Display?

I sent a relative who is into keeping Old Time Farm Machinery and other such things alive and well and on display the pictures of my Great Grandfather's W&B Near Wedge that Glen (GSSIXGUN) restored and made such beautiful new scales for. (Look in Custom Builts and Restorations for Heirloom W&B Restore in Feathered Horn)

He has his Grandfather's Straight Razor and he asked me a question that I couldn't answer. Here's his question:

"Can I have the razor and scales brought back to nice and shiny and then be able to put it in a display case and not have it rust or deteriorate?

He's not interested with being able to shave with it (His Loss!) Does anyone have an idea about how to protect the blade from slowly returning to it's present state after someone worked so hard to bring it back?

My thought was that perhaps the blade could be sprayed with a clear-coat before it was placed back in the old scales. Glen had told me that while he could polish up the original horn scales the were delaminating and would simply continue to do so. I don't know if this would be an issue when the razor/scales were not in use.

Any experience or thoughts about this?

I would think you could totally seal the scales in RenWax. If you let some neatsfoot oil soak in before sealing them, they should stay nice and hydrated. I would imagine you could seal the blade too, if rust is a concern. Or you could keep them in a low airflow container (like a display case) with desiccants to absorb the moisture in the air.

But I don't know what this would do with respect to the delaminating. I would think it would stabilize it, but have never tried. I have also not seen delaminating get worse, but I've not observed any delaminating horn for longer than maybe two years.

Thanks Dylan!

I beleive that he is thinking of a display kind of like a Picture Frame only deeper, probably behind glass. I checked out the Ren Wax and it sounds promising for the scales. I still wonder if clear coating the blade wouldn't be the best option to keep rust away for years. ??

I have read people coat blades in RenWax, which should end up clear. TufGlide also seems like a good option.

Something to think about is you can always start without a clear coat and add one at the first sign of trouble, but some clear coats may be tough to get off if the need should arise.

They make products for long term storage. I like Russell's no rust. It's a silicon prep that coats metal and it's so thick it stays on until you wipe it off.