Thread: Staining Ivory

I am working on restoring my two Clarks. One has a cracked scale and I have a piece of ivory to make a new one. The problem is the 200 year old ivory is well...ivory not pearly white like the new stuff. I read about using tea with a bit of vinegar in it to "age" new ivory. Anybody have experience with this?

The alternative would be to bleach the old stuff white but then there is the other razor. Plus, the bleaching process apparently can embrittle the ivory. That wouldn't be good. Thoughts?

For a pearly white shine, I use Puma metal polish on ivory and it works magically.

wait for Pixelfix's answer or pm him.
~Richard

Make your new scale,finish it compleatly inc the polish,wash well with dawn detergent to remove any polish residue.
wipe down with white Viniger (Mordant) I have used warm tea or Coffee grnds to stain Ivory and make it look old.
DO NOT USE HOT WATER, just warm,when the color is right, remove, let dry,than polish with ren wax,Just my way,it works.
Please do not use Bleach on the old pce.

For those that might be interested: I am restoring a very old 5 day interchangeable razor set with ivory scales. The one scales was broken and shattered (not fixable with CA) so I replaced the scale with a piece of vintage ivory that I had available. To match the two pieces I used Pixelfixed's method described above(God I miss that old 'crusty' SOB!) and IT WORKED GREAT.

Just an FYI for anyone looking to do the same thing...

WP34
Mike

I restored a seven day set where some of the scales were cracked, I had to fabricate new ones to match the shape of the old ones, of course the new ones were too white.

I searched for methods of staining and came across using tea, I tried this with a scrap piece of ivory and it does work but the stain is superficial.

More research and I found (don't remember where) that a slow boil in mineral oil also stains ivory, tried it and it worked great

Here is the set as it arrived




A scrap piece stained with tea

As you can tell the stain is very superficial

Test strip boiled in mineral oil that I sanded down to a thin edge, the yellowing goes all the way through



Duplicate of the old scale, stark contrast between old and new

Monday put together



I don't have the full set picture, but here it is back in the box

Nicely done Doc. I decide to forego the staining process and instead decided to 'whiten' the original scale to match the new fabricated scale to match....used the 'Vinegar approach' as described by Pixel.

Once again...nicely done Doc!

WP34
Mike