Thread: Puma

What is the skinny on Puma Razors? I just found one doing my inventory. It has thin white scales. I have a Red label in hand after a full day of restoring so will get some pictures in the morning.

Here are some pictures of the Puma and a Wade & Butcher. The Puma honed right up but there is a spot on the blade.

I hated to hone the Wade and Butcher no marks on the spine it is like new. The edge had several rust spots starting to pit so it had to be done. I do not know if the Wade is softer but after it came off the 600 & 1200 it came to hair splitting sharpness much faster than the other 25 razors in this buy I have sharpened so far.

Puma made great razors and they made them, they weren't sourced out until the very end of the company. If you want to avoid wear on the spine, particularly on the lower grits 1 layer of electrical tape would be very handy.

Did not upload must have been to big a file

Jim I am using strapping tape on my aluminum oxide and 600 DMT regular packaging tape on the King 1200. Not as messy on the stones with the numbers of razors I am doing in a row now. Look at the picture of the scales on the Puma they are very thin could they be Ivory?

Originally Posted by jreiter22

Jim I am using strapping tape on my aluminum oxide and 600 DMT regular packaging tape on the King 1200. Not as messy on the stones with the numbers of razors I am doing in a row now. Look at the picture of the scales on the Puma they are very thin could they be Ivory?

Good that you are using tape IMO. They might be genuine ivory. Do they have a sort of random grain that you may have to turn the scales in light to see ? You could do the hot pin test to check that out.

What does the Puma have written on the pile side of the tang ? They would sometimes stamp the steel type on the off side. It did come in the older Puma box BTW so it is older production.

It says "Made in Germany from Best Puma Steel" I did the hot pin test on the inside just behind the pivot and it did not burn. There is one U shaped swirl on one scale. I will take several razors to the Long Beach Antique show next month. There was a fellow selling legal Ivory this month I think the razors need a second opinion till I have more experience.

If I am not mistaken if the scales had a grain and were synthetic the grain would be identical from one side to the other. So they are probably ivory as the pin test would indicate.... or bone of some kind.

What I am wondering is whether they are original to the razor. I wish someone out there knows for sure when Puma started embedding the logo in the mark side of the scales. I have a few older Pumas that have plain blace 3 pin scales and I don't know whether they are 'correct'. I'm talking pre war Pumas.

Jim you may be correct the pivot is not a pin and washer the wedge end is.

Looks like an "upscale" rescaling with ivory to me, too, based on the pins. Did you smell a slight burnt tooth dentist office odor when you did the hot pin test? That is usual with ivory, even with no smoke. Nice piece!