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Thread: Shell razor?

  1. #11
    FDR
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    In case some are wondering if I posted these up to gather information to sell. You won't see this for sale anywhere nor will you see the ERN Primus that was with it. They will be in the family for a long time as my ten year old daughter has the collecting bug already and wants every family heirloom she can get her hands on. She gets that from me.
    Havachat45 and Wullie like this.

  2. #12
    'tis but a scratch! roughkype's Avatar
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    You sound a little despairing about the rust, but it didn't look that bad to me. If you've got a dog toenail grinder, try putting a dremel wire brush in it and brushing away that rust. DON'T use a full Dremel tool--too fast and too powerful. The toenail grinders are slower and have a clutch that stops them spinning before they rip fur from between Rover's toes. Some plain old metal polish (Flitz or Maas) might also remove that rust, and the second L will be as clear as the first one.

    Best wishes to you

  3. #13
    'tis but a scratch! roughkype's Avatar
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    Just looked at your pictures again. The rust spots are in the same place, more or less, on opposite sides of the tang. That suggests the scales might be a little fritzy. Worst-case scenario: celluloid scales exhibiting cell rot. They break down and release either acetic or nitric acid vapor, depending on which kind of celluloid it is. To tell if they are celluloid scales, heat the end of a paper clip in a match or lighter flame, then touch it to some part of the scale you can't see. If you get a little waft of piney-smelling smoke, you've got celluloid scales. The only thing you can do when the scales start going bad is get them off the blade before they damage it any further.

    The other thing that could be happening is if they're horn scales, some sort of moth or beetle larva can make its brief living and munch out a little cavern. The moisture from their life, and also held by the little cavern when they've moved on, can rust the blade.

    It may well be neither of these things, could have been the blade was put away wet many decades ago. But do check the celluloid thing; that can get pretty bad.

  4. #14
    Senior Member blabbermouth
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    Quote Originally Posted by roughkype View Post
    Just looked at your pictures again. The rust spots are in the same place, more or less, on opposite sides of the tang. That suggests the scales might be a little fritzy. Worst-case scenario: celluloid scales exhibiting cell rot. They break down and release either acetic or nitric acid vapor, depending on which kind of celluloid it is. To tell if they are celluloid scales, heat the end of a paper clip in a match or lighter flame, then touch it to some part of the scale you can't see. If you get a little waft of piney-smelling smoke, you've got celluloid scales. The only thing you can do when the scales start going bad is get them off the blade before they damage it any further.

    The other thing that could be happening is if they're horn scales, some sort of moth or beetle larva can make its brief living and munch out a little cavern. The moisture from their life, and also held by the little cavern when they've moved on, can rust the blade.

    It may well be neither of these things, could have been the blade was put away wet many decades ago. But do check the celluloid thing; that can get pretty bad.
    I'm afraid I have to disagree with the cell-rot idea - doesn't look at all like that to me, and dark celluloid hardly ever exhibits cell-rot - even when you have a scale with lots of marbled colours in it, the parts of the blade that are not attacked are under the darker mottlings (the scientific reason is that dark colours require much, much more binder and pigment than translucent colours and therefore have very small amounts of the out-gassing material in them). Furthermore they don't look like celluloid scales to me either - hard to tell from the picture I know, but they look like some sort of pressed leather (cuir bouilli). You often get a kind of green verdigris reaction around the pins with this stuff too - although that isn't conclusive, these pins do seem to have it.

    It simply looks like the tang or inside of the scales were wet/damp when the razor was put away - naturally, the moisture is kept in intimate contact with the scales where they press tightest - at the pinnings.

    Just my 2 cent worth.

    Regards,
    Neil

  5. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Neil Miller For This Useful Post:

    AlanII (05-27-2012), roughkype (05-27-2012)

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