Thread: Original Scales?

Before I decide whether or not to switch out the scales, could anyone tell if these are original?

No, looks like it was pinned by a beaver.

Those type of scales were popular back in the day, probably for DIY because the owner would just have to pin one end.

Horn was probably how they came from the factory. It has lost a lot of width, about a 1/3 and may have edge retention issues.

That blade looks to have been used a bunch! Some barber must have shaved the entirety of Connecticut with that guy. She has been honed down pretty far. Definitely not the original scales or pins.

I think I see a bit of a heel hook developing too unless I'm mistaken. Always hone towards a smile. And those scales are nothing special-I'd put some pretty ones on it and throw those in the drawer. Some guys on here like to keep things all original, though; on the old classic beauties, that is absolutely the way to go. True restoration is a much higher skill set than rescaling IMO; my hat's off to the guys who do it well.

I just received a lot of 5 nice bare blades from Ebay that I was putting against scale blanks and getting ideas for future projects-I love that aspect of it!

Definitely not original. That's a pre-McKinley Tariff W&B. Most likely horn but if not black celluloid. Doubt that one's pre '68 so it could have been but probably horn and definitely not whats on it.

I think you're right Aaron, if it's not a heel hook now it's not far off. You're definitely going to have to reshape that heel Hatch. Euclid 440 has some good posts on doing that. I can't seem to find one but maybe he'll chime back in. He's also right that you've lost so much steel at the edge that getting it to hold an edge may be a problem. when a blade is heat treated the steel changes it's molecular structure but not all the way through or at least not to the same degree. Once you hone past a certain point what's below it does not have the same degree of hardness so it may not stay sharp as long. That's why you see these razors that look like they are almost nothing but spine left. I think those were probably all "working razors" and whatever barber had it was having to hone it all the time to keep it sharp enough. It will still take an edge but may dull quickly. Maybe not though. Only time will tell.