I need a diagnosis...

No real rush on this, don't think its going anywhere soon. I found a case temperite for $30 (and I know from experience I can make this at least $25 if not $20). Given the collectibility of these, if I could salvage this it would be great. Quick note on collectibility though- I have always admired them, I'm not thinking of turning a profit on it, I'm thinking of it being cheaper to buy it and restore it myself or with help than I could buy one for.

btw- I'd like to try and salvage the scales but is that cell rot? or just dirt?

Pics:

I'm not an expert but I have taken razors with scales that appeared to be suffering from cell rot and cleaned them with Scrubbing Bubbles (the pump not the aerosol) and then used a flattened Q-Tip and Semichrome to polish them inside and out and had no problems. Dental floss is good to get into the pivot area if you don't want to fool with the re-pinning .

EDIT; If you're saying you haven't bought it yet then I would go for it if I were you. :)

Thanks O_S! I will wait for one of the guru's to confirm (Max, Glen, Brad, etc...) the scales, but knowing that the blade is still alive makes it very attractive.

Smell the scales, and bring a Magnifying Glass and look at the scales...

Cell rot smells like sweet vinegar (sometimes) and you can see the fibers breaking down in the Celluloid (sometimes)

If the blade is good that is a plus but changing the scales decreases the "collectable value"

You may/may not have read around but I am far more concerned with the steel for personal use than reselling. So If it needs new scales, whatever. If not, its a bonus. All I know is if I tried to get one on ebay, I would end up paying a lot.

Looking closer at the steel it does look as though you might have the beginnings of cell rot there see the pattern???

If this is true you DO NOT want that razor anywhere near yer other razors... The off gassing will start cell rot in your others... just for info..

You can get american steel razors (case, cattaraugus, geneva, genco, robeson) in very good shape for that kind of money on ebay, particularly if you are patient. So given your view on overspending, I wouldn't jump to spend $25 on a razor that needs a lot of work or re-scaling. I'd try to get one in great shape on ebay for that or a little more. I got a perfect robeson nubak for $5 (terrible photo chased off interest), a basically perfect geneva cutlery with very nice scales for $30, and others as well.

Putting aside the saving issue, for that money I'd get it anyway because it's fun to buy in person. [Edit - forget that now I see Glenn sees cell rot] But if you are value obsessed, only buy razors in good shape and be patient on ebay so you get a good price. American razors are underhyped so it's not as tough to get good ones at a good price as it is say for solingens.

Diagnosis by pic, is worse then Eye witness testimony :rant::rant:

LMAO we try as best we can but always take that into account we are 1000's of miles away so take anything we say with a HUGE grain of salt hehehe

Worse yet- photos not taken by me, taken by a friend.

and trust me. I have oh- three razors that could be considered NOS and the total for those was like $60.

Could be cell rot, but don’t jump to that too soon. Celluloid will always gas, how fast it gasses is what matters. If it’s been sitting in a box undisturbed for decades the blade will have some tarnish in the shape of the scales to resemble rot (not necessarily a terminal condition).
Polish the blade and put it away in a box for a month or two and see if the stains come back.

The only observation I see with most vintage transparent Temperate (and other makes) scales is they shrink so badly the razor won’t close without hitting the wedge at the butt end… you may want new scales in that Case.