Thread: Boiling water to flatten warped scales

How well does this work? Does it work everytime on materials that would take the treatment well? I know a lot of you guys have tried it, and I may need to myself. SOOOO, maybe someone could post a detailed step by step how-to for me? Thanks!

Man, I tried that with a nice clauss razor and it totally f-ed up the scales. I tried it with some generic scales on a Wostenholm and it roached them too. Be careful!

FYI I only dunked em in the water for less than a minute.

LIkewise.
I've done this in the past to a Henckels, and 1) you need to have something flat to immediately lie them on to straighten them, and 2) it is likely to cause your scales to "cloud up" possibly by outer layers of the celluloid becoming contaminated with water vapor....but I'm not sure.
Be careful around flame, also.


John P.

What kind of material? for wood there is a quicker way via dry heat. Could do plastics as well- perhaps with a hair dryer.

I was going to say depends on the material. If its celluloid you have to be real careful. I would never use boiling water rather steam and do it very slowly and watch it like a hawk because celluloid is damaged very quickly. Plastic is more forgiving but I still would not use boiling water.

Alex:
Danny just finished doing it on a DD in this thread, I know he would be more than happy to go over it it even more detail ....

http://straightrazorpalace.com/galle...e-restore.html

What about placing them on a flat surface lets say a baking stone of some sort with weight on top and putting them in an oven lets say at a warming temp, 200 degrees or less and letting the cool with the weight on them? I have never tried this though.

I have tried it with natural horn - and it works - for a while! Seems like the damned stuff has a memory and tries to revet to its original shape over time, although I think that dampness/humidity hastens the reversion. For my last set of horn scales I ordered flattened horn from a german website. When it arrived I guess I knew that the german word for flattened was miles away from the english! Or american!
Regards,
Neil.

I have had good luck boiling horn scales.

I think that the success of reheating and straightening depends on if the material is thermoplastic or thermosetting. Thermoplastic materials such as horn, celluloid (cellulose nitrate), bone (to a lesser degree) have a good chance of reheating and straitening. Thermosetting materials such as bakelite or vulcanized hard rubber are a lot harder to work with.

I would/have used wet heat to bend horn and bone. I would/have used a dry heat to soften man made resins.

Early plastics are a finicky bunch, it is hard to tell what you have and determine what their properties are.

Charlie