Thread: Estas 14 by Max Sommer

Gentleman,
I did not find any information when i searched here for this so here goes.
pictured is an ESTAS #14, 8/8, round point full hollow, jimping on both top and bottom of shank, by Max Sommer Solingen-Wald ( i'm guessing between the wars for manufacture date) it seems in great shape... ihave not cleaned or polished it ... this is a fresh ebay purchase. there does not seem to be any spine flattening so if it has been honed it has not been honed often.
i forgot to take pictures of the open blade but other than discoloration it seems fine, no rust or pitting.

Any ideas or information?
Thanks

Watch that razor VERY closely. Those scales are the most prone to devastating celluloid rot of any type I've known. I've had several with that scale material and celluloid rot was a problem with all of them.

Pretty razor, though. Just keep a really, really close eye on it and I would avoid stashing it with other celluloid razors.

In looking closer to that razor, the small rusty spot on the tang and jimps near the "14" looko to correspond directly with the dark reddish blotch on the scales and that's the place I would suspect the problem. I'd wager that the scales are already off-gassing.

Thanks for the heads up... short of replacing the scales with some nice horn or wood... i forget, is there anything that can be done for celluloid rot?
this razor probaly has not been is a coffin for a while so that could have helped with keeping it as clean as it is

Unfortunately, no... it will only get worse. While lots of celluloid seems to hold up quite well, that particular celluloid "marble" pattern is just notorious for this problem. Too bad, too, because it was found on quite a few very nice razors. You're fortunate that the razor hasn't been ruined. I'm 99.9% certain that this will get worse for you. But all is not lost because it is a beautiful blade. Just keep it separated from all your others and if you clean up the rust and it reappears in the same area very quickly, you'll know that you have to removed those scales to save the razor.

syslight-
have you seen the excellent review of celluloid rot that robert did (its on his blog site)? i cant find the link right now, perhaps robert will post a link to it...

nice looking razor! new scales would make that a true keeper!

cheers,
ryan

Funny, the shape and grind looks just like a Filarmonica, and it even has the "14" that marks Filly 8/8's. But it's German.

Link to a post on celluloid rot.

http://www.straightedgerazors.com/fo...ight=celluloid

Originally Posted by PapaBull

Unfortunately, no... it will only get worse. While lots of celluloid seems to hold up quite well, that particular celluloid "marble" pattern is just notorious for this problem. Too bad, too, because it was found on quite a few very nice razors. You're fortunate that the razor hasn't been ruined. I'm 99.9% certain that this will get worse for you. But all is not lost because it is a beautiful blade. Just keep it separated from all your others and if you clean up the rust and it reappears in the same area very quickly, you'll know that you have to removed those scales to save the razor.

As i feared... now i need to find somebody willing to removethe etsas man logo from the scales and put him on a new set... but first i will clean the blade up, might as well descale it too.

thanks for the sad news

http://razortips.blogspot.com/