MOP W&B project

[barbiere]

This is a W&B in a rather poor state, all rusty (black and red rust), with an etched engraving - shame, but almost gone, scales were a let down also so decided to have them replaced with MOP scales (used old ones to keep the shape). A had an attempt a while ago but ruined it so I decided to play very low and invested in inferior grade MOPs and aluminium lining (MOP is quite heavy)

I tested WD40 to clean up the engraving but it didn't get anywhere

The blade after several attempts of using WD40 but no results, so decided to stop being afraid to not destroy it.

I won't show the other pictures of the blade from various perspectives because it's depressing. After almost 6 hrs of electrolysis I got this

It can be read now "America the land of the brave and the home of the free" and in the centre "Washington" on top and "razor" at the bottom; it can be distinguished an yellowish halo suggesting a previous gilding, I think.

After many hours of cleaning, polishing (from 180 to 2500 grit) I got this (I left the pitting because I didn't want to alter the blade's geometry)

I cut and trimmed the lining (aluminium 0.7 mm), marked the places to position the MOPs adn drilled the holes for stabilisation pins to prevent cracks

and got the MOP ready (inferior quality - deep scratches, awfully cut blanks); I spent a great deal of time trying to get the surface as even as possible

Mops cut to size and shape and glued with epoxy resin piece by piece, placed separators to when scales flexes the margins of mOPs won't show

At the end got a rough shape with an uneven surface, so tried my best to correct

After polishing and peening the blade (wedge made of lead) to my complete surprise I got a nice silver antique look, so I decided to leave it as is

I'm not skilled in honing so took it slowly (about 4 hrs), waxed and buffed the blade, taped the spine and went in progression from 1000 to 10000 Naniwa, strop it. The bevel turn up nice (in the middle it still can be seen the previous bevel)

The shave was perfect, smooth like silk, total surprise as I'm not very fond of W&Bs. Now the razor is in my top five
I intend to make a second pair with grade C MOPs for practising and try after some with black MOP and brass lining for contrast. I have limited time so it will take a while.

 

[pjgh]

Cor! Neat!

 

[jodypress]

Very very impressive workmanship there barbiere, just like with your other project shown on TSR. I've done the odd restore and it's very very time consuming and hard work. Also working with camel bone really really smells.

The MOP looks lovely here.

 

[macrob]

Nicely done. I have a question about pins. Have you glued them? I am asking because i'm working on similiar project:

Maciek.

 

[barbiere]

... I have a question about pins. Have you glued them?
...
Maciek.

The pins were glued (low viscosity CA). It is a bit risky because if the bond doesn't hold the blank will tend to detach lightly by the separator / divider when the scale flexes.
At present I've been practicing with hammered pins (much better than CA) on horn before to try the same on MOP

 

[macrob]

Thanks for your reply. I thought so, hammered pins is the way to go.

Maciek.

 

[UKRob]

I'm working on exactly the same restoration at the moment - however I decided to go for gold with the AA quality MOP.

It looks as though you followed Brad Maggert's tutorial - that's what I'm doing anyway.

I will also peen the pins - they don't need to be super tight, just enough to hold the MOP in place.

 

[barbiere]

...

It looks as though you followed Brad Maggert's tutorial - that's what I'm doing anyway.

I will also peen the pins - they don't need to be super tight, just enough to hold the MOP in place.

Brad's tutorial was inspirational and I am very happy he decided o share it.
At present am in experimenting phase and the progress hasn't been too bad bearing in mind that same time last year I knew very little about straight razor shaving, nothing about cleaning, sharpening a blade nor about making some scales.
I'm trying to follow a learning curve reason why I'm not investing in expensive materials and stick to use of "leftovers"

 

[barbiere]

Just a small update about the use of hammered pins as I decided to give it a try. I used a Dovo I've planned to change its original celluloid mop scales long ago.
I tried to achieve a better finish but the use of inferior grade MOP limited the amount of sanding that could be done to remove all defects without compromising the thickness of the blank / panel. I understood this the moment I managed to crack a panel right at the end of the project. The retention pins do not look great, I mean the dome is not very well defined but I'll work on this.

 

[barbiere]

Encouraged by UKRob's recent work, I decided to give a go to upgrade the scales for the WB (I have just finished). I was lucky enough to source some good quality MOP slabs of 2.5 mm thickness at a more reasonable price. They don't have the finish of Rob's work but for a newbie it's not too bad. Indeed, MOP is very a special natural material to work with and the effect is stunning. Very difficult to get these right in the picture. In a few days I'll attach the blade.

 

[UKRob]

The biggest challenge I found was trying to shape the angles on the mid piece accurately - I would probably take a different approach next time and cut the three sections of the template and then shape the pieces of mop to that.

Another thing I tried with a razor that needed tang covers - the 1/16" rod is a bit too big for the pins so I cut about 1.5" and put it in the chuck of my dremel then reduced the diameter using abrasive paper so that it went into a 1.5mm drill hole. Even though it's only a slight difference the overall effect is much neater.

Anyway, that looks prety good to me barbiere.

 

[barbiere]

I always place the middle piece first (first time I tried working with mop, I placed the pieces starting from on end of the scales and had big troubles to shape the angles).
I mark with lines (scratch the surface) on the metallic liner the direction of separators/dividers. On the edge of the liner I mark with a permanent marker the place of their ends. The metallic scale is placed onto the mop blank and mark on it these points (transfer), I join these with a permanent marker and get the cutting lines. The mop is cut with a jeweler hand saw (done slowly is pretty accurate) and smooth the ends on belt sander and I'm done.
In a few days I'll post some pictures

 

[barbiere]

I decided to fit another blade instead and I'll make new mop scales for the engraved WB. The finishing leaves room for improvement but next time I'll know better.

 

[barbiere]

The not so luxury range (due to some flaws), just come out the oven so to speak, MOP with nickel-silver backing, silver dividers, silver plated washers

 

[barbiere]

The luxury range, episode two - one of the favorites, Joseph Smith & Sons 3415 (part of a set of two, the second one is on the waiting list) - not so greatly beveled black MOP 2.5mm sections pinned to 0.7mm brass sheet, ornate brass dividers, gold plated washers, lead wedge. The blade used to have an engrave, but somebody took "care" of it in the past so now it's slightly visible only (the other blade has its engrave in a better condition)

 

[barbiere]

Couldn't sleep so I've been in the workshop since 5 am and I finished another set, that's been in the waiting. The finish leaves room for improvement but the MOP blocks were of low quality (various defects - cracks, chips, a rather brown than black colour etc) so I didn't see the point of struggling too much. The scales were made of 1.5mm MOP sections pinned to 0.7mm brass sheet, separated by ornate brass dividers, used gold plated washers, lead wedge.