Thread: mother of pearl razor info

Well my anniversary is on this sunday and my pops decided i guess to get me a gift idk why lol. His way of trying to help heal our relationship i guess... (wasnt great the last few years). Well anyway he ordered me this razor off sketchbay. Anyways its beautiful and i have been after a razor with pearl or wood on the tang or handle and i have my pearl tang razor now. I am not sure if it will make it out of a restore though there is a little pitting it appears near the cutting edge although it doesnt appear deep so maybe this will survive? there is quite a bit near the spine which i think i can remove though. And how would i clean rust up along the top and bottom of the tang by the pearl without damaging the pearl? I planned on doing a quick flip on this razor just a simple restore no unpinning or taking apart so i dont have to worry about damaging the pearl. What do u guys think is it in good enough shape to clean up ok, and how do i go about it with this razor? Also do you guys know anything about the razor in particular or brand? I know they made primarily riffles and shotguns. I couldnt find any info on there razors at all online and would like to know some. Is this a rare find? i only found a few examples of there razors on google image search and only one other pearl tang model. And whats the year or time frame of production? The listing says 1900 but i dont believe its that old but could be wrong? thanks for any info im super stoked on this one and even if it cant be restored i am super thankful to my dad.Its a ek tryon 3t 5/8 philadelphia pa.-john

It almost looks like that razor had cell rot. I don't think those are the original scales as they don't match well with the pearl. If they are original be careful with them and keep them away from other razors and keep the blade open until you decide if it has rot.

so this thing is crap? how do u tell if it has cell rot? i dont see any signs?

It is probably a real good razor. I say probably because it is vintage and they made good razors back then. Clarify ....... they still make good ones but there are some junk "razor like" blades made that are not suitable for shaving.

Cell rot is a problem that sometimes happens with old celluloid. It begins to deteriorate, releasing gases that corrode steel. If such a razor is near others it can corrode those too. Usually the corrosion will be in a pattern on the blade that corresponds to the shape of the scales.

Your razor may have been put away improperly cleaned at some point in its history, or it may have early stages of cell rot. It may have been in scales that were gassing and caused the visible corrosion, then was rescaled. As thebigspendur pointed out, usually fancy pearl tangs are housed in fancy scales, so those may not be original.

Keep it quarantined from your other razors and keep an eye on it. If it begins to get worse take it out of those scales, scrap them, and rescale it. It should give many years of service.

so if it has scale rot how do i take this razor apart without damaging the pearl?

In cases where you don't care about the old scales a dremel with a cutoff disk works good. You can cut the pin at the top on both sides and the scales should come apart easily then. Are you sure the pearl is genuine pearl and not celluloid too?

Some folks use a drill press which is the best way especially if you want the old scales.

Not sure if.its genuine but he didnt pay that much so.I dont see it as a loss so far hopefully. I found another razor just like this one with black scales maybe they were the original... I feel like my dad totally gotscrewed.now though and that this razor is garbage... :/

Originally Posted by 2010johnjef

Not sure if.its genuine but he didnt pay that much so.I dont see it as a loss so far hopefully. I found another razor just like this one with black scales maybe they were the original... I feel like my dad totally gotscrewed.now though and that this razor is garbage... :/

Well if it is honed up it ought to be a real good shaver. It may not be cell rot. If it was put up without being properly wiped down and dried it could just have corrosion from moisture. Not an uncommon occurrence back in the day , or now. You can hit it with some metal polish like Flitz, SemiChrome, or Maas on a paper towel and remove some of it. Clean and just check it every now and again for a month or so and if it doesn't get worse it ain't cell rot.

If the old scales are trash.just use a file on the pin and washer and press the pin out,the blade may be fine with some resto work.

I generally grind the pin down on low speed with the dremmel. Careful not to hit the scales. If the scales are indeed no good then you do not have to be so careful. Push the pin thru after grinding it down. The razor looks like it will clean up with some work with fine sand paper. Can't tell if any of the spots go deep. If they are not on the edge I think you should be ok. If they are on the edge and go deep it may take a lot of honing to get past them and make the razor shave ready. Good luck rescaling and restoring the razor. Look forward to pictures of the finished product.