The Legend of the Scaleless Razor

Welllll. A while back, when I was first posting around here, I started this thread: http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...le-heresy.html. I thought that the scales on a razor might not be so absolutely necessary...and that there might even be a benefit to taking them off. Of course, people thought I was full of it (they have NO IDEA!) but I went ahead anyway.

You can read the full story on my blog here (with an update and honing story here), but I ended up popping the scales off of a DA in my posession and trying it out.

The verdict? It's actually pretty good. The ease of angle changing, the variety of grips and the freedom of movement is certainly better without the scales, but it did take a wee bit of adjustment. Is it something I'd continue to do? I'm not sure...the sheath I made is pretty cool, but it's ugly. And I worry about moisture getting trapped in it and rust taking hold...and, of course, without scales a western razor looks a wee bit odd. It's also pretty hard to strop--the tang is a wee bit too short to let the whole hand come into play, so control is an issue.

So yeah, I have some replacement scales for this razor, and they will be on once I have the equipment to pin them. However, if I find a razor with a much longer tang, I will certianly consider a permanent separation.

But it's pretty clear--it is certainly possible to use a razor without scales, and sometimes it's easier!

I went scaleless with a microtome. Worked well.