Thread: Scale on restoration???

The tang reads "Silver steel ...then..Sheffield" There is no makers mark per say. So...whats the general consensus? Un-pin it, re-use the washers and hope it goes back together....or simply work the blade and keep scales on? please give me some opinions and maybe an idea of who to turn to for this type of restore. Its a beautiful and unique razor...it deserves to get back in the game.IMO.

Seems up to you and your experience.

TBH, the minimal stuff done seems to be better in the long-run. You can always take away, yet you can never put back.
Happy I went minimal with my Heiffors. Just me.

For what my opinion is worth, I think you should make sure you can get a good clean bevel set, then kill the edge, do a thorough deep clean with 0000 steel wool and WD-40, then steel wool and mothers polish, then just polish on a microfibre cloth. Look it over then and decide if you are finished. That will give you the least invasive, deep clean, without removing any healthy steel. Scales on the whole way.

I like that idea RezDog. I can start simple and ratchet things up from there...if necessary.

That is pretty much what Tom was saying too, just not quite as specifically. A lot of guys around here like to keep things fairly minimal.

Thanks to you both. I couldn't agree more with "You can always take away, yet you can never put back." Well said. Once I have this in hand I will know a lot more. As I stated before, it is such a unique beauty that it deserves to be used. I don't think I have seen another one like it. Cheers!

Without re-pinning the scales I have cleaned the pivot area out many times with teeth floss (and some metal polish), works very well
Jam it in between the scales and wrap it around the pivot pin a time or two, then move the blade and scales open and closed a few times -> friction -> it'll clean out nicely.

Of course it all depends what you mean by restoring. For me it's putting it back in shaving and working order, function over esthetics.

I'm not a fan of highly polished mirrored blades, certainly on older razors, ergo I would not remove those scales but thats just me; others love it that way, for me I don't want that on these older blades, but to each their own. Your razor = your choice.

I'd make sure the blade itself is relatively clean (cleaning up the devil's spit and see how much pitting there is), make sure I can hone into good steel and that the blade centers nicely inside the scales when closing and opening. Those are the main things that I'd do

I think your taking Rez and Tom's advice to do a minimalist scales on clean up is the way to go. That is especially so if you have had little experience unpinning/repining scales and doubly so since the scales are ivory. It does not take much to bugger up ivory scales unpinning or repining them. Even doing a scales on job I would treat those ivory scales with respect and do not put too much pressure on them. You can not replace ivory scales today so an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

I think that is a good looking razor that will turn out well for you.

Bob

Nice Razor.
Last night I was re pinning some ivory scales, thinking to myself ,how the hell did they get this centred the first time around ?
Nothing beats Ivory scales in my book.

Good luck with the clean up

Originally Posted by BobH

You can not replace ivory scales today so an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Yes, this is sound advice.
I once had a set of ivory scales crack at the pivot when trying to tighten them up a bit; I keep the damaged scales on my razor desk as a daily reminder, I still beat myself up thinking about it