Thread: Scale rot example

Plastic bag for a week .

Originally Posted by 10Pups

While your example looks like cell rot ( and I would bet your right ) I think what Shooter is trying to say is that the only way to be sure is to test it. This discussion goes on back and fourth a million times in the e-Bay 101 thread. Are we sooo sure that the dye in those scales does not disperse water more than the clear ? Again you are probably right but the only way to say for sure is by testing. And I think that is already agreed upon by all those who have been collecting for years.

Sure, but you can't test an eBay listing, hence my warning here to try to help people.

I can appreciate that .

The one in the OP looks like cel-rot to me.

With regard to testing the scales, testing them with the original blade is often problematical - after all it has probably been that way for quite some time and it would be hard to spot new tarnish. The smell wouldn't help much either - a lot of scales smell odd - old Fritz Bracht Dovos in tight fitting boxes and Henckels give off a distinctive whiff when liberated from their boxes, for instance, even if the blade is perfectly OK.

I know the OPs example cannot be tested, but if you did have a candidate in hand putting a scrupulously cleaned and degreased length of mild steel between the scales and sealing in a bag, possibly for a lot longer than a week, would be a better indicator.

I did take the scales off a lot of razors that had cell rot and put them in an open-top box with junk blades and left them for up to a year - surprisingly the acid vapour did not affect any of the blades to a significant degree, but I suppose the experiment could have been improved by sealing the box.

Contrary to that I did get a Dubl Duck once (from a member here, who shall be nameless) that looked like it had been keenly buffed - lots of little polished-out pits all over it. I took it out of the scales, did a better job and repinned it. When I next looked at it - about a month after - although being in the open and in a dry area out of direct sunlight the blade was covered with fine rust again.

Regards,
Neil

Dealing with Cell Rot is ever changing, that is one of the most insidious aspects of Cell Rot, I have found no absolutes among the multiple cases I have seen.
There are some Razors that seem to be much more prone to it, but I haven't found color or pattern to have any determination of it..

Basically for every second or third case in a type of scale that I start to think there might be a pattern forming I will soon find an exception that disproves my assumption of pattern..

There were many different formulas of making Celluloid so it makes sense that we are finding different aspects of the dreaded rot..
Basically you have to take each razor as a new challenge and look at all the clues/symptoms present to determine if it is cell rot or just bad care in the past

I can't say whether it is rot or poor hygiene but I'd avoid that one unless someone gifted it to me. The mark side has the black stuff at the bevel and whether it is rot or not ........ (rhymes) if it has the devil's spit in the bevel it will swiss cheese when you hone it.

I think the OP's examples of cell rot are dead on. The original picture looks to me to be rust and staining from not drying off the inside of the scales though. Definitely seems to be a YMMV going on here.

Have fun.

Originally Posted by Lynn

The original picture looks to me to be rust and staining from not drying off the inside of the scales though

It really doesn't seem likely to me that rust and staining would just happen to coincide so closely with the color patterns of the scales... but I guess once some cell rot starts, any further dampness from not drying properly might well accumulate in the first pittings and that's where the rusting would happen.

Originally Posted by Oscroft

It really doesn't seem likely to me that rust and staining would just happen to coincide so closely with the color patterns of the scales... but I guess once some cell rot starts, any further dampness from not drying properly might well accumulate in the first pittings and that's where the rusting would happen.

IME, limited as it is, cell rot almost looks like fine rust, red or dark, airbrushed over the portion of the blade covered by the scales. So I have to agree with Lynn on this one. YMMV.