Thread: Durability, water resistance, feel and other (dis)advantages of scale materials

Originally Posted by dinnermint

You mentioned you want to "wash the lather off" the scales when it gets on there with water.

I would advise against this as water could get into the pivot and be difficult to dry off. Just use some dry paper towel or TP to wipe it off.

My preference is bone or horn, aesthetically speaking.

I've thought about the pivot being the weak spot. The way I do it with my shavette is rinse it (scales + blade) off, then dry it off with a towel and then use a hair dryer to make everything super dry.

Go with what material you gravitate to. What's your style..
The considerations you noted involving durability and water resistance are of little concern. When you get more experience with a razor, you will find it will not be covered in soap, or need serious cleaning.. No need to throw it in an autoclave..
Regarding wood.. Not all wood is equal.
I had African Blackwood in a wet moldy basement for a long time, not one bit of mold or rot. So hard oily woods are infact quite durable and mold resistant.
This is not a combat knife headed to a tropical war zone.

It seems as though even with this information that you will probably still lean toward synthetics, this is perfectly fine.
What's more important is what really makes you happy.
Welcome to the forum! I hope you thoroughly enjoy yourself and find what you are looking for.

The easiest way to avoid possible trouble at the pivot is to not get lather near it or the scales. I am not that coordinated when shaving but don't recall getting the lather past the blade by much.

Bob

I manage to get lather and water everywhere! I rince and dry and air dry afterwards. I dont worry about rust in the pivot as i keep an eye on them and if something was to start looking wrong i will unpin, clean and repin. No big deal.
Im not one to keep water out of the pivot.

As Mike T. said, hard woods will hold up for many years without rot. If wood scales are made properly they are sealed so water cant get to the wood. Even in the pivot holes of the scales.

But i vote for Bone!

Originally Posted by CobraX

Since I'm planning on getting my first straight razor in the near future (a Koraat), I'm looking at all the different scale materials and their advantages/disadvantages.

Since you're buying a Koraat, I would recommend their bone scales. I recently bought what looks to me to be an NOS Koraat with bone scales off eBay, and I've got to say that Koraat does some of the nicest bone scales I've ever seen, I was really impressed. If I had decent pictures of it I'd upload them, but I don't yet. I'll try to tomorrow. Very white with high polish, no big ugly brown pores at the ends. Not quite the glow of good ivory, but very nice indeed, and better than a lot of the dull-finish ivory I've seen sold as scales. The rave reviews of Koraats on this forum are no joke, he does very nice work, this was my first Koraat. Pretty much all of the same advantages as ivory in terms of tradition and beauty when they are done to Koraat's level, I see no downside.

Horn would be my own next choice, I love the material. It only really requires maintenance if you're buying really old vintage horn scales. On new horn scales, I would think a little mineral oil rub about once a decade or two would be enough, lol.

The only G10 scales I have were done by Max, and I love them! Beautiful and indestructible. But Max is such an artist that what he can do with G10 may not be what others can do, so I've never bought any G10 scaled razors or restores from anybody else. I love G10 handgun grips too. All upside, no downside.

Next for me would be celluloid, because so many makers did so many artistic things with it back in the heyday. Unbelievably brilliant colors, super sharp and clever embossing designs, I just love it. The downside is celluloid rot; I had a beautiful Busch Weltmeister in beautiful ruby red scales get totally trashed by celluloid rot, the blade was ruined by the time I caught it. It's the only celluloid razor I own that it ever happened to, and I'm glad I caught it before it spread to others, but it makes me nervous about celluloid.

My least favorite scale material is wood. It looks great, but doesn't balance well for me with even the most dense tropical hardwoods (particularly with razors with thicker grinds). It mars easily, and if it has been so stabilized that it is mar-resistant, it tends to look plastic to me. And it is prone to swelling and warping and splitting, for me anyway.

Although I recommend Koraat's bone scales, I just can't resist the opportunity to show off the restore that Max did on my old Wade & Butcher blade I sent him years ago, using very cool layered black and blue G10 scales, a perfect match for a big W&B. Probably my favorite razor in my collection, a true beauty. It shows what's possible with G10. Max's pictures, not mine (but thankfully the razor is!)

Originally Posted by Speedster

His homage to the Filarmonica would be my choice....I think. I dare not look at that Configurator.

I have put together a couple on there but haven’t pulled the trigger. Surprisingly not outrageous, imho.

My vote for scales is horn, but I love horn, a lot. The camel bone looks really nice too, it can be dyed black as well, not sure he offers it but I’ve seen it before. I think, ultimately whatever you pick will hold up fine, I don’t treat my razors like my knives, or any other tool for that matter. Tools for delicate work often get treated delicately.

Good luck, I can’t say I’m not a little jealous of your razor choice.

My preference is bone and horn. Thayer are both a nice material, and strong as well as durable. There are some cool bone scales around and some very nice horn ones as well. The juma is a cool material too as well as acrylester. The options seem endless. We each need to decide what appeals most to us, kind of like most things in life.

Horn and paper micarta here.

I like wood, just for the fact that none can be identical to the next, when it comes to their grain. Nature offers the beauty.

I will add one picture to backup Outback opinion.



Wood can be beautiful!