Thread: St Louis Always Good

Here is an East St Louis BS Co. "Always Good" razor. The Blade is a 5/8" wide, and is only about 2 1/2" long. This razor is very light. I picked it up off eBay for cheap. (Almost paid as much for the shipping). It was covered in some type of oil substance, all over, including the Blonde Buffalo Horn Scales. It was pretty grungy. The oil must have been on there for the last 60 years, and it did not come off easy. There were spots in the scales. At first I thought it may have been part of the scale, that maybe they were Tortoise shell. But I think what it is is stains from the oil. They are soaked well into the scales. I sanded the scales with 2000 grit, but only wore away some of the spots. I decided I liked the look, and they would stay.
As usual the blade was hand sanded from 320-2000, then Dremel polished with Mother's Wheel polish. Pins and washers are brass. My peening was much better on this one.
I am very happy with the way it came out. The scales look rough, including occlusions in them from being Blonde horn, but very shiny.
What do you think?

That turned out really nice! Great Save!

Very nice!

Great job!
Lu

That is a nice save! Could give some of us a pause before trashing original scales.
Respectfully
~Richard

That's a really unique set of scales simply because of the staining! Looks great!

It was hard for me to resist trashing them too, cause I love making scales. But I still have 2 dozen razors that need restored, so plenty of time to make scales. I could never duplicate the staining that was on these scales.

I really like how it almost gives the appearance that there are completely seperate bits of staining sort of suspended inside the scales. I wonder if over time the staining will sort of spread throughout the scales more? Sort of like a constantly evolving scale! That would be very cool.

Those scales are totally awsome, and I guess also absolutely unique.
To top it off, it looks like you've stumbled upon ancient faux-tortoiseshell

Originally Posted by str8fencer

Those scales are totally awsome, and I guess also absolutely unique.
To top it off, it looks like you've stumbled upon ancient faux-tortoiseshell

For all I know that may have been the intention, and they may have been originally created like that.
Anyone want to give it a go with a new set of blonde horn?

Cool effect. Does make the scales look like tortoise shell.