Thread: Crown and Sword Scales Smells weird

Hello all...

I has been working on this C&S, first I put it water with a liquid that I use to disinfect then, dry it with a towel, and use MASS on the blade to clean it a little bit, I do always the same with blades that I get from ebay, to see the real state of my buy....

I found a couple of things that are out the normal, at least to my knowledge...

1) The color of the scales are brown (my other C&S are black, and I can remember any other color than black on the original scales)

2) while cleaning the blade I use also MASS trying to clean the scales, I noticed to things. The scales were a little bit sticky, and smells weird when I try to clean them with the dremel (cotton and masss)

That was two days ago, I got the pictures today, the scales are not sticky today, but still has the brown color, and a little bit of that smell (without any mass or dremel around...hehehe)

Should I be worried about it? AaronX mentioned last night the possibility of rot (without seeing the pics that doesn't exist until this morning..hehehe)

And input will be welcome....

First of all what "liquid" did you use to sanitize them?

Is this something you have used before or something new?

Did you do anything different with the liquid, like leave them sitting in it for a long time?


As for the color, stickiness and everything else, those scales actually look more like vulcanite to me than celluloid. I'm no expert, and I've never heard of vulcanite scales before, but I've restored a lot of tobacco pipes, and they are just about the exact color of old stained vulcanite, which was used in pipe stems. Also, a lot of cleaning agents can produce a sticky surface on vulcanite, and old vulcanite has a funky sulfury smell.

I have got scales with a lasting odd odor after polishing that had nothing wrong with them but beware: if you smell something vinagery it is celluloid rot. Celluloid rot causes accelerated corrosion to your blade.

Whenever you remove material from celluloid or horn, they emit an odor. Same is true for other materials.

I too have a Crown & Sword with an odd brown color, almost like it was painted (?). It doesn't smell funny though... that's my Henckel's Platinum with the weird smell. I haven't tried anything to get rid of it though. I was going to re-scale it but maybe it has more value with the original yellowish scales?

I wonder if they could be bakelite.When that stuff is sanded or abraded,It smells unbelievably bad.

Originally Posted by VeeDubb65

First of all what "liquid" did you use to sanitize them?

Is this something you have used before or something new?

Did you do anything different with the liquid, like leave them sitting in it for a long time?

I'm using Mar-V-Cide (one spoon on a full glass of water) I always use it without any problem....

I left the blade the same time...about 10 minutes...

I have an old C&S in white scales. These must have been made with a casein-based plastic rather than bakelite, as white bakelite is now amber/brown after all this time! I'm pretty sure the other C&S scales were bakelite rather than celluloid.

I think that the brown discolouration is evidence of chemical breakdown/oxidation. Sometimes it is just a mild surface bloom that can be eliminated by polishing. It is evidence that the glossy top layer is beginning to break-down and reveal the filler material.

Bakelite is a combination of phenol, formaldehyde and filler - usually wood-flour, asbestos or slate dust. Both phenol and formaldehyde have distinctive odours.

Polishing bakelite with simichrome is a test - no matter what colour the article is, a yellowish (sometimes tending towards pink) residue is left on the cloth. Another test is putting the object in hot water - a phenolic smell is released - hard to describe, but often reminds people of the smell of hospitals. Greater heats emit that carbolic acid smell, so distinctive of old over-heated electrical components.

Beeswax slows down the rate of breakdown, but will not eliminate it.

Regards,
Neil.

I will try to clean it with MASS and see what happend.....if the smell is to hard to support I will be needing a new scales..hehehe

thanks a lot for the input

9 times out of 10 this is just oxidation on the scales you find this a lot on the older "Slick Black" scales....
A good 3m scotch brite scrubbing will normally get rid of it, for the really bad ones I use 800-2000 grit wet sanded...
When they are clean then I go to MAAS and finally Ren Wax .....