Thread: These scales cannot be original... right?

I've seen this on a number of blades. Sometimes the forward part of the wedge has been filed intentionally but some look like the blade did the filing. and sometimes also the outside edges have been sanded flush..
It seems like a high % of my French blades have been rescaled at some point with the wrong sized scales because they were horn, yet too small..
The broken blade is always sad to see. The ones I've seen usually are broken just like that.
Nice shorty Mike! Did you seal the scales with anything?

Originally Posted by sharptonn

The wedge on many vintage razors, if not most, is canted so that the top shows a smaller wedge than does the bottom. ...

Something the masters did back when.

Ah! So this uneven wedge could be both original and intentional.

I still have some room to play with, so I'll do some filing, and let's hope the scales won't go on contracting forever (otherwise they will eventually become a black hole).

Originally Posted by MikeT

I...
It seems like a high % of my French blades have been rescaled at some point with the wrong sized scales because they were horn, yet too small..
...

Aha! Another clue, maybe a French penchant for 'slim fit' scales...

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Looks like they are shrinking and a bit warped. If Celluloid and beginning to kick off, might explain the dark patina on the razor.

...

The appearance of the dark patina is I think more down to the photo. This razor is very shiny, and is stable. I have never had to polish it, and the finish is not changing at all.



And it is also dead straight, with no issues such as the blade binding on the scales.



The shrinking seems to be the big issue!

Those look like original scales to me, Ive had quite a few French razors pass through my hands, looks like horn, like its been mentioned before I too have also had to sand/file a few of the wedges to fit again, and in some cases shorten the wedge and straighten the scales if they look ok that is otherwise I just replace em.

Originally Posted by alpla444

Those look like original scales to me, Ive had quite a few French razors pass through my hands, looks like horn, like its been mentioned before I too have also had to sand/file a few of the wedges to fit again, and in some cases shorten the wedge and straighten the scales if they look ok that is otherwise I just replace em.

Up to this point, I've been sure they are not horn. They appear to be some sort of plastic, due to the texture, and due to the lack of imperfections and blemishes, but as I said earlier, I can't get any smell off them after warming and rubbing them. I did wonder whether they were ebony, but although there is some grain, it seems too consistent to be a natural material, and if it is wood, it has been heavily lacquered.

Maybe I will have to do some sort of test and really confirm. I want to avoid hot pins if possible.

I have a couple of Heljestrands that have scales so finely finished I never thought them to be horn, but after a little unfortunate accident it was revealed to be horn. They looked so clean and polished and were lacquered.

I also had a vintage Henckels that came with black wood scales, also looked almost perfect, you could see some pores in the wood but not much. They came in a pair and one was cracked near the pivot to reveal it were undoubtedly wooden scales.

So, lack of imperfections and blemishes is not always a foolproof method to judge materials by.

If you decide to file down the wedge, see what the smell says. If that doesn't give that plastic smell, I doubt the scales are plastic.

This really old Westby has scales I swore were wood, perhaps ebony I thought. Then I decided to descale for clean up and broke a peice off. Turned out to be horn.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

This really old Westby has scales I swore were wood, perhaps ebony I thought. Then I decided to descale for clean up and broke a peice off. Turned out to be horn.

Interesting, from the picture I would not have thought those scales were horn. They also look quite similar to the scales on my Ramon razor.

If in doubt--do the hot pin test, it only takes a couple of minutes and the smell between burnt hair and burnt plastic is very easy to distinguish.

Originally Posted by cudarunner

If in doubt--do the hot pin test, it only takes a couple of minutes and the smell between burnt hair and burnt plastic is very easy to distinguish.

Unless you lost your sense of smell to Zicam like I did.