Printable View
Nothing clever with the title. Finally got around to finishing this one, and it's definitely one of my favorites now. The scales are brass-backed paneled ivory and tortoise with a silver wedge. Project details in next post.
Attachment 131317
Attachment 131318
Attachment 131319
Attachment 131320
Attachment 131321
Ok here's the build details. This was my first attempt at lined scales so it was a little rough and took over 7 hours, but I'm pleased with the results. The ivory came from a bag of pre-ban scraps from a music instruments source here in the US.
Original cheapy plastic scales. Also shown is the pair of tortoise scales I cannibalized to get the panels (it doesn't look like it, but these were too far gone with damage to be used as whole scales). LOTS of designs, but I settled on a simple 3-panel:
Attachment 131322
Brass liners cut out:
Attachment 131323
Ivory and tortoise panels cut and roughly shaped:
Attachment 131324
Attachment 131325
Attachment 131326
Holes drilled. The ivory was epoxied to the brass. The tortoise was not because it's transparent in parts:
Attachment 131327
After everything was placed, the panels were riveted in with peened and sanded nickel silver or brass rod, and the scales were shaped and sanded. I did end up cracking one of the ivory panels but it's very small and should be stable in the long run:
Attachment 131328
Not shown: From an old beat up 'blank' I also cut down some (real) silver to use for the wedge. Cost me 25 cents, if you know what I mean. That was shaped and polished, and everything was test pinned. I had to mess with the alignments for about an hour as the scales didn't flex like normal scales due to the panelling. But finally everything came out alright and I finished everything up. I'm very pleased with how everything turned out, but I learned a lot and thankfully have enough materials to try it again on another razor, this time with knowledge.
Fantastic comes to mind,great work.
Nicely done. The tortoise breaks up the ivory nicely and gives it a cool look.
Great look, thanks for sharing the built as well, Enjoy!
Oh! That is very nice work! Thanks for the build pics and description! It looks awesome! :chapeau
It came out beautiful IMO! I've always been curious about the process of attaching the nickel silver rods to the brass panels, been wanting to make my own custom made MOP over brass panels but I have no idea how the attachment process goes.
Outstanding!
I really like it, you gave it a classic look with classic materials and you kept it true to the original design, great job.
I can't say that I used any kind of proper process. I just tried peening the panels in like normal scales after I epoxied them and it seemed to work ok. If I were to do it again I'd use some thicker brass and either a) countersink the holes in the brass or b) solder the pins to the brass before attaching the panels. The problem that I had was that when peening the backside, to get it flat, it puckered the brass a little, bending the scales. They were a little finicky to get straight.Quote:
Originally Posted by OrSh
Thanks! I love the design of the Heljestrand ivory scales. I need to take the toe of this one back to the sander to make the point a more shallow angle though. When I get around to it...Quote:
I really like it, you gave it a classic look with classic materials and you kept it true to the original design, great job.
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 :gth
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
