Thread: Flea market finds. One with ivory?

The one on the right, the Schneider razor, is genuine ivory. The scales will clean nicely with Maaas or Flitz. You can use very thin superglue to glue the ivory but it will always be visible because it has darkened. Many older ivorys caled razors crack like this and the peculiarity is that it's almost always on only one side and only on the wedge pin. After some time I realized that this happens when the razor is jammed into the scales too hard, prying them apart. Something has to give and the side that cracks first at the wedge relieves the pressure, preserving the other side. Any sharp rap or dropping them so they hit spine first, driving the blade into the scales is likely to break them at that pin because the pieces of ivory are wafer thin.

sometimes you will find bone and horn scales cracked in a similar fashion and it's because of the same thing. As a result of this, many people think ivory is very easily cracked, but that's not so. You'll almost always notice that the rest of the scales, including the full opposite scale from the cracked one are quite nice.

Ivory is very sensitive to humidity and will expand and contract depending on atmosphere. If the pins are fixed and do not accommodate this movement, tension on the scale will provide a source for pressure to either warp the scale or to help the crack propagate.

A very thin penetrating superglue will offer some stability to the crack, maybe keep it from getting bigger. But, the best fix will be when this razor is restored. Either as Robert suggests, a liner backing, or drill the pin holes a thousandth larger than the pin diameter so the scales can move around with the weather and there won't be any tension applied between the pins. You can cover any gap with a washer. Or both.

I think on the ivory scales there is no true repair method, but I could be wrong. One thing you can try to do and I wish you luck on this is, is to find vintage replacement ivory scales or find a razor with ivory scales that has a no hope blade attached so you can salvage the scales. But however it may be best to leave the original ivory scales in place and just deal with the crack being there.

I would use it as is. You can't make the crack go away and, frankly, it's not going to get much worse unless you jam the razor in the scales again. It's been like that for decades and that's how it will end up staying without further stress. While ivory does not do all that well when pinned securely to solid materials like a fixed blade knife, with a razor, it's pinned only to itself. The problems with ivory usually come from being pinned to something that doesn't expand and contract the same way the ivory might.

As I noted earlier if you pay attention to ivory scaled razors you will find that in almost every case of cracked scales the following is true.

* It's the wedge end only
* It's only the scales on one side that crack.
* The crack rarely extends more than a few inches from the pin.

And that's because it's not cause by natural shrinkage and contraction, but by the force of the scales being wedged apart by the blade.

Agreed. Just use as is

Hmm, I see an "off side" crack on the pivot pin on that particular razor. I don't understand how the mechanical force of closing the razor would cause a crack in that spot when the relief force is causing a crack at the wedge.

Despite an acceptable explanation for most of the effects, IMO, it's not possible to completely discount the effects of nature on a natural material that moves even when it's not fixed to something solid that doesn't. Both cracks could also be explained by an overly forceful peening.

If anyone wants to see one of the ivory scaled Schneiders that I turned down, it's now on eBay. I don't know if it's being listed by the same guy I bought the other razors from, or someone who bought it from him, but it's the same razor. The seller has it listed as "Vintage super Fine Clean Straight Razor SCHNEIDER NICE". Apparently he has a much more favorable opinion of the razor than I did.

Vintage super Fine Clean Straight Razor SCHNEIDER NICE - eBay (item 370255291204 end time Sep-10-09 18:45:32 PDT)

good find. they all look like good shavers.let us know after you have them honed.have no suggestions on the ivory one. hope one of the experts can help you. GOOD LUCK !