton wheel with fine rouge to finish to a high gloss.
Before:
After:
Fitted with a black buffalo horn wedge and beautiful Greaves style rivets.
After:
Fitted with a black buffalo horn wedge and beautiful Greaves style rivets.
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