Thread: Can I repair pivot end of bone scales?

I have a nice old Wolstenholm and Sons, but the scales cracked on the pivot end, and the piece above the pin on one side broke off. I still have the piece.

Can I repair those scales? They're really nice and I'd rather not replace them.

My plan was to glue the piece back on, reinforce the scales with fibreglass on the inside, and then reattach them.

Does this sound like a sound plan, or a) is there a better one, or b) is this just a fool's game to start with?

Thanks.

Its doable. You can carefully cut notches and inlay a couple metal pins then glue. Or @ouback does a thing with fiberglass. I know he would be happy to point you to the pictures after he is up.
Mike?

I'll see what I can do, later today. I'm running late for work this morning.

Some pics of the scale in question, will help.

But it sounds like it'll work, if not...there's CA and soda.

I have super glued the pieces back. On inside of scales I cut two long grooves and insert a piece of straight pin in each groove. Then cover area with superglue.

Yeah..I've repaired Ivory with 3/4oz. fiberglass, and T-88 strucural epoxy adhesive. And a few small areas of CA and baking soda.











CA and soda.


You could also line them with brass, instead of glass.

Originally Posted by Gasman

Its doable. You can carefully cut notches and inlay a couple metal pins then glue. Or @ouback does a thing with fiberglass. I know he would be happy to point you to the pictures after he is up.
Mike?

I think I have a long list of fibreglass instructions from Outback already for another bone project. The scales are pretty thin, so I'm not sure I could get a steel pin in there, but I'll have a look - that might not be a terrible idea.

Originally Posted by outback

Yeah..I've repaired Ivory with 3/4oz. fiberglass, and T-88 strucural epoxy adhesive. And a few small areas of CA and baking soda.











CA and soda.


You could also line them with brass, instead of glass.

Oh, the brass idea might work really well for this job. Unlike you, I never learned glasswork from my dad!



However, I still have to screw my courage to the sticking point and fix that other razor that inspired your long thread on using fibreglass, so I may just do both of them at the same time when I have some leisure to do it right!

Thanks!

Thanks everyone - this is very helpful. As I've said, a few months ago Outback posted a really good thread on fibreglass repair, which I have; I was more curious whether repairs on the top end were a good idea or a bad idea; it sounds like they're okay, so I am off to the races!

As requested, here are some pics. As you can see, the scales are very thin.

The broken off piece is in the shop, so no pics of that.

I agree that its thin.

Yep. Not that that's a problem - it will just likely dictate which repair options are or are not possible.