Thread: Marsden Magnum Bonum in Shagreen

This was my first time working with this material. I've seen some cases made from it, and one pair of razors that served as inspiration:


(Credit Renzo Jardella)

I had originally intended for pique-pinned bone scales but gave up when I shattered one scale inlaying the pins, so I wanted to try to replicate the Shagreen (ray skin) scales here. I started by cutting out brass backing and pieces of the shagreen. Here, you can see it natural (right), sanded (middle), and polished (left).



Glued onto the brass:



The scales are pinned with a wedge and the thin brass backer. For the pivot end I drilled holes in the shagreen and used (almost) period collars. I had intended an endcap and toyed with MOP and ivory before settling on formed silver. I didn't actually have silver, but aluminum looks fairly decent.





I had intended to solder the halves together, but the only thing I got out of our aluminum soldering kit was burns. So I just used some epoxy paste that seems to be holding well. The final result: