Using old materials

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I am planing on using the scales off of one of these razors to use as donors for the tang cover on a William Rodgers piece that I am currently restoring.
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I am new to the restoration of straight razors though, so I was looking for advice on what would be the best way to cut them to a little over the finish size. To keep from cracking or chipping them. After they are cut I plan to file and sand them to final size and shape, and finally polish and pin it all up. They are made of celluloid and I'm not sure how brittle they might be. That's why I picked up two that are a close match to the original, which is what I am after for this razor. Thanks for looking and any help is greatly appreciated.

Perhaps this will be of some help :shrug:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...g-rebuild.html

You can use a variety of things. I have a jewellers saw that cuts super fine. I also have a scroll saw and a coping saw. The big deciding factor for me would be how fine the teeth are. In do not have really nice, fine blades for my scroll saw, but if I did it would be my first choice. My biggest concern would be breakage, hence the fine teeth. A coping saw with fine teeth is pretty easy for most people to access and not a large outlay of cash.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

You can use a variety of things. I have a jewellers saw that cuts super fine. I also have a scroll saw and a coping saw. The big deciding factor for me would be how fine the teeth are. In do not have really nice, fine blades for my scroll saw, but if I did it would be my first choice. My biggest concern would be breakage, hence the fine teeth. A coping saw with fine teeth is pretty easy for most people to access and not a large outlay of cash.

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Yeah That ^^^^

Fine teeth = SLOW Fine cuts :p

One hint on these, they are MUCH thinner then you think, they also MUST retain the taper from pivot hole to tail and from top to bottom.. If you make them straight the scales may not flex correctly after pinning :(

I'm in agreement that the finer the teeth the better.

With that said, I'm thinking that if using a coping saw or even a scroll saw that perhaps since the material is already thinned that some Scotch Double Stick Tape (thin like regular Scotch Tape) could be used to attach the old scales to something like a paint stick so that there would be support to help the old celluloid from breaking or cracking.

While you would need to saw through more materials/Paint sticks are quite soft and should saw easily.

Just a thought. :shrug:

Thank you all for the advice, it sounds like everyone is on the same page. I was just really worried about breakage because it took hours to find one and then the next page another popped up for sale too. Good part is since both blades were in rough shape so they were inexpensive. I'll use a fine toothed coping saw and also use a backer. I'll measure the thicknesses at different points so I can also get the taper right so it closes good. Thanks again guys.

Looks like old materials might not work out. Good thing I was able to find a second on to try with. The first one cracked during unpinning the donor. I'm a little frustrated so i will return to it on another day. Just in case the next attempt does not go well I'm going to look for some other materials that I like.

Oh well a few failures are all part of learning to get it right.

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Originally Posted by Paul76

I'm a little frustrated so i will return to it on another day.

Oh well a few failures are all part of learning to get it right.

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Wise words!