Thread: Turtle she'll scales

Originally Posted by nalob

I think it's due to turtles being on the endagered species list in the 20th century. Anybody have experience working with turtle shell to shape to make scales? My wife is from Palau and says it's not illegal there to harvest turtles and they still eat them there but I think it's illegal to sell shells and jewelry made from it. Told her I wouldn't sell it but would love to make scales for a wade and butcher to hand down to my sons when they are older

Yes it is illegal to buy/sell in many countries due to CITES restrictions, often even to modify it (i.e. work it into new shapes). The laws vary by country and are more complicated than you might think. Btw I've heard that it works like horn.

Yes it is highly illegal here in Hawaii to even have a shell in possession. Still researching about the laws. I know there are 2 species that are protected the brown sea turtle the ones found here as well as the green sea turtle. I gotta find out about the legalities of getting some from my wife's family

I'm pretty sure the shell used for razor scales was from a specific species of turtle. I looked into in good detail a while back because I thought I found an ern razor with she'll scales. They process the shell pretty extensively if I remember my findings accurately, so nabbing a turtle and turning the shell into scales may not be an easy venture.

Edit: yes it is a hawksbill sea turtle that has the sought after gold and brown splotching.

Originally Posted by prodigy

I'm pretty sure the shell used for razor scales was from a specific species of turtle. I looked into in good detail a while back because I thought I found an ern razor with she'll scales. They process the shell pretty extensively if I remember my findings accurately, so nabbing a turtle and turning the shell into scales may not be an easy venture.

Edit: yes it is a hawksbill sea turtle that has the sought after gold and brown splotching.

Yep,the Hawksbill was one of the favorites . This publication circa 1860 by the Museum of South Kensington (now the Victoria and Albert) describes some of the animal products imported during that period. Scroll down a bit to pg 87 for the tortoise shell portion. https://books.google.com/books?id=RU...20half&f=false

Here's a tortoise scaled Heljestrand Mk 32....

No but I keep looking on the roads for a hit turtle hoping parts would still be useable. I suspect only the underbelly would be functional. I have been trying to figure out how to cut deer antlers to make scales for a few razors that really need replacement. I don't want to use the common forms of media to fabricate scales.

CITES is pretty airtight on harvesting, shipping, or indeed even repurposing tortoise shell. I have a friend who used to purchase old cameo boxes and turn them into guitar pick guards and picks, but gave it up as it was simply too difficult to prove provenance to the satisfaction of the law.

These days when luthiers want to get as close to the real deal as they can, they use this stuff:

https://www.kirinite.com/tortoise-shell.html

Having owned authentic tortoise picks and pick guards, and assessed the two side by side, I can tell you that this material is very difficult to distinguish visually from the real deal.

Here is a seven day set in tortoise shell

What a Beautiful set of Razors, the scales look perfect as can be, WoW!!

Originally Posted by nalob

I think it's due to turtles being on the endagered species list in the 20th century. Anybody have experience working with turtle shell to shape to make scales? My wife is from Palau and says it's not illegal there to harvest turtles and they still eat them there but I think it's illegal to sell shells and jewelry made from it. Told her I wouldn't sell it but would love to make scales for a wade and butcher to hand down to my sons when they are older

Originally Posted by ScienceGuy

Yes it is illegal to buy/sell in many countries due to CITES restrictions, often even to modify it (i.e. work it into new shapes). The laws vary by country and are more complicated than you might think. Btw I've heard that it works like horn.

Oh man ... that's too bad! I still have some shells from WAY back in the day when I was living in the caribbean, that I was hoping to have converted into scales. I mean after I got my heljestrand with genuine tortoiseshell, I was "sold." They are beautiful and fact is, hanging them up now gets people all into a frenzy.