Thread: Need advice on a possible trade for .

I am being offered a trade for one of my DE's. Part of the trade is an H. Eicker & Sohne Heartring 150. It's a small blade, but in great condition and feels very comfortable to me. It also feels way smoother than most other straights I have so far tried, which is not many, I am only starting out and struggling to do WTG passes right now. I have tried a bunch of razors that either were not honed as well or just aren't as good blades. Anyway, this Heartring has some scale problems. Scales are in good shape, but the blade is not centered and has hit one of the scales. Also, it is obvious that the two scales are grossly misaligned. I am wondering what it would take to correct this. Looks like new scales are in order.







Just wondering if I am in for rescaling or can I fix this by re-pinning. This feels like a great learning razor. There are two more razors in this deal and I will post later about them as they each have an issue I'd like to size up. All the blades are great, just the scales are problematic.

Thanks! I am learning a ton and having a great time here.

You should be able to centre it more with a few light taps with the ballpeen hammer on the pin. Nice looking razor.

Wow - that must be some DE if its worth three straight razors, especially one as good as the H. Eicker.

You often find that kind of bulging of the scales on one side with celluloid scales that have a metal logo inset in them.

Fixing it can be as simple as getting a tall, thin jar, boiling some water, let it go just off the boil, pour into jar, open blade at 90 degrees and sit scales in the water to soften. Turn on the cold water tap. After a minute of two test the scales for pliability by closing the blade and bending them a little to sit the blade a better. If they bend enough (you might want to go a bit further as they will spring back a little) hold the lot under the cold tap to cool them right down.

Test to see if they stay there and that the blade closes OK. Sometimes you have to bend them further over than the blade will allow, so it pays to make some spacers to hold the scales apart a two or three points, as they are prone to collapse in towards each other when soft. With a bit of luck that will work.

You can also do it with a hair drier, but it is hard to control the heat enough and you may melt the scales. If they are proper celluloid you might even set them on fire. That's an interesting sight for those of the right mind-set (like me - the wrong mind-set!).

If it doesn't work, you can unpin them, elongate the holes (one one way, one the other - not too much, just enough to coax the blade to the right side) and add washers between scale and tang- maybe one on one side to alter the throw would do it. Then re-pin.

Good Luck!

Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Wow - that must be some DE if its worth three straight razors, especially one as good as the H. Eicker.

You often find that kind of bulging of the scales on one side with celluloid scales that have a metal logo inset in them.

Fixing it can be as simple as getting a tall, thin jar, boiling some water, let it go just off the boil, pour into jar, open blade at 90 degrees and sit scales in the water to soften. Turn on the cold water tap. After a minute of two test the scales for pliability by closing the blade and bending them a little to sit the blade a better. If they bend enough (you might want to go a bit further as they will spring back a little) hold the lot under the cold tap to cool them right down.

Test to see if they stay there and that the blade closes OK. Sometimes you have to bend them further over than the blade will allow, so it pays to make some spacers to hold the scales apart a two or three points, as they are prone to collapse in towards each other when soft. With a bit of luck that will work.

You can also do it with a hair drier, but it is hard to control the heat enough and you may melt the scales. If they are proper celluloid you might even set them on fire. That's an interesting sight for those of the right mind-set (like me - the wrong mind-set!).

If it doesn't work, you can unpin them, elongate the holes (one one way, one the other - not too much, just enough to coax the blade to the right side) and add washers between scale and tang- maybe one on one side to alter the throw would do it. Then re-pin.

Good Luck!

