Thread: Ivory scaled wedges

if the soap and water doesn't work, the next step would be a mild abrasive polish. if that doesn't work, you could, in fact, sand down the ivory using very high grit paper (1,500-2,000+) to see if the ink blotch could be removed. ivory will buff back up to a high polish after you sand it.

Oh, also, you might care to know.. the pivot hole on the 2nd razor has actually been moved. I imagine the razor closes very close to the pin on the wedge end of the razor, am I correct? You can see the original hole, where the scales had cracked..and someone decided to save the scales by drilling a new hole

will that second one close? looks close after the repin

Ivory being a natural / porous substance and most fountain pen inks (assuming it is due to age of scales and such) being waterbased and designed to work well with capillary action I'd guess sanding would reveal that the ink has permeated the substrate as well as the surface.

Assuming it's an old, non-permanent ink... tepid water, a soft brush and gentle scrubbing should do the trick.

Fountain pen inks can often be removed using a drop of dish soap or ammonia in tepid water, but I'd be afraid to use either on ivory as it may discolor permanently.

Try tepid water and a soft brush first... dish soap or ammonia water I'd be hesitant to recommend. A good gentle abrasive such as toothpaste and a toothbrush might also do some good... but I'd be afraid that no matter how much of the surface you remove, you'll reveal more ink staining below.

Beautiful razors by the way... I'm particularly attracted to the blade on the Barlow.

the only way to remove pitting is to remove the surrounding metal until it's leveled with the bottom of the pits. If the pits are deeper than the stamp you can't keep the stamp while getting rid of the pits (unless you sand only around the pit and turn it into a pothole).
So if you want you can sand it a bit and stop before the stamp is gone and live with whatever pitting is left over at that point.

The second razor has replacement scales - you can see the original pivot pins before the new ones were drilled half a centimeter or so lower.

Thanks for the feedback and advice. I will try the water and toothbrush but I'm not holding my breath.

As for the second razor, it closes with about half a millimeter to spare...