Thread: Celluloid polishing

Gents,

I have a few razors with what I believe to be celluloid scales. They have that characteristic nasty smell after being rubbed, the works.

One side has never seen light, the other has. The side that has seen light is dark brown and has some discoloration in lighter brown, like something had been dripped on it. The backside of the scales are a black mirror polished finish, almost like the black plastic handles on the lower end DOVOs.

I tried some MAAS lightly on the duller side, but now the whole side looks dull and not mirror polished. Is there anything else that I can do to make both sides black and mirror like?

Thanks in advance.

k

The only thing I can think of is using a buffing wheel and some polishing compound for plastics. That's what I would try. Might want to sand it up to like 2500 grit or so with wet&dry sand paper first to get it as smooth as possible before polishing it on the buffing wheel.

Originally Posted by minstrel

The only thing I can think of is using a buffing wheel and some polishing compound for plastics. That's what I would try. Might want to sand it up to like 2500 grit or so with wet&dry sand paper first to get it as smooth as possible before polishing it on the buffing wheel.

Be very carefull with a buffing wheel on cel as it will burn if you leave it in one spot for any length of time
I have never tryed it myself,but what about black shoe polish
Kind regards Peter

Also keep it at low speeds. Celluloid is very volatile.

Check. Hadn't thought of that. That would be a mess.

Let me tell you what I have tried.

I tried the plastic polish and a low speed dremel felt wheel - and the result was not shiny but more of the same weird light brown discoloration.

I then started thinking about some other polish that I might have, and I thought of this stuff called Honda gloss that I use on my motorcycle for tar and bugs and the like - it is safe for clear coat, and I thknk it is slightly abrasive too - so I sprayed some of that stuff on and it was much better - but it dried and left it still different but better.

I hadn't thought about paste wax, but that will be my next attempt.

Any other ideas? Surely someone has tried polishing celluloid?

K

Originally Posted by minstrel

The only thing I can think of is using a buffing wheel and some polishing compound for plastics. That's what I would try. Might want to sand it up to like 2500 grit or so with wet&dry sand paper first to get it as smooth as possible before polishing it on the buffing wheel.

Ditto. That's what I would suggest, as well.

Tried metal polish intended for brass or silver? These usually have an extremly fine abrasive.

I use a product called Brasso as a final polish on my CA finished scales, it brings up a mirror finish quite nicely.

OK, tried silver polish, didn't help, and actually was more abrasive than MAAS, left a bit of a dull sheen - tried the Honda gloss again and it shined it up but didn't help with the discoloration. the surface is smooth but doesn't look the same -

Going to try a couple of different waxes next - shoe polish is the first.

Will check back. The blades on these scales are superb, so I may need to just have them rescaled, but I would like to keep them original if I could -

K

Joe C. - these are the blades I am going to be sending to you shortly, so you will see what I am talking about.

Sounds as if you are chasing the 'rot' into the scales... You may find a 'clean layer' in there. Be carefull with at lot of those cleaners...they may actually be slowly causing degradation themselves. You might be able to sand down through the brown layers, and maybe coat the clean surfaces with a protective wax (renaissance wax?).

I would recommend, using a metal file and carefully sanding down the pinhead (use masking tape around the work-area), use a small nail punch, add a lubricant to the pin, and lightly tap the pin through. Now, remove the blade, and slap on a new set of scales that are not celluloid!!

Hell, use ebony if you want them to look close to the originals, or find an old razor that has a crap blade with celluloid scales, and switch them out (these razors are a dime a dozen on eBay).

Good luck, and if you do figure out a way to stop the celluloid from breaking down, DO let us know!!!

C utz

These scales stink, I mean really smell - especially if you try to MAAS them - wow.

Thanks for the suggestion - I may just need to do that - here is the kicker - I could live with the scales if they were the same color on both sides. But since the blades were only exposed to air and light on *one* side - the backs are pristine and deep black (looking every bit like the black shiny plastic scales you see on the lower end Dovos) while the top scales are bs brown to moss green - the razors were also never closed, so there is no encroachment by the celluloid gases onto the steel - the scales are actually in perfect shape - just discolored! Damnit!

At any rate - I will keep trying. Thanks for the response.

K