Thread: Polishing Scales

Excuse the newbish question in here (kind of feel like a kid getting to eat at the grown ups table for the first time posting in here)

I picked up a new razor yesterday, It is a Boker Waldorf and I thought the scales might have been something interesting but I think the are just plain old scales that have gotten Dull over time. Is there something I can polish these back up to a nice shine with?

Sorry for the crappy picture in advance, my daughter is a photography student and is in New York on a school trip so every Lens and Camera Body we own with her.

I've used two products that have given me pretty decent results.

1) Mother's polish, which plastic container from Canadian Tire (Automotive Section)
2) Maas "All metals" polish. I ordered this one on ebay, but I have recently found that many Home Hardware's carry it. Do you have one in Wasaga? If not, the HH just north of me, close to the highway carries it.

I can't really tell what material the scales are made of, but here are some of things I have used to get my scales back in shape

As Maxi said mothers and Maas work great for scales .
Novus 123 plastics polishing system works great
Any auto plastic polish works
If u really want to get crazy u can hand sand the scales ( since there not in bad shape at all ) I would start with 800 or 1k and go up to 2500 if j could then,if u had the time and money could finish it with micromesh.

Hope this helps

Those old Boker scales are normally some form of "Bakelite"
You have a bit more of a problem with the surface being decorated then if you were just doing standard "Slick Black" scales...
Sanding those will lead to a very uneven shine, even when you just polish them you need to use a rougher nap cloth (Washcloth or terry towel) to get into the inlays... to keep the cleaning even...
There is going to be a Brown color dust coming off them, that is actually oxidation, a good car cleaner like Turtle Wax rubbing compound does great for the first few applications. keep using that until the brown color is gone then switch to any of the great polishes that the guys already mentioned....

Nevr-Dull polishing wadding is my go to product for cleaning scales.

I'd say see what soap, water and nailbrush do, and if necessary use a mildly abrasive polish (even metal poiish) on a bristle (not wire) brush. If it is a rotary brush choose a small one, so it doesn't throw off the compound.

Very nice razor and well worth cleaning and honing to shave with it! Congratulations! A toothbrush and tooth paste is the easy way to go and pope cleaners for inside the scales, or...you can use an auto polish after cleaning and only use your fingers to rub the high spots of the decoration to polish them. Looks like the years of use that way but nicer!
Respectfully
~Richard

Originally Posted by Caledonian

I'd say see what soap, water and nailbrush do, and if necessary use a mildly abrasive polish (even metal poiish) on a bristle (not wire) brush. If it is a rotary brush choose a small one, so it doesn't throw off the compound.

An abject lesson in what is really on there

I stopped halfway through this restore, for a few reasons first of it was a Boker and I remembered this thread while I was working...

These are one set of scales, front scale, right off the razor, back scale, after cleaning and polishing... The piece of sandpaper is 320 grit and that is just from the back scale inside and outside, that doesn't include the rag that I used with Polishing compound and the stuff left on it... This is the filth and oxidation that is really on those scales... BTW the really dark streaks are greasy crud that was inside the scales, most likely a combination of old soap, skin, and rust

I hope this helps to illustrate what you want to clean off...

Now I am going to go do the same thing to the front side scale except for the "Tree" logo that I am going to do exactly like I described for you...

God, that is disgusting Glen!!!

I tried the toothbrush and toothpaste suggested by geezer today on my 120y.o. Challenge. The results were great. I used 600 grit on the stains on the INSIDE of the scales after I was done to remove the leftover stuff that was a real stain.

This is the razor that has the enclosed tail I was looking at restoring. The paste cleaned things up nicely, without doing any damage.

Now the real question for me is: how do I remove the pivot pin without damaging the scales? I have a craftsman rotary tool (dremel imitation tool) with sanders, grinders, sharpening wheels, a little cone grinder/file. One of these surely will do the trick, but if it is a low flat pin, how do I free a side without damaging the scale? I ground down a couple that the scales were trashed on so I could sand the blade, but I jacked the scale each time. So, I'm kinda stumped on how to get it out of NICE scales, ya know?

Any help is greatly appreciated in advance!!!

Some threads to read "Hammertime"

Look here first there are a few threads of course in the workshop stricky

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...wers-here.html

Then read this latest one..

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...-pins-out.html


PS: The finished Red Injun