Glass scales....

Anyone ever make or see a set of glass scales? My mom has a little workshop and does some pretty amazing glass work. I brought her a razor and asked if she thought a pair of scales was within the realm of possibility and she thinks she can do it. She has ways to make the glass more resistant to breaking or chipping should it be mishandled.

She is capable of some pretty detailed stuff. I've attached some pictures (I hope, first time using that feature) to show what she can do. The challenge would be designing something masculine and that compliments a straight razor.

Anyone ever see something like this done or have any ideas on what would look cool?

My main concerns with glass is flexibility, weight, chipping or cracking when trying to pein, breaking especially with a less than 1/8 width for the scale if dropped or hit against a faucet or sink, buffing the scales to get any scratches out,...
But it's worth a try. I'd be very interesting to see the end result. Keep us updated and no I haven't seen glass scales, yet.

Doubt you could use it for the entire scales, but it'd be sweet to inlay some dichroic glass.

Okay my first post on the forum - and I never in a million years thought that two of my hobbies would cross over like this.

I also do lampworking - making glass beads\marbles\paperweights etc.

Glass scales should be possible - but I would suggest that "fusing" processes would be more successsful then flameworking as used for beads.

Dichro would then be a certainty - and rather easy to include.

In Softglass - the typical venetian glasses - or Bullseye from America - then there could be some concerns on the strength - but hey with the care you should give a straight anyway I think the risk is a moot point at best.

Using hardglass (Boro) or Pyrex as its commonly known makes it a very different story - that stuff is very very resistant to bangs and bumps.

This could be an interesting possibility to explore (why didnt I think of it sooner - DOH)

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Originally Posted by navarre

Okay my first post on the forum - and I never in a million years thought that two of my hobbies would cross over like this.

I also do lampworking - making glass beads\marbles\paperweights etc.

Glass scales should be possible - but I would suggest that "fusing" processes would be more successsful then flameworking as used for beads.

Dichro would then be a certainty - and rather easy to include.

In Softglass - the typical venetian glasses - or Bullseye from America - then there could be some concerns on the strength - but hey with the care you should give a straight anyway I think the risk is a moot point at best.

Using hardglass (Boro) or Pyrex as its commonly known makes it a very different story - that stuff is very very resistant to bangs and bumps.

This could be an interesting possibility to explore (why didnt I think of it sooner - DOH)

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I'd be interested in a pair of glass scales myself. I hope this is successful.

I think the main problem would be getting the pin holes in the scales and having them in the same location side to side. Drilling glass is always a risk. The other possibility would be to make a mold and slump the glass in the mold. But as Max said flex would be an issue or the blade would have to be loose so as not to flex the scales.

Good luck

Tim

How about a three piece set, glass scales, glass mug, and a glass handled brush. I think that would be awsome.

Would quartz infused glass work or would that be to impractical. Note, I'm not sure what I'm talking about. All I really know is some guy made a quartz glass armonica. He said it made the glass stronger and more flexable.
If I was home I would have better info.

She is the glass pro not me. But in her processes she was tossing around she mentioned slumping or maybe we could make a cast of the old scales.

Since the glass cannot flex, if you are going to pursue this you would need flexible mounts for the razor and the "wedge"....Perhaps even rubber "pins"

Razors do flex as they open and close as the tangs are not straight they have taper, actually sometimes in two directions....

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Originally Posted by Maximilian

My main concerns with glass is flexibility, weight, chipping or cracking when trying to pein, breaking especially with a less than 1/8 width for the scale if dropped or hit against a faucet or sink, buffing the scales to get any scratches out,...
But it's worth a try. I'd be very interesting to see the end result. Keep us updated and no I haven't seen glass scales, yet.

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Use Microfasteners with small rubber washers to dampen the metal from the glass.

Great use of the nylon washers and removable pins, nylon wedge?

You guys know more about this than I do. But the flex I see in the razors I have, it's not necessary for the scales to flex (they do) If some sort of flexible material was used in the bottom, the scales could spread instead of flexing...no?

