Thread: Unknown razors - does anyone recognise?

I clean all razors with WD40, spray them down, especially between the scales, let it soak for a few minutes then scrub with a toothbrush and get between the scales with a paper towel wrapped wooden coffee stir stick with the end clipped off for scraping.

Let them dry and hand sand with 600 up to 1k then polish with any good metal polish, Mass, Flitz, 3M Marine or Novus. Or use a buffer with fine greased compound, Green Chrome on a sewn wheel is a good start.

If you want a quick easy hard finish, use CA (Super Glue) use thin coats to absorb, spread with a small silicone spatula. You can use a kicker to apply several coats in a short amount of time.

You have to be careful with old Celluloid, you can start a chemical reaction with alcohol that can cause some Celluloid to kickoff.

What you think is cardboard, may be Celluloid that has broken down, the rust pattern on the razor is very consistent with cell rot. If the razors were stored together, one razor could cause all of them to rust. I have seen broken down Celluloid that looks like that.

I once saw a razor in a display case with the early stages of cell rot, there were several razors, knives and other metal objects in the case. I advised the store employee about the case and cell rot. I returned to the store about 3 months later that summer, and all of the razors, knives and anything metal in the case was rusted. The razor was completely eaten.

If it is brittle and smells, I would replace the scales. Horn is inexpensive, very easy to work and looks beautiful.

A rusted pin is a Cell rot indicator, sometimes it is the wedge that has kicked off. White, clear and patterned scales are the most susceptible.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

...What you think is cardboard, may be Celluloid that has broken down, the rust pattern on the razor is very consistent with cell rot. If the razors were stored together, one razor could cause all of them to rust. I have seen broken down Celluloid that looks like that...

Thanks for the input. I'm very sure it isn't celluloid, it is too fibrous and flexible. I'm going with some sort of leather at the moment, but the line dividing reconstituted leather and some other types of pressed board is a pretty fine one. As you say, the rust profile is consistent of celluloid rot, but it is also consistent with steel being in contact with a porous and absorbent material, especially if the environment is slightly damp. And if any further confirmation is needed, I took the scales off about a year ago and cleaned the blade up, and since then everything has been in a plastic bag together, and there is no further rust.

Anyway, I'm not going to worry too much about the precise identity of the material. Given that it is apparently absorbent and flexible, I plan to proceed as you suggest, I will treat the scales with low-viscosity CA, then clamp them flat, so that I hopefully end up with stiff and stable scales. I will then finish with CA as you suggest. I did look into finishing pressed or boiled leather with hard waxes, but I felt the expense wasn't really proportionate to the quality and interest of the razor. However, I do plan to experiment with leather and hard waxes as a scale material in the future.

The only thing that concerns me is that if it is a waxed leather, that might not stick to the CA too well, or absorb it. But let's give it a try and see. If I ruin the scales, it won't be too hard to find another solution.