Neil

Neil, thanks for the tips. I had no idea the scales were celluloid, much less "proper" celluloid. You see, I grew up in the 70's in USSR where children had much less choice in toys. So we made our own toys. Celluloid film was very popular with us boys as we used it to make smoke stacks by wrapping small amounts of it in paper like a tootsie roll and lighting it, then immediately putting it out. Copious amounts of noxious smoke would make us very happy and brain-dead. We also fashioned our own rocket engines using celluloid hair-combs, ping-pong balls and film. Then as I grew older Celluloid became less frequently encountered in everyday items. Less flammable plastics that replaced them were just not nearly as much fun So I am of the same mindset as you (wrong kind) about celluloid. Back to the razors. The DE in question is a very nice complete cased vintage Merkur slant. Those actually worth a lot, but I have no idea what I am getting in straights as I am a noob at straights. Seems all the razors have scale issues, but the others do not have celluloid scales. Now that I look at the scales I can tap my childhood ability to recognize celluloid by just looking at the plastic. When I was a kid this ability provided advantage while rummaging for the stuff. One of the razors is a modern Dovo Special with regular plastic scales (tortoise shell design) and Dovo logo embedded in metal on one side. The blade is a bit loose opening, but then tightens up and is fairly well centered. This one is not shave ready and even appears to have a rolled edge on the tip. I read lots of good things about these and am compelled to take the deal, but again, I mostly shave with DEs and this is just a very beginning at which I am not sure I will stick with it. Heartring feels amazing shaving. I tried it and it felt smooth and easy to work with. Dovo pulled and tugged and I did not push it. The third razor is F.V. Beckher Ton-So-Rius. This one has the cooles scales of the three, but also the strangest scale problem. The cool part is both ends of the scales have metal overlay with Ton-So-Rius cut into them. Very cool, BUT, the blade edge sticks out in one place when the razor is closed. It's downright dangerous, though it's only a tiny bit of the edge exposed. Blade is also very nice, but I have not tried to shave with it. So they are three Solingen blades with various scale issues. I will start a thread on each of the others separately, perhaps or just post pictures here. I have yet to photograph the other razors.

Edit: Went and snapped some pictures of the others.

Here's the Dovo:














And here is the Beckher

More of the Beckher

Do NOT hesitate, make the trade.

Do as Neil suggests very carefully and then get them all professionally honed.

Great razors, well done.

Now I am not so much a DE guy, and I do not know what yours is worth.

That said I would be all over that trade like white on rice.

Either way thank you for sharing the pictures.

I think my RAD just flared up again...

Thanks for the encouragement. I am just looking to get a good learner razor and not start a collection or a restoration project. I do understand that these are three wonderful razors. Where would be a good place for honing? Also, will the Beckher that has a protruding edge need rescaling or can that be somehow also tweaked? I would hate to loose those overlays. Perhaps they could be transferred to new scales? Still, this is more than what I want to get into at the moment. I also got a site unseen razor from Whipped Dog and that is a lovely German Solace with dark green celluloid scales. That one was supposed to be my learner, then this came up...

Originally Posted by vferdman

Thanks for the encouragement. I am just looking to get a good learner razor and not start a collection or a restoration project. I do understand that these are three wonderful razors. Where would be a good place for honing? Also, will the Beckher that has a protruding edge need rescaling or can that be somehow also tweaked? I would hate to loose those overlays. Perhaps they could be transferred to new scales? Still, this is more than what I want to get into at the moment. I also got a site unseen razor from Whipped Dog and that is a lovely German Solace with dark green celluloid scales. That one was supposed to be my learner, then this came up...

As far as where to hone someplace distaraction free at least to start and a comfortable working level, I used the kitchen counter after young ones were in bed and still do.
The scales can be fixed, there are a few methods, search it on the sight and try what sounds like you are best tooled for.
Most of all enjoy, restoring them is a big part of the pleasure and do not be afraid to ask questions.

I actually wouldn't trade, myself. I hate vintage razors with scale issues. Especially when the blade is poking through the scales. I know they are all fixable problems, but I really don't like messing with vintage scales and risking breaking them.

If I were you (if I had a DE of value which I didn't want to keep), I'd wait for stuff that doesn't need any work. (Unless you are comfortable doing the work, which I'm clearly not.)