Thread: Henkels 8/8 in Blue Maple Burl

I'm welcoming this razor back to the rotation in its new scales. The original scales were generic black plastic, ineptly installed by blind monkeys (I'm just guessing from the workmanship). The razor couldn't be closed without hitting the wedge, and the pivot pin was loose and incredibly crooked. And the whole thing wouldn't fit properly in my storage boxes. The floppy scales and other issues so detracted from my enjoyment of this terrific blade that I dropped it from my rotation almost two years ago.

As part of my recent restoration binge (I did ten razors this summer) I finally found some scale material interesting (and big) enough to rehouse this blade. I've blown out the lighting in the photo just a little to give an impression of what the figuring looks like in person. The wedge, collars and pins are brass.

The scale design is different from my original plan. I didn't like the length of the original scales, so that eliminated my usual modus operandi of tracing around the old scales. I liked the idea of departing from the traditional bean-shaped scales. The plan I came up with was modeled on Hart scales. I did some tracings and eventually made several mockups out of chunks cut from a basswood yardstick. I concluded that given the overall length of this blade, the resulting Hart-style scales would be absolutely enormous and unbalanced. Two months and several failed designs later, I went back tracing around the original scales. I did remember to trim a couple of mm from the big end, and the finished razor fits in my box better than the original. So much for wild, non-traditional scales. Maybe next time.