Regeldso razor

[UAcowboy]

Picked this up as a gift for a friend. Just curious about it. The scales look a bit big on the razor so i am wondering if Regeldso made a Best Silver Steel model. That is all that is stamped on the blade so i am not sure and i haven't been able to find anything. in any case i am not sure the scales can be saved. they are de-laminating on the inside.

[RezDog]

The scales look like plastic. If you want to keep it all original you should be able to warm the scales and clamp them flat until they cool.

[UAcowboy]

I will definitely give that a try. what would be the best way to heat them up. hot water?

[RezDog]

I have to be honest and say I haven't actually done it myself, I read it in a post here. You can use the search engine to find posts about straightening scales. If it were me I'd do the research and then attack the project. You will find info on both while the razor is still assembled and when the razor os dismantled. It has been posted a few times so finding it shouldn't be hard.

[Neil Miller]

The pinning looks original - at least from what I can make out from the photos, so I'd say the scales were original.

The reason they have distorted or bowed is the metal logo on one side. Metal has a different thermal reaction to plastic, expanding and contracting differently and eventually bowing the inlaid scale out - you see it with a lot of razors.

You can correct it with filling a container deep enough to accept the scales to just below the pivot pin with water that has just boiled and immersing the scales in it until they soften, but it is best to get a few things ready first.

Once the scales get soft, they go floppy and tend to close up, so you need a former shaped like the blade, but thicker so it gives some clearance - making something out of a bit of scrap wood will suffice. This goes between the scales to prevent them collapsing in on each other. Next, get a similar container filled with cold water ready, or do it by the sink with the cold tap running so you can douse the scales and take the floppiness out of them immediately.

You may have to repeat the exercise a few times, particularly as the bowing has affected one side more than the other and the wedge looks a bit odd, and the blade has probably been forced over to one side and may give difficulty closing without hitting one scale or the other.

If you leave the blade open at 90 degrees then it will not get too affected by the water/steam, but take care to dry thoroughly, both blade and scales.

The major problems with this simple method is that (a) some materials that look like regular plastic/celluloid will not soften with heat, and probably the major problem is (b) that the metal logo sometimes pops out. You have to weigh up the risk.

Regards,
Neil

[UAcowboy]

The scales did not survive the attempt to straighten them in good shape. there was some kind of inner liner that mostly detached when heated. It was like a plastic film of some kind. had to disassemble them to fully remove it and found the scales were cracked under the film. I will be saving the inlay to put on the new scales i will be making. should be an adventure.

[UAcowboy]

well here it is. Not super pretty but it was also my first restore. New scales are Katalox with a CA finish. left the dents on purpose for texture and character. wedge was an experiment with Instamorph. It was easy to shape and fast but if my belt sander hadn't died i might have tried another wood. just didn't have any thin enough right now to go by hand. I learned a lot on this one for sure.



Also only camera i had on hand is my phone so sorry about the photo quality

[RezDog]

I actually don't mind the dents. All in all it's a good job. My first few I really struggled with the pinning. Now one of the issues I run into is some of my rod stock is too hard. Your pins look fine. Razors are tough to photograph, I tend to go with long exposures with a tripod mounted camera. One of the issues in doing that is you can easily see every flaw. I hope you had fun, I really enjoy doing restores.