On rethinking this - the weight of the glass could be a bit of an issue - the balance would shift quite some way and I think could make the blade a little unweildy.

Laminating the scale to a more traditional base would be one way around the issue of providing holes for the pins.

It will be interesting to see glass scales, even if throws the razor off-balance. At least it will make a stunning piece of art.

I was thinking that pinning could be helped by reinforced sleeves in the glass: A steel/brass tube going through the scale right under the pin so the pin would tighten onto the brass, not the glass itself. The tube might then be epoxied onto the glass.

I look forward to what you come up :)

Amazing, what she does!
Flexible mounting, silicone coat and a blade that's heavy enough to balance it, come to mind.

She does great work!

You could always make a brass set of scales and mount the glass panels to them - brass or silver-clay bolsters could be at either end for the pinning. Forming the brass liners around three pins would eliminate the stress from flexing - close together at wedge, spreading out towards slightly off-centre plug pinning, then getting slightly closer again towards the pivot.

If you did the thing totally in glass, perhaps you could drill them before annealing them in the kiln? Some scales I've seen have a cut-away at the tang to accomodate the thicker metal here (Puma rubber-covered tang springs to mind) and these don't flex much, if at all.

Regards,
Neil.

Wow, I never thought this thread would take off like this. A couple thoughts...

First off, those pictures I posted above are not hers. They are just ones I found on line that I would say are comparable. I don't have any pictures of hers, but she does some pretty amazing stuff with all kinds of materials incorporated.

Second, incorporating a pin sleeve in the design might be a good idea. As for the bottom, since tha is the place that needs to give so that the top part doesn't flex what about putting the fastener ou the outside (like one of those nasal strips) with just a buffer material in the middle.

Or springs incorporated in the pin design could help. I would not use ordinary pins, probably adjustable allen head type pins. Anyone know where I can get those?

I'm not worried aboutr the weight. I only use heavy blades. There still may be a balance offset but it would'nt be as bad as if I was using a 5/8 double hollow, although the amount of matierial use for the handle might be commensurate.

Now if all of you punks would lay off my ebay auctions we could get this thing started.:):)

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Originally Posted by Visibility

I would not use ordinary pins, probably adjustable allen head type pins. Anyone know where I can get those?

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Try Microfasteners.

I worked as a glass tech for about 2½ years.
I have glass drill bits and that takes a lot of time. VERY slow going and use premium drill bit coolant... OFTEN.

I have tossed around this idea, too. Here are my thoughts and maybe it will help you in the process.

1) Temper the glass. The last thing you would want is a ton of shards all over the floor and counter-tops cutting your feet up trying to clean up the mess. I would much rather clean up small cubes than tons of shards from the plate.

2) For impact reasons I was thinking of ¼". Anything thinner and I was thinking it would be too fragile. However, the thinner glass would have minimal flex but would snap quickly. Buuuuut... for the purpose of a test run (beta-test) I would use 1/16 since it would be easier to cut, sand, and drill. The glass is a lot cheaper, too and not to mention most glass shops toss out glass that would a perfect size for scales.

3) I would most certainly use a seam and polish. That would give a ever so small bevel on the edge to reduce being cut and give the outside edge a nice shine.

4) If you have the money, you can have a glass manufacturer/distributor do the work for you. I have on many occasions given them specs and they cut, seam and polish, drill then temper it. Sad part, they generally only take orders from glass companies and are not open to the public.

5) I would probably start with a square set of scales and goof around with the hole drilling and pinning to see if the idea is feasible before jumping in and making a masterpiece.

6) This would be the only razor I own that would be in a case when not being used to avoid breakage. Unless, of course, I get a nice razor that comes with a wooden box. Then it would only be proper to let it rest in there until the next morning. :)

Also, if you try to temper at home using a kiln... bah I can't remember the temps required for tempering... put in a small piece of glass with it. A 2"x2" scrap should be fine as you want to break that small piece when done to ensure the tempering process was done correctly. The idea is to inspect the breakage and if you see shards that resemble breaks that are characteristic of plate glass then it was done wrong. If you see a bunch of cube shapes and none of them come out looking like California with deep sharp edges then it was done correctly.

