Thread: More warped scales

I just received a couple of razors with warped scales (eBay). One was described as NOS and mint - in a pristine condition. The blade is touching one side of the scales and one side obviously bulges. Now, I read the advice by Traveller re 'baking' and popsicle/copper wire treatment. I am not willing to do this at the moment. Part coward/inexperienced and partly cos I paid good money and either want them refunded or fixed by someone who has done it before and has skill/experience. So I suppose the question is how much would a scale straightening repair cost? This to at least give me a ball park figure to discuss with the seller.
cheers
Stephen

One thing that you have to take into consideration is that it will NOT be NOS any more it will have to be repinned....
This is the depreciation that I would be worried about, I've said this before in other threads . We, in this community are into shaving with our razors, but there is another whole other community, that collects razors for just the sake of collecting, and a re-pinned razor loses huge value in their eyes...
Putting this back on track, the safer way of straightening scales is the boiling water method IMHO...

^ +1

Boiling mine fixed them right up, and it only took about 10 minutes from start to finish.

((One thing to watch out for though: The steam from the water is VERY HOT. I almost dropped my razor because the blade heated up too. So just wear a pair of gloves so that you don't run the risk of dropping it due to heat!))

I typically do scale straighting as a part of a restoration job. I suspect the razor was exposed to heat at one time which caused the warp. I recently resorted a new razor for a local shop. Somebody had left the razor in direct sunlight and they were writing it off as a lose. I straightened the scales and honed it for shave ready. So it can be done without any problem. But your right. It's not a task for the faint at heart.

I can say for sure the boiling water trick works for horn (at least temporarily). I Soaked the scales in the boiling water for 1 minute, pulled them out, put a tapered chopstick inbetween, flexed them, and then into cold running water while flexed!

You definately need to be holding the scales in the desired position when putting them under the cold water. You can't just mold them then harden. And It took me about 4 tries to get it right so... try and try again!

The straightening is fine and dandy with this method, it's just the potential for discolouration. I have started polishing the black plastic now to try and get rid of the milky colouration created. It isn't shifting much as yet.