Thread: Scale Crack

Some may have seen this post in the Razors section: http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...stub-tail.html

I was hoping someone may be able to give me some information on how to stabilize the crack in the scales. They're horn and probably pretty fragile from the age. I was thinking I could just use rubber cement to place the pieces together but I don't want to try something that could possibly cause problems in the future.

Has anyone done this before? Could you run me through the process?

Thanks!

Is the intention not to de-pin? I think most secure would be take apart. This way really could soak in neatsfoot, clean, sand and polish scale. Grind flat a little each side of break at inboard side, , clean all mating surfaces, make a mini liner, epoxy liner on, sand to flat and repin. Or rescale it.

If trying to leave together for the save, may be sketchy results. Difficult to clean mating edges. If that were the goal, would try to clean the crack with acetone with narrow or sanded down toothpicks (wood to wick and retain solvent) apply epoxy in multi, tiny dabs. You'll apply very little, it'll drip down, wipe excess wet if any, dry and repeat, repeat, etc

Can not tell how large a gap in the crack. If there is a gap, mix epoxy with black pigment such as Castin' Craft opaque pigment or horn dust with epoxy

There's more than one way to skin a Greaves, so certain others will come up encouraging ideas
**************
edit
*************
lol, forest through the trees and such, missed the obvious...
Jimmy had the likely best idea if not to take apart..

leave it alone, if safe.

If no intention to clean the blade, and blade actually closes (its ok if need to pay a little attention, you should anyways) leave it.

Beauty is in the eye of beholder, but I am fond of a left alone, naturally aged razor

Is the crack such that it is two pieces ? Hard to tell from the pix. If it is does the wedge go up above the crack ? If it does maybe drilling a mini hole or two and pinning with fine pins. If it isn't all the way through and looks to be fragile I might try some Loctite Professional epoxy dripped in like DC said. If it is not all the way through and has held up all these years I might leave it as is. I'm no pro on restore though so wait for more suggestions.

Originally Posted by dirtychrome

Is the intention not to de-pin?

I REALLY don't want to de-pin. all of the originals are still in good shape and I just couldn't do it. It looks like I'll need some epoxy, the edges don't quite meet perfectly together, a very small part must have been lost at some point.

Thanks to both of you! I knew this couldn't be just a simple glue job

ats200,

You could try a small spot of cyanoacrylate glue (e.g. SuperGlue) to stabilise the crack ?

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

I'm new to straight restoration jobs, but love it! Keeping it as close to original as possible is good advice for any restoration, but not always possible. From the first pic you have it looks like the horn is warped wich may come back (crack) to bite you later in its life. I'm no expert, that is for sure, but I would post a WTB add or paruse Ebay for somthing large enough to make duplicates out of. It may take a while but patience is a virtue! Great find by the way!

Respectfully
Louis.

I think Dirtychrome is right on in his advise. Whatever you do, save it! An original Greaves with those collars is a treasure!