Is this Cell Rot

I keep hearing of cell rot and do not know what it looks like. Can someone please let me know if this is in fact it.



Old Dubl Duck Goldedge straight razor Solingen Germany - eBay (item 250644659838 end time Jun-10-10 19:12:30 PDT)

Yes, indeed. I've only seen pictures myself, but I understand the dead giveaway is the pattern you see on the blade -- lots of rust on the lower half of the blade, which is the part in closest proximity to the rotting scales.

From others, I understand that you don't even want this razor in your house, much less your bathroom. Toxic.

looks like it.

My other question is what causes it? Is it rust made worse by being so close to the scales?

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Originally Posted by Dllandry

My other question is what causes it? Is it rust made worse by being so close to the scales?

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Lots of old threads answering all kinds of questions about this if you use the search function.

Yes that's it! As mentioned before the give away is the rust pattern the length of the blade up to the depth of the scales, I hope the 2 bidders are wanting to salvage the inlays, that's all they are going to get.

It's one of the mysteries of the world as to what causes it. Sometimes exposure to heat, UV, chemicals and sometimes it happens by itself. I had a gorgeous Revisor Gold and it started to go and though I caught it early I didn't realize what it was because I assumed it would look like the razor you see here which is really the end of the line. In my case I started to get a few tiny rust spots and within a couple of months I had deep corrosion on the blade only at those few tiny spots. Luckily it was nowhere near the edge so I was able to clean it up and rescaled it however its still marred cosmetically.

I think it has to do with the chemical composition of celluloid. I read somewhere that, before plastics, just about everything was made out of celluloid, and that celluloid just breaks down over time -- and the stuff it breaks down into is very harmful to metal. I think the same thing happens to old dice (which some people collect) and old movies (also printed on celluloid).