I cut copper laminate for making printed circuit boards by scoring it deeply on both sides with a Stanley knife and then snapping it. The blades get blunt very quickly and I've found that I can sharpen them on an ordinary oilstone. I've been using the same blade for months.
Leon
I keep telling SWMBO, "I'm not cheap, I'm just value oriented.", but last Chanuka she got me a little porcelain figurine of Disney's Scrooge McDuck anyway. I was born at the end of the great depression and learned how to make do before america became a "disposable" economy.
I never had great success sharpening utility knife blades on a stone, but once I got a 320 grit "diamond file" with a working area about 3/4" wide by 2" long, WHAT a difference. A couple of strokes on either side of the blade and it's good enough for me.
Thanks for the mammaries,
Jeff (Who remembers sharpening double edged Gillette "Blue Blades" by rubbing them around the inside of a straight sided drinking glass.)
PCB laminate also cuts very easily and cleanly with snips, if you first warm it up with a heat gun.
I've got a diamond hone as well, which does work even better.
How long did they last?
Leon
Or you could get a carbide tipped scoring tool from a building supply store. It is commonly available for scoring Formica type laminates. It'll last about forever, on in my case until I misplace it and then can't find it...
Damn, Jeff - You must be even older than I am... ;-}
Strange, but my uncle did that trick with the blades and that was one of his favorite sayings too...
There was a lot of "foolin' around" with electric meters back then too. He tells me that some had "steel" parts which could be slowed or stopped with proper placement of strong magnets, and some used a small wire through or around the seals to "jam" where the gears meshed - pulled before the meter reader got there...
reclaiming oil with osmosis and a lamp wick was slow but seemed to do the trick... Lot's of others, but I'm beginnig to forget those... JHbs
Until they needed sharpening again of course
Can't really recall how often they needed resharpening. I'm sure it depended on how good a shave I thought I needed at the time. Like if I was already late getting started off for work, "fughedid". Or if I had a hot "first date" that night, let's see how "smooth" I can make it.
Anybody else remember the fun and games when the Wilkinson Sword stainless steel blades first got noticed by americans? Guys were vying to see who could get their hands on some first, asking airline pilot friends to bring 'em back for them, and holding bragging competitions over who could squeeze the most shaves out of one blade.
My dad, rest his soul, always wished that someday he'd be rich enough to use a new Gillette Blue Blade for every shave, without feeling guilty about depriving the rest of the family of money for something they needed.
And finally, anyone remember the "foxhole radios" from WWII where the detector was made from a Gillette Blue Blade and a common safety pin?
Happy New Year,
Jeff
Surely, you jest!
My face hasn't seen a razor since spring of '64. I couldn't care less if blades cut, or not, nor if they lasted for one shave or a thousand. I don't care if blades are made of stainless, or beryllium copper. I see no reason to shave, and I don't.
Harold
Sorry, folks, it slipped my mind.
Happy New Year!
Harold
Gunner
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
- John Stewart Mill
I'd actually try that if I could find one of the blades. I have experimented with a small piece of galena and a wire as a detector, hooked up to a signal generator. It actually worked occasionally when I poked the wire around on the galena.
Leon
My dad had a ritual where he would carefully rinse the blade after each shave and then blow sharply across each side of the blade in attempt to rid it of as much moisture as he could, and then he wrapped it in a piece of toilet paper. He also had an interesting device that you inserted the blade into and twisted a little crank on the side. Two leather coated drums would strop the blade, retract, and then flip the blade over, and strop the other side.
After the stainless blades came out he quit the stropping and when the twin razor cam in he used those.
I find the best economy is with the cheap Gillette disposables. I have one in the shower to make the roughing cut and one at the sink to make the final pass. When the one in the shower gets grabby I replace it with the finishing razor and grab a new one for the finishing cut. This way I get a week or two between new razors and it is cheaper than buying blades.
Ah yes, wiggling the cat whisker. One of the joys of crystal radio.
--RC
"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells 'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets fly with a club. -- John W. Cambell Jr.
If you shop at the 99 cent stores you can get 20 double bladed disposables for a buck. A nickle apiece.
Gunner
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
- John Stewart Mill
Hey Harold, link us to a picture of that weatherstripping you're wearing!
RJ
I can't believe how many different versions of blade sharpening there were.
My dad is 84 and lives in retirement central down in Ocala,Florida. He started collecting shaving "stuff" years ago. At last count he had well over 30 different patented and produced devices. Some single edge, some double; all meant to get one more shave out of those blades.
Yes, he has the plastic cased one with the rolling leather spirals that are turned by pulling a cord - sound like what your dad used? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) snipped-for-privacy@7cox.net
As a kid I used to spend hours late at nite when my parents thought I was asleep listening to the one powerful AM station I could hear clearly on my homemade crystal set. I was hooked to the radio adventure serial "I love a mystery":
I think it's just the oxide and the point contact which creates a rectifier. I seem to recall that before the daze of selenium rectifiers copper oxide rectifiers were around. IIRC these had a very low forward voltage drop and were often used as to convert ac to dc in low voltage ac meters.
Happy New Year,
Jeff
It'd just bore you to tears!
Don't use any blades, but I've worn out a couple pairs of hedge trimmers keeping it cropped short enough to keep it from tangling in the lathe.
Harold
You can probably get more time out of a bimetal blade like Lenox, I see Irwin has either taken over the franchise or is making them themselves. Used be at Home Despot and the local True Value. The Lenox blades got closed out both places. I figure Lenox used some of their bimetal bandsaw blade stock and punched out utility knife blades instead of punching teeth on them and welding them up. They outlast the Stanley blades about 10 to 1 and cost about twice as much. I usually chew the edges up, I'd end up regrinding before resharpening and it isn't worth my time to do that. The newer utility knives have pushbutton blade changing, too, much faster for those making a living off the thing, like carpet layers.
Stan
No, it had no cord, it had a little crank. On one side it had a little knob you would grab and slide out and it hinged open to install the blade. You would then slide the blade back in and on the other side there was the crank. It was one of those clever little folding cranks like you see on cameras, the crank folds and the knob pops into a little hole when not in use.
It also had a hinged door you could open to watch, clean or service the gizmo. Very clever device.
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