Thread: Scale Material ID Help

I think ive heard they made scales out of milk somewhere, they also used milk to do the floors a long time ago. didnt know the name was Galalith so i added the link, so thx for helping me with the name for it and also the guy asking here. THX. named: Galalith: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galalith

Originally Posted by Mcduck

Looking at it up to the light there seems to be a pattern of long lines running the length of the scales with a slight curve to them. Some spots you can see it others you can't.

Is this the grain of ivory (never seen ivory grain before)?

I'll see if I can get a picture of it along with a good close up of the pin area.

Ivory grain is pretty much just like wood grain.
if you have straight line my guess is manmade material.

Originally Posted by Mcduck

This was going to be my next question... was / is there much 'faking of ivory'?

Yes,today it is rampant.But not for razor scales.

I couldn't get a picture really showing what I see in the scales properly, so I hunted on Google for it instead. This picture is NOT my razor, but it is a JR and the scales are almost identical to mine, however the pattern (grain?) in these ones is much more pronounced than mine.

I have a Wade & Butcher with scales similar to the one above, and were told they were ox bone.

They could very well be ivory,what people want to see is a pronounced grain pattern like you see on Helji 32s etc,But, that is known as gem quality Ivory and today it is very expensive ($1.50/Gm ++) It all depends on how it is cut.
On a tusk section you have the shereger lines, they are only about half an inch deep.
If you have say a 3 lb section of tusk,you have to slab it in such a way as the lines are present in the scale sections,you end up with a core of plain white ivory, usefull but not gem quality,will post a pic shortly.

This slab is about 1/4 thick,imagine it being 7in. long,you slab the outer sections that have the cross hatchings (sheregar lines) than you have highly grained, gem class ivory for scales,the rest is common ivory.
I rarely cut ivory in that manner anymore for scales,is far to expensive.

This is what you end up with,good stuff for sure,but to me it is waste,still very pricey waste tho

Looks like bone to me. Can you take a nice tight closeup of it with good lighting?

+1 on the request for a good macro in good lighting. My guess is ivory based on what I see now. I have 5 ivory razors and as a material it is really unmistakable in the hand. It feels like glass. Bone has distinctive specks of dark coloration where the living tissue had veins of nerve fibre and blood vessels running through it.
The second photograph in the first post has graining that looks an awful like ivory.