Thread: found a brother to one of my GREAVES

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Look familiar Gooser ?

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This is what lies underneath that "black coating" on those scales. I believe the scales to be turtle, as many turtles are seen wth the black coating in the wild, such as those swamp , water turtles,, that coating is removed to get those nice combs & such you see. I could be wrong, but maybe not,,,
45 minutes of EZ-Off Heavy Duty on the entire razor, ate the black off,,, brushed off with a toothbrush & dish soap,,, loosened the surface rust, left the washers shiny,,, the blade was wirked with steel wool & 3m paper,,,,

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I bet these scales are the same .. ive been looking at them since I got it cause they are paper thin compared to most and have a diff texture .., now I wonder and am gonna clean up the unbroken/shattered side ..!! .. the no stamped side was beyond repair , it was a sham as it was missing large parts ...

Could just use one of these?

Bdd-chasses.pdf

Originally Posted by Hirlau

There's no way I would remove/replace the scales on the black one, unless they are damaged. Those scales would clean up beautifully,,, IMO

tip was missing on reverse side of pics all the way to the pin ( gone) and 2 cracks around wedge pin with a piece missing (no where to be found ) I agree though , I don't make a habit of removing old scales unless I have too , I was goona use but where end was missing by pivot pin it finished its break when I opened the razor when I was going to hone .. on a side note after seeing your pictures it sucks that the original was so damaged but on a bright side the honey horn I ordered couple days ago is gonna match just right and since the first Greaves one I had of this came in a beat up pair of wood scales I will have 2 now with the outfit close to what they should have on them ..!
after a clean up ..

[QUOTE=Hirlau;1456851]Look familiar Gooser ?

This is what lies underneath that "black coating" on those scales. I believe the scales to be turtle, as many turtles are seen wth the black coating in the wild, such as those swamp , water turtles,, that coating is removed to get those nice combs & such you see. I could be wrong, but maybe not,,,
45 minutes of EZ-Off Heavy Duty on the entire razor, ate the black off,,, brushed off with a toothbrush & dish soap,,, loosened the surface rust, left the washers shiny,,, the blade was wirked with steel wool & 3m paper,,,,

I need to check all the Greaves I have. I have quite a few W Greaves!

[QUOTE=engine46;1457019]

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Look familiar Gooser ?

This is what lies underneath that "black coating" on those scales. I believe the scales to be turtle, as many turtles are seen wth the black coating in the wild, such as those swamp , water turtles,, that coating is removed to get those nice combs & such you see. I could be wrong, but maybe not,,,
45 minutes of EZ-Off Heavy Duty on the entire razor, ate the black off,,, brushed off with a toothbrush & dish soap,,, loosened the surface rust, left the washers shiny,,, the blade was wirked with steel wool & 3m paper,,,,

I need to check all the Greaves I have. I have quite a few W Greaves!

chop chop !! get to cleaning those babys !! we wanna see more pics ..lol..

Just to be safe , if you go Ez Off on those type of scales,,, leave 25 to 30,,, then check

Here's one similar that sold for $113 on eBay but it has a worked spine. It also has 1814 scratched into the bug bitten scales.

Guys, that is all horn. It was very common practice to dye lighter horn to a black color. Often If you take old black scales and sand them you will expose the undyed blonde or brown surface underneath. Tortoise would not have had any kind of coating. I would also not expect to see it much on more common pattern razors like these.

Originally Posted by ScienceGuy

Guys, that is all horn. It was very common practice to dye lighter horn to a black color. Often If you take old black scales and sand them you will expose the undyed blonde or brown surface underneath. Tortoise would not have had any kind of coating. I would also not expect to see it much on more common pattern razors like these.

That explains why I had some black scale material I once made scales from & when I got them thin enough, they had a transparency to them. Thanks ScienceGuy!

Originally Posted by ScienceGuy

Guys, that is all horn. It was very common practice to dye lighter horn to a black color. Often If you take old black scales and sand them you will expose the undyed blonde or brown surface underneath. Tortoise would not have had any kind of coating. I would also not expect to see it much on more common pattern razors like these.

I can't dissagree with you,,, your knowledge of razor history is well known,,
but here are some facts that stir me away from dye,,,, that black you see is a "coating" & thick,,, it was not a dye or stain,,,,I guess it could have been a black dye/paint such as a thick house latex paint that we see today. I discoverd this pattern while working the blade under water,,, it became tacky & smelled of animal,,, it "peeled" off,,,,, once cleaned the remaining scales have failed to stink of animal.
I have held many old water turtles that seemd to match visially the outer top shell,,, as you know the bottom can vary in pattern,,,, it's ironic that processed shell merchandise,,,combs, etc... have a similar look,,,

I'm not convinced that they are turtle either,,, I just cant buy the dye theory,,,,

Yes, the finished product feels like horn,,,,, but what is a turtle's shell made of??? I don't know,,,,