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I have a razor with (I think) cast aluminum scales. They're very fancy. Are cast aluminum scales unusual? I don't see much about them on the web or in books. Is there an obvious way to differentiate them from sterling silver? I understand after 1906 anything sterling would have been marked as such. Basically, anything you can tell me about cast aluminum scales is appreciated.
Aluminum was never really popular. They tend to tarnish and when they do they don't look so great. Silver is much heavier and the tarnish is black and of course it's much softer than aluminum and the tarnish comes off much more easily than aluminum.
Have a picture?
Most silver scales are very ornate.
Here's a T Hessenbruch& Co. One of my favorite makers and razors.
Very ornate.
Attachment 198187
Attachment 198185Attachment 198186
They polished nicely with Simichrome, but they weren't that tarnished to start with. And I think sterling would have been tarnished. The material's pretty thick, and inside the scales you can see that they're slightly hollowed out. I thought aluminum would be light, but the razor weighs an ounce and a half, and feels normal.
Interesting I have the woman on the back side but the famous Hessenbruch Bear with the staff on the front.
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Yeah, that definitely looks like the same woman. And your scales are aluminum?
Yes they are aluminum. Its funny that your front face is different then my front face but the backs are identical.
Check out this beauty from another member
Click link below
http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...um-scales.html
Some folks say they were stamped into the same molds as the celluloid ones. There was a theory that they used electrodeposition to make them from the female molds; a fancy name for thick electroplating. Some say they were cast into said molds. Lost wax casting is also a good method, the wax masters being cast at low cost into the female molds the backs hollowed, and then invested in plaster and burned out and the metal poured into the cavity. Or with that process, they could have used the celluloid scales themselves.( CAREFULLY!) From being a life time metals man, I would suggest that any of the above, or all, may be true. Same goes for the silver ones.
Me, I do not know as i don't have any but the simple stamped out and machine engraved 1mmk thick ones to compare.
Cheers
~Richard
That's a beautyful razor starling. I'm a big fan of aluminum scales. Here's one of mine.
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Now that is seriously cool
The rear scale is amazing
Some really nice scales, gents, thanks for sharing.
I did note that someone posted that aluminium 'was never really popular' and thought it best to point out that this assumption is erroneous.
Although aluminium salts occur in nature (eg alum, which I suppose most of us have used, the metal had be made in a lab using complicated chemical techniques. The first metal was made in 1825, but was impure. Improvements in creating the metal soon followed, but it was still hideously expensive to make, making it more valuable than gold, even in the 1880s.
It was so popular among the upper classes that when Napoleon threw a banqet only the privileged few had aluminium cutlery - lesser guests had to make do with mere gold cutlery.
So, at one time it was very desirable and expensive. Now they make cans and kitchen foil out of it. A sad fate indeed, but one that seems to echo life - in my youth I was desireable and very popular, but look at me now...
Regards,
Neil
Ditto on Neil's explanation why aluminum was popular as a rich man's accessory in the late 19th century. It was exclusive due to the difficulty of extraction. The cap of the the Washington Monument is aluminum because it was more expensive than gold. For a while the cachet as an expensive metal lasted even after the the use of electric furnaces made the metal readily available in the late 19th and early 20th century.
When I said it was never really popular I meant for making razor scales in the 20th century.
You know, when Mr Hall was sitting in chemistry class being told by his professor that anyone who could find a way to extract aluminum from Bauxite instead of from Cryolite would become richer than avarice he decided he would be the one and he was.
Attachment 198854
Some of us just like the feel of aluminum. :shrug:
And a cigar cutter to boot!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bud
~Richard
I have several of aluminum. It really does not tarnish easily and is much softer than sterling silver.
I really like the feel of it. Solid, yet light.
I have some I've renewed like Sharpton has done and made some; with a bit of care they are fine. Fine lapping Mylar is best for the tooled scales as it lays flat on the surface of the engraving and does not round it out.
Attachment 198932
The problem with fabricating the aluminum scales is that they remember every indignity visited upon them during fabrication and so the finishing sandings and polishing can be a very long drawn out process.
Richard
And, yes, the one shown above still had some time of final polishing to go.
Here is one that I made.
Interesting how we seem, once again, to be a fount of info for a seller who asks questions and answers none.
Um, what were the questions?Quote:
Originally Posted by sharptonn
Aluminum much softer that Sterling Silver? Not in a million years.
Much, much softer. Take a drill through each, if you have not. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
I speak of a worked piece of silver, such as razor scales. Not annealed silver.
