Thread: 3 Panel MOP Scales Project

A while back, a customer contacted me regarding a special project. He had stumbled across a beautiful Wade & Butcher "Diamond Edge" blade, but it had broken scales. But what he saw was a wonderful opportunity to create something special. He contacted me about creating a set of custom straight razor scales reminiscent of some of the rarest and most beautiful sets of scales that were available in the mid-1800s. Solid Mother of Pearl.
Using a material such as mother of pearl for a set of straight razor scales is generally considered impossible, because it does not flex. To get around this limitation, the manufacturers in the past would produce scales with "Panels" of mother of pearl adhered and pinned to a liner material (usually silver). Here is an example of such a set of scales, on a similar time period Wade & Butcher razor:





My customer sourced some beautifully figured, A+ Grade Mother of pearl, and shipped it to me along with some small silver engraving plates and the razor:



Upon inspection, I noticed a date scratched into the horn scales - 1865. There was also some wonderful wound silver wire inlay, along with a small MOP inlay in the center of the scale.





Although a tragedy to see cracked scales like this, at the same time it is an honor to bring this razor back to former glory (AND THEN SOME!!!). So, I began to devise a plan. Upon talking to the owner, it was clear that he wanted to maintain the original scale shape. I wholeheartedly agreed So, the first step was to establish a base material. Instead of using Silver, we chose to use Nickel sheeting. It will not rust, and can be polished to a brilliant shine. Step one was cutting out some of the material.








Once I had the two rectangles of sheeting cut out, I traced on the scale shape.