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Kimura V Improvements Thread

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ShavingSharp

Posts: 44

Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:51 pm

Post Wed May 04, 2011 12:49 pm

Kimura V Improvements Thread

Alright, My digital camera is Kerfucked and doesn't want to shoot videos, so this will be a picture/word instructorial. Just as well, no one wants to see my ugly mug blathering on about this shit.

I'm going to be doing quite a few simple improvements that make a big difference, and I'll do them across multiple posts, so bear with me, this is my first tutorial. By the time this is done, the blade will be mirror finished, the phosphor washers will be polished and resurfaced, the handles will be completely loctited, and the blade will have the bevel angle reset and sharpened up to 5k, followed by pasted strops and regular ones.

So, The first step here is aesthetic - I want to brighten up the finish on the blade. I believe Kimura's are Bead Blast finished, and I want a nice shiny mirror finish. I'm fortunate in that I don't have to Hand Sand my blades anymore (trust me, I've done my share of that.) and have the appropriate tools for this task.

Since I've gone from restoring straight razors as a hobby to doing it as a source of income, I've invested in a set of buffers and buffing wheels. For this project I've used 4 wheels - One is spiral sewn cotton, the other three are Loose Cotton (if you want to know the difference, go to HomeDepot.com and look them up, it becomes apparent quickly). The basic difference being that the Spiral Sewn cotton is stiffer and will cut faster/more aggressively, and will leave scratches if you aren't careful. The Loose cotton has give to it and will cut slowly and leave a softer finish (it too will scratch the finish if you aren't careful, but not as often or as bad.)

The spiral sewn wheel was loaded with Black Emery compound (fast cut), the first Loose cotton was White Stainless Steel (slow cut), the second was Green Rouge (Jeweler's rouge for shine) [these three compounds were purchased at CaswellPlating.com] and the last wheel had Pink Rouge Buffing Compound from TexasKnife.com

I spent an hour or so on the Black making sure I had removed a uniform surface from the whole of the blade to get it shiny (at this point it looks like a stonewashed blade, only smoother). Once you finish with your lowest grit polish, it's a relatively quick process IF YOU ARE CAREFUL. With too much pressure you will scratch your finish and have to start over completely. If you don't have to start over, you will spend about as much time on wheels 2, 3 and 4, as you did on the first one, maybe less.

So, I'll spare you the details - I was just buffing. There are plenty of videos and instructionals on that already. The outcome is a flawless mirror finish. Pictures forthcoming.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE. If you are changing the finish on a blade, you have two options: 1. Do not bring the finish all the way to the edge, and keep the edge or 2. Destroy the edge and need to resharpen it, but get a complete finish. That's all there is to it. Whether sandpaper, buffers, vibratory tumblers or anything else. If it removes the surface of metal to create a finish, it will remove the edge.

This suits my purpose since I intend to alter the edge anyways, but it is often overlooked - if you don't have a way to resharpen the knife from scratch, then don't do this.

Photos are too large to upload - Here's a photobucket album for those of you interested

http://s1023.photobucket.com/albums/af356/menefejp/

Next step is the washers, which I will do now, photograph, then submit for your approval.

I really like the contrast this blade has, I think I'm going to buff the blade of my Kershaw Shallot too...
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emcdannell

Posts: 27

Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2011 1:10 pm

Post Wed May 04, 2011 2:42 pm

Re: Kimura V Improvements Thread

Wow that blade looks amazing! I want to do this to my blade but am coming to the realization that its going to take along time by hand and probably not look this good anyway. Would you have any interest in maybe doing this for others in the near future? For a fee of coarse.
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ShavingSharp

Posts: 44

Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:51 pm

Post Wed May 04, 2011 4:46 pm

Re: Kimura V Improvements Thread

emcdannell wrote:Wow that blade looks amazing! I want to do this to my blade but am coming to the realization that its going to take along time by hand and probably not look this good anyway. Would you have any interest in maybe doing this for others in the near future? For a fee of coarse.


I would /love/ to do this in the future for other people. I'm doing it to my kershaw Shallot tonight.

Price would depend on what you wanted done (Just a buffed blade, Buffed blade and polished washers, buffed blade and handle, buffed AND re-sharpened, etc. All variables in the price).

Short answer though, I would be all over doing this as a service.


Also, here's an update to the thread - I finished polishing the washers on 2000 grit sandpaper and loctiting all the screws. I have pictures of the washers. The next post will have pictures of the knife reassembled. Following that, I will bevel the edge, sharpen it, and strop it - There will be pictures of the strops and whatnot - God willing there may be a video of the stropping, and a cut test. Wish me luck!!

http://s1023.photobucket.com/albums/af3 ... %20REvamp/

EDIT - I need a better camera, those polished washer pictures don't look that good... With them polished the blade glides much smoother, especially after a dab of oil on the polish. Also, polishing them lets you tighten the handles to have less play if you are one of the flippers that dislikes play (I personallly like a little play, but I've experimented to find my sweet spot. Some people like really tight tolerances)

Cheers!
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emcdannell

Posts: 27

Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2011 1:10 pm

Post Wed May 04, 2011 5:33 pm

Re: Kimura V Improvements Thread

Good to hear man. Defenetly keep us up to date on this project. Everything looks great.
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savage12k

User avatar

Posts: 69

Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2010 11:26 pm

Location: Sieper, LA

Post Mon May 23, 2011 4:47 am

Re: Kimura V Improvements Thread

Very nice, I might have some work for you, I have a nice old straight razor that my wife found in an old metal dresser in her great grandfathers house. the blade has been ill-treated by time, and I just can't seem to be able to put a shaving edge back on it. you do that right?
Angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night... Ginsberg.

Ut in acuta!!!

"Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Steady, Steady is Fast, and Fast is Deadly." 1Lt Chong, 4/6 Air Cav
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ShavingSharp

Posts: 44

Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:51 pm

Post Wed May 25, 2011 5:35 pm

Re: Kimura V Improvements Thread

I don't have the tools to do regrinds, but if you have a razor that's in decent condition, I do buff, hone and strop (along with making strops), so yes.

Send me a PM (with pictures if you can) and I'll fill ya in :TU:
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savage12k

User avatar

Posts: 69

Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2010 11:26 pm

Location: Sieper, LA

Post Wed May 25, 2011 6:21 pm

Re: Kimura V Improvements Thread

ShavingSharp wrote:I don't have the tools to do regrinds, but if you have a razor that's in decent condition, I do buff, hone and strop (along with making strops), so yes.

Send me a PM (with pictures if you can) and I'll fill ya in :TU:


WilCo.
Angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night... Ginsberg.

Ut in acuta!!!

"Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Steady, Steady is Fast, and Fast is Deadly." 1Lt Chong, 4/6 Air Cav

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