Thread: Cloning celluloid scales: a work in progress

Originally Posted by JP5

An opaque fill sounds like a great idea! If that turns out well please give mine the same treatment! That could definitely be an improvement over the paint. If you had sent it to me blank, which I expected, I was just planning to use red paint in mine. That is all I would have been able to do here.

Sounds like this blade may turn out to be a gem by the time it's all said and done. I was just going to make acrylic scales as close to the originals as possible by using pictures online. I didn't know Sharptonn had a scale I could have copied! lol
Seriously though, looks like it worked out for the best if the TAP resin works well.

I haven't shaved with my 25 yet, but it certainly seems like a well made blade, even if the scales shrunk and fell apart.



Thanks again Zak. And don't worry about me waiting. Good things often take time and it isn't like you asked for a deposit and gave me an ETC!

Heh. I am way too much of a perfectionist to just send the scales without the lettering painted in.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

It's a great idea. The old ones are crumbling. They did even back in the day, as soon as they were sold. The DublDuck satinedges were and are horrible.
I have a pair of improved formula NOS replacement scales to attest to that.
Some Cell is quite nice and stable. Some is horribly prone to disintegration and ruining themselves and their respective blades.
I told someone earlier today who was showing a razor coming their way to look out. Signs were there. Some cleanup had been done.
Raising the alarm to guys about the possibility of this is the right thing to do.
Esp as you see it over and over. JMO

I am excited to have someone come up with a way to replicate these scales and transfer inlays and bolsters so they can live onward.

Yeah, I have a SatinWedge in those pretty frozen-honey scales. I’d cleaned it up (it had fuzzy rust when I got it), but a couple years later (and stored well away from all my other razors) and the rust is back. So, once I get this resin stuff down, the Duck scales get the cloning treatment. Those brass embedments are going to be a little challenging, but I’ll figure out a way to do them.

What I’m leaning toward is painting a thin coat of resin in the mold, positioning the brass bits in that, letting it cure, then pouring the rest in, so the embedments are fully encased. I should probably do experiments and see if the curing resin tarnishes polished brass.

Then, if that works, I’ll try using resistence etching to mass produce the brass bits, but they’ll then need to be formed to the shape of the scales. Hmm.

In other news, I was all prepared to pour my third mold and I forgot the ratio I was using with the silicone and poured more catalyst than I had silicone for, so all my remaining mold making goop is now unusable. Looks like I’ll be headed back to TAP Plastics tomorrow! I may pop for the larger size, higher quality ‘Platinum Silicone’. It cures faster and is a more straight forward 1:1 ratio.

Do you think pouring acrylic in the mold will work?

The spec sheet on the Platinum Silicone says, "do not use on materials that contain nitrogen".

Which means no celluloid.

Silicone RTV it is!

Originally Posted by mainaman

Do you think pouring acrylic in the mold will work?

I can't see why not. Of course, acrylic covers a LOT of territory, so how desirable that is probably depends on the formulation.

Here's the TAP Plastics page for the stuff I'm using.

The data sheet says it requires a vacuum chamber, but I haven't really found that to be the case. I just use their recommendation to pour the mixture into a cup with a 1/2" hole in the bottom and let it pour through that about a foot above the thing I'm casting. Really though, the scales are simple enough I don't see bubbles being much of a problem.

Sharptonn, I kind of assumed celluloid didn't start deteriorating until many years later. If this was an issue even when the razors were being made, sounds like planned obsolescence!

If this works out I'll need to buy a black pen blank or something for the wedge. What collars are you planning on using Sharp/Zak?

I bet Jim Sargent would be interested to see something like this next time I'm in Alabama (even if he doesn't normally deal with razors).

When pouring acrylic they recommend a ac chamber too. But ive read to just let it sit longer to set up. And as far as the bubbles, i like your idea. It must work or you would be able to tell.

What about an application of Rub N Buff in the lettering? I am not sure what colors they have, but I just started messing with the gold Rub N Buff, and the stuff is really pretty cool.

Originally Posted by JP5

Sharptonn, I kind of assumed celluloid didn't start deteriorating until many years later. If this was an issue even when the razors were being made, sounds like planned obsolescence!

If this works out I'll need to buy a black pen blank or something for the wedge. What collars are you planning on using Sharp/Zak?

I bet Jim Sargent would be interested to see something like this next time I'm in Alabama (even if he doesn't normally deal with razors).

I've been thinking about the wedge and the little barrel that goes around the third pin.

Ideally, I'd make molds for those too, but I think it's probably just as practical to just buy plastic tubes and some acrylic sheets of the right thickness. Mostly because they're such small parts, so quickly made, the effort and curing time to mold them just doesn't make sense.

And yeah, they definitely knew celluloid was unstable when they were using it. I don't think it was planned obsolesce so much as just cost-cutting -- it was the material that let them get the look they were after which was cheapest to produce.

Originally Posted by MrZ

What about an application of Rub N Buff in the lettering? I am not sure what colors they have, but I just started messing with the gold Rub N Buff, and the stuff is really pretty cool.

I suspect that's pretty much what they originally used anyway. I was probably going to just use an acrylic since I think I've got some around the house.

Very interesting. Subscribed.