Thread: Silver Wedge?

I am reassembling the first of a pair of Clark (Exeter Change) razors numbered in silver pinning on ivory scales after fabricating a new scale to replace a cracked one. When I pulled the original wedge out of the storage bag it seemed too bright. I have now got the wedge end pinned, cleaned up and re-polished and the wedge is has a "whiter" shine to it than typical lead.

Did silver get used as a wedge material on higher end razors around 1810-1820? Any simple tests to determine?

I need to know because the number one razor was rescaled, non matching (mid 1800's? by scale shape) in ivory but I want to make a new set of scales in original shape to match the number 2...

Pewter was used quite a bit as a wedge material too. That would be my first suspect.

Lead will mark paper like a pencil. Silver will not. Not sure about pewter. Older pewter contained lead.

My research got me as far as pewter is an alloy mainly (90% or more) of tin. Typically the remainder was copper although many other metals were sometimes used including lead and silver. Tin is a very light metal and this wedge is heavy (I did not conduct any specific gravity experiments!). I guess I will take it to a jeweler to see what they have to say...

I did investigate other metals for wedges at one point, looking specifically at their atomic number for an indication of weight. Without getting into expensive (gold) or dangerous metals (uranium), silver comes about as close to lead as is economically feasible.

WAs it tarnished? I have read that while sterling more prone to tarnish because of the copper content, "fine" silver is less likely to do so. With that said, I don't know how easy fine silver would have been to get in 1810 as sterling was the "coin of the realm" and the common material used by artisans in England as best as i can tell.

Got to have silver to make sterling....

Interestingly, the sides of the wedge that were against the ivory were fairly shiny (and clearly natural cast surfaces)...even at 200 years old! The outer surface was a bit tarnished but a few passes with a fine file to even everything up and light sanding 600/1000/1500 then polish and it is very bright and as I mentioned "whiter" than lead typically polishes.

Check it with a resistance meter (electrical multimeter). Silver will have a very low resistance near 0, lead will have a very high resistance or possibly so high the meter doesn't even register, pewter will also have a very high resistance, but will usually register.

Originally Posted by criswilson10

Check it with a resistance meter (electrical multimeter). Silver will have a very low resistance near 0, lead will have a very high resistance or possibly so high the meter doesn't even register, pewter will also have a very high resistance, but will usually register.

Another experiment to do. :-]