Thread: Turtle she'll scales

Anybody see or have real turtle shell scales?

Yeah. There are some members on here who have some. You wight try the advanced search. Maybe someone will show some but there have been threads on them.

Turtles crawl of the creek nearby me and get run over trying to cross the road. I've been meaning to try and find some shell that's been cleaned up by ants and see if it's suitable.

If you want to shell out some cash for some,

Here are a few:
Rasoirs

I see them on ebay rather often. What did you want to know about them?

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I see a lot of faux shell and wanted to see some real pieces. Was thinking of making some scales for a heirloom razor that I'd like to pass down to my son.

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I used to have a pair of heljestrand genuine tortoiseshell razors that I sold. They are the only 20th century example of razors I have seen with scales made of such material.

From what I gather, genuine tortoiseshell scales that are in good condition are not that easy to find. I have seen them more frequently on early french razors.

Here you go. Select Keen Kutters (early 1900s) were made with t-shell (I know because I've handled about 4 of these personally). Aside from that and the Kindalls (MK30, 31, 32 mostly) it's not seen much in the 20th century.

Vintage Striaght Blade Razors Dubi Duckw Attachment Keen Kutter | eBay

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

They also used Ivory on their razors. I have 2 Keen Kutters with original Ivory scales. One is a Barbers Pet.