Scale Sweat?!?

Ok, now THIS is new to me...

I was working on this nice J. Engstrom, and after pulling the blade, left this downstairs in the workshop overnight. Basement is about 20 deg cooler than upstairs, so one might expect a little condensation to form on the chilled steel. But I have never seen this much moisture form on the scales. And no, there was NO moisture on the steel.

Has anybody else ever seen this phenomena? Should I be worried about these scales being detrimental to the health of the razor?
As far as I can tell, the scales are NOT bone or ivory.
Attachment 103047

Eew. They look sick to me, I would toss them just as a precaution. A good sand and neatsfooting might help stabilize whatever's going on though.

Oil or grease might have gotten onto or embedded in the scales at one point in time and could be forcing the water to the surface. I would try giving them a good cleaning and see what happens.

They look like bone scales to me, and that discolouration looks like oil that has seeped into them from over-enthusiastic oiling of the pivot over the years. I expect condensation formed on the other part of the scale and sunk in, but could not do so where the oil is present. I don't think that the scales will detrimental to the rest of the razor unless you keep it in the basement! I don't think I would leave anything metal down there, or get some form of heating...

Regards,
Neil

Don't you ever watch the old cowboy movies man? It's sweating dynomite, NITRO!!

It looks to me like something is exuding from the scale material. I would isolate the scales for a week or so after cleaning and see if it continues.

I think I may have figured this one out! I had no idea, that these razors were made by FOLDING the steel. If you look closely, you can see the line where the steel comes together, and the overlap on the right side of the pivot. Attachment 103187

What I believe happened, is that when I soaked the blade in silicon lube to assist in removing it from its frozen, cruddy, rusty place in the frame, the spaces between and behind the frame wicked the lube up into the scales, displacing the moisture. I have given the scales a good scrubbing, and there seems to be no recurrence of the sweating. As long as I am posting on this again, here is a shot of the new blade I am making for it. Needs some adjusting, and more finish work, but I'm not going to get into it until I sharpen it up and see if it takes a good edge.
Attachment 103188

Interesting, can't say I've seen too many chipped frameback blades replaced before! Good observation about the folded frames too, I've often noticed the 'cracks' on some framebacks of mine but never made the connection.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EisenFaust

Interesting, can't say I've seen too many chipped frameback blades replaced before!

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Probably because its a huge frackin PITA!