Thread: Original(?) wood scale restoration

I have what may or maynot be old school wood scales. Ether way they are very old from what I can tell. This razor has pins and wedge from the same material, lead or pewter, and kind of loose from drying or wear... both probably.

I'm itching to restore this razor with the scales intact, however there looks to be a crack at one of the pins that may be an issue.

So how does one restore old wood scales? What would one use to "hydrate" the wood or what ever the term is... "stabelize??"

And what about the pins, these things are HUGE, I haven't tried removing them just yet and they are recesed enough to be a pain to try fixing in place.

I'm working on better pics (suggestions welcom on angles) at the moment.

Any insight would be a boon, what other razors have you seen with non-typical pins?

Here is just but one... I could probably find at least 4 or 5 more just on here that I have done..
I have seen some inventive wood scales on many of the old stub tails...



http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...tml#post648392

I don't think those are wood.

Originally Posted by BKratchmer

I don't think those are wood.

You could very well be right Ben they do have that PickBone look about them, but I have seen wood done that way too...

Originally Posted by BKratchmer

I don't think those are wood.

The link or mine? The link looks like snake wood, mine look feel and act like wood, but I have not removed them or sanded them to see what they are underneath.

Yours. They look to me like some sort of bone or horn... you don't see it too often, but it looks just like that. Could be a wooden imitation, though...

It would be easy to tell if you (gently!) used a pin to press/scrape the inside of the scale. You'd be able to tell immediately if it was soft wood or leather, or hard bone.

Looks like beef jerky..... Mm edible razors. Lol

Originally Posted by BKratchmer

Yours. They look to me like some sort of bone or horn... you don't see it too often, but it looks just like that. Could be a wooden imitation, though...

It would be easy to tell if you (gently!) used a pin to press/scrape the inside of the scale. You'd be able to tell immediately if it was soft wood or leather, or hard bone.

+1 on them being horn, I have removed a few sets of scales that have looked very similar to those

Getting out the magnifiers I'm 100% convinced it's wood, grain structure and all, splinters also confirm it to me.

I'm going to drill out the pins and see if I can steam the scales back into shape. than figure out how to seal and strenthen the few cracks. I'm about ready to finish up a set of wood scales I made out of manzanita, see if what I learned with those helps me with these buggers...

Not much you can do to hydrate wood. A professional stabilizer could harden them with the resin stabilization but the resin will leave buildup on the wood and require sanding. You normally stabilize blocks then work them to shape. Probably not the best option for these. You could give them a soak in Danish Oil. That is a resin oil and it will penetrate into the wood. The volatile's will evaporate the remaining resin will harden to help protect the wood.

The crack, a drop of thin CA will wick into the crack and glue it shut. If you depin the scales, you may even want to give the inside of the scales a couple thin coats of CA. The thin formula of CA will soak into the pours and any hairline cracks. It is formulated to wick into small cracks like that and seal them shut.