Thread: Issues with natural materials

In the last few weeks I have noticed 2 of my most coveted items have developed problems. I was keeping both in my bathroom, and keeping them clean and oiled.

The first I noticed was my brush from pixelfixed. It has a rather large ivory base and it developed a nasty crack through the ivory.

The second is my Robert Williams in buffalo horn. I noticed it today when I saw it wasn't centering properly. After folding it open it wouldn't fold back closed. It appears the scales shrunk about 1/8 inch.


Anyone have any idea what could be causing these issues and a way to fix them?

First thing to do is contact the makers for advice.

How unfortunate . It may be a temperature and humidity issue . Both items have been made with tight tolerances and wild fluctuations , especially during winter can cause problems with natural materials swelling and contracting . I do not keep my razors in the bathroom for that very reason.

The brush I could see humidity getting into the plug on the bottom and swelling and causing the ivory to crack, but I would think it would have to swell quite a bit to cause the crack. Do you let the whole brush including the entire handle to soak? As for the horn shrinking that much that fast is a first for me. As for fixes I wouldn't want to recommend anything since I am not that familiar with fixing these problems with these materials that much. One thing I would suggest is staying away from glues that expand for a fix for the ivory as it might cause the crack to widen and put stress on the surround ivory. Different materials swell and shrink at different rates so heating them up and letting them cool could cause one material to swell or shrink faster than others. Looking forward to seeing the suggestions from the makers and other more knowledgeable people.

I've kept them in the bathroom in my old house, but have move in august.

I never let the brush soak. I always put a little water in a mug and only soak the knot.

Heat is the first thing that comes to my mind. KNot sure about the brush :<0) but horn scales warp and do all kinds of contortions with very little heat. Is there any chance of direct sunlight hitting these things at anytime during the day or even bouncing off a mirror ? That would be my guess but only a guess. Pixel will be around to offer some advice on the brush and maybe more about how it could have happened.

Heat may be part of the problem. I recently installed a coal stove and a vent to my bathroom. Sunlight wouldn't be an issue as I keep my shave gear in the closet in the bathroom.

That's just the nature of the beast. Ivory changes dimensions with changes in humidity, so it doesn't matter if you put it in water - if the humidity fluctuates (quite likely in a bathroom) it creates internal stresses in the material and they could lead to a crack.

I thought that if the horn is aged it's less prone to changes, but it's notoriously unstable. Few years ago I had to work extra hard on Max to get him to put horn scales on some razors because he had stopped using the material for this very reason. I don't know if it's a piece of one horn rather than the usual material that has many horns softened and molded together, I don't know if it's more stable. At the end of the day when it's on the animal it's curved and to make it into scales it is softened and straightened a bit - under the right conditions or with enough time it may still deform back towards how it used to be.

Ivory is a funny material. If the ivory was over heated during the making of the brush, it can cause stress fractures. That being said, I know Pixel is well aware of this and would have taken the proper precautions to avoid any of that, but it is possible. When you have that many different kinds of natural materials, each moving differently as they naturally do, bad things can happen. Again, that being said, I know Pixel takes this into account as well. I use techniques that he has shared with me to avoid things like this happening. I would say this is one of those one in a million flukes. I'm sure Pixel will have suggestions for you.