J. Moreton & Co. W/ Custom Scales

Hello,
Here's a razor that I bought and had to replace the scales on it. It's a J. Moreton & Co. razor. I made the scales out of Purple Heart wood. My neighbor, who is a woodworker, gave me this wood. He even cut the blanks down to 1/8 inch thick for me. I have never heard of this wood species before. My neighbor told me that it's a very hard wood from Africia. It took me about four hours to cut and sand the shape of these scales. The scales have no stain or dye on them,that color is natural, I just applied four coats of lacquer, use #0000 steel wool, and applied some Butcher's wood wax after the final coat of lacquer dried for 24 hours. I tried to get the razor itself as shinny as possible but, I don't have a buffer wheel nor a grinder. So, I had to polish it mostly by hand. I did use my dremel for the really bad areas but, I don't like using a dremel too much on straight razors. I hope you guys like it. Thanks for looking!!









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Nice work on those scales. THe color of the wood really pops...well done.

Thank you! The scales are actually a little darker then what the picture shows, I had the flash on my camera.

WOW! Those scales are absolutely beautiful!!! My respects, Sir! :bow

Lovely work. I have my first set of scales drying from a coat of shelac as I type.

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Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

WOW! Those scales are absolutely beautiful!!! My respects, Sir! :bow

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Thank you very much!!

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Originally Posted by Scookum

Lovely work. I have my first set of scales drying from a coat of shelac as I type.

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Thank you!! I tried shelac for my first coat on my scales but, it changed the color of the wood, so, I sanded it off and went with lacquer instead.

The color of that wood is gorgeous. I'm diggin the shape too!

Scales look great and very interesting shape! great work!

Thank you guys!! I figured since I was making them, that I would do a different design than just the standard "scale shape".

Looks good.

Don't be surprised if after time that wood gets darker. Purple Heart does that sometimes. I've got some that has turned nearly black on knife handles.

Another thing about that stuff is that the purple heart tree is somehow a distant kin to poison ivy. If you have any sensitivity to poison ivy, the sanding dust and saw dust can cause serious respiratory implications and eye inflammation. It is advisable to wear a mask when sanding that stuff. ;)

It is a S American hardwood.

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Originally Posted by Wullie

Looks good.

Don't be surprised if after time that wood gets darker. Purple Heart does that sometimes. I've got some that has turned nearly black on knife handles.

Another thing about that stuff is that the purple heart tree is somehow a distant kin to poison ivy. If you have any sensitivity to poison ivy, the sanding dust and saw dust can cause serious respiratory implications and eye inflammation. It is advisable to wear a mask when sanding that stuff. ;)

It is a S American hardwood.

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Thank you!! That's good to know, I am sensitive to wood dust in general so, I always where a mask and safety glasses when I sand or cut wood. Thank you for clearifying where the wood comes from!!