Quote Originally Posted by yohannrjm View Post
Nice job on the blade, and the scales too. I'll be curious to see how it comes out.

One thing: the original scales look whole. Why don't you try and reuse them? Some oiling with neatsfoot oil, followed by some gentle buffing, and you could have a lovely set of horn scales. Those pins looked great too.

Regards.

Yohann
Thanks!

The original scales may be whole, but only just. In the 2nd "before" you can see a crack through the pinning hole in the end opposite the tang pivot. That crack goes all the way through and I suspect the washer under that peened pin is the only thing holding that chunk of the scales in place.

I suspect it may be possible to fill that gap with epoxy to repair, though I figure doing so before polishing it would only seal in a lot of ugly. On the other hand even a gentle buffing may tear the scales apart before being secured, kind of a catch-22. In any case, I figured I better try my inexperienced hand on scrap wood that I can screw up without destroying a 125 year old family heirloom (maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but this razor was from my grandpa). Maybe someday I'll decide it's time to restore / repair the original scales and get this blade back in them, but that will be another thread far down the road so I will just retire the originals safely until then...