As a friendly reminder if you decide to temper, this is the last step. Once it is tempered it is not a good idea to sand, drill or attempt to shape it as it will *poof* turn into a bunch of cubes.

These are just some of the ideas I had been tossing around for the past week whenever I thought about it. :idea:

I certainly hope it helps you out in some way. :shrug:

Glass scales! Since there's a bit of concern about them being fragile, how about a partial glass scales. Maybe some longish bolsters as well as a pair of metal guides to hold them. Probably not going to prevent damage from a short drop but it might help stabilize the glass.

While we're on this, if anyone can make me a set of these pictured below I'd be happy to make it worth your while! I'm trying to figure out how to sculpt these myself (I think they're ivory) but in the end these are very very nice looking. I'd like a set of ladies instead of guys and get as erotic as you want with the design! :-) I'd love to say I took this photo of my own set but unfortunately, (long story here) I found this pair on the German Ebay site. I don't read German and was so excited at finding this set that I didn't realize the auction photo was actually a photo of a postcard! I won this for about a single Euro and was stunned no one else bid it higher. I think I bid about 100 Euros - glad it sold for one. When it arrived a laughed for a good 5 minutes.

OK, I'm going to look into this too for fun. I think clear/colorless scales would be wicked. :D

Major issues I'm seeing right now are a) what to make the wedge out of that won't look ugly with clear glass, will adhere to the glass, and will provide some strength and/or cushion, and b) how to assemble the pins. I'm thinking, from the outside of the razor in:
pin
plastic washer
silicone?
glass scale
silicone
plastic washer
blade
...and then repeat for the other side. But where to obtain such pieces? And who can I convince to assemble this thing for me? Hmm... :hmmm:

I would be mostly concerned about the glass accidentally breaking during stropping or shaving. The last thing I want to be concerned about during shaving is glass shards in my hand.

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Originally Posted by sparq

I would be mostly concerned about the glass accidentally breaking during stropping or shaving. The last thing I want to be concerned about during shaving is glass shards in my hand.

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Glass shattering while stropping and my hands. I'd be more concerned about the leather!!!! :rofl2:

Behold - The Crystal Wapi

This post was looking old and thought now was the chance to breathe some life back into it. The Crystal Wapi is quite gorgeous, but very modern... So I was wondering about a more traditional take on glass scales that might look as if they'd been dug up along with an early 1900s Bengall razor. My mum has been doing stained glass/ledlights for many years and had the equipment, so I knocked up something in a few hours just to see whether it would work. I bring you a first prototype for thoughts and first impressions...

Attachment 139668

She's very rough around the edges, but the glass feels like it would be sturdy once properly pinned. Next time I will take my time, find a nice piece of glass, and pop a properly restored blade within.

Interesting indeed...

Glass is on the heavy side, I don't know if this was mentioned. I saw a blade with corian scales and it was beautiful but very heavy and unbalanced imo.

I agree about the weight Bill - in the above case it's not just the glass (which actually isn't that heavy, being quite thin and on the smaller side for scales) but the led as well. The blade is a very small Bengall - the smallest I have... with a larger blade it might be entirely unmanageable.

I haven't given up hope entirely though - with much grinding and time spend hand sanding, I think something special could be born of this. Either that, or we (I) finally come to realise why glass scales aren't at all commonplace.

Interesting thread. The crystal wapi does indeed validate the theory. The copper foil and solder edges will not work because
the soldered foil simply pulls away with the slightest touch regardless of any adhesive used for the foil or the amount of solder used. The foil/solder technique does work superbly as evidenced by glass craftsman L.C. Tiffany on through to todays crafts people, where the cut foiled glass is soldered with joints, as in panels, lamps, etal. Most of todays "art" glass, be it antique on through to cathedral, could certainly be cut and shaped as well as the edges polished. The problem, at least for me, is that in the end it is just glass and will break with the slightest pressure from many possible angles just in handling. Just my 2 cents here. I have done both leaded and foiled glass for over 40 years 10 years of were full time employment with a glass studio.