Thread: Heljestrand MK33 in ivory and tortoise

I meant the rods that attach the tortoise and the ivory to the brass plates...well mostly for the tortoise, how come it didn't fall off the brass plate?

Right, that's what I meant with the peening. I slightly oversized the holes. The part on the brass was peened and then sanded down almost flat so it wouldn't hit the blade. On the tortoise part, since the hole is oversized, the pin expands into it and locks it in. Or you could countersink the hole so when you sand it flat it still has a bit of a 'head' that holds in the panel, but then you get a larger diameter circle of metal. I did the former here.

Thank you so much for the explanation! But isn't it a bit risky to "pin" the rod directly on the tortoise? One could easily crack the shell if the rod expands slightly too much, or even with a stray hammer hit directly on the tortoise. Sounds like a stressful kind of work

The tortoise actually isn't as risky. It's a forgiving material, a lot like horn. Very very flexible and robust. The ivory is another story. In one of the pictures, the pile side front panel was slightly cracked when the pin expanded a little too much. But cracked ivory is fairly stable if the crack is small.

Beautiful design and incredibly talented work.
Must be pure joy shaving with something like that.
Thanks for all the details and the pictures.

Myron