Thread: Marked Horn scales?

Doing my first "frame off" restoration. Been working on the blade a while, and just got around to the scales. Using the old scale on the one side, and had to recreate the backside. Normally, I would not even bother mentioning this, but while polishing up the old scale I noticed something odd. pressed into the horn on the inside where it could not be seen are letters. I believe it says Sid these are not scratched in, but actually IN the horn. Anybody ever see this inside scales before?
And this IS my first time making horn scales, so feel free to offer up opinions.
What I learned with this task is, take off your shirt and sweater BEFORE you remove your respirator! Now I want to learn about Sid!

I have seen marks like that many times, but I must have taken hundreds of horn scales apart. Horn was heated (steam/water) to soften it, which makes it very pliable. You can even fuse it together to make water-tight objects like cups, etc. For scales, there were sets of steel moulds that screwed tightly together. Some were two-piece affairs, some just had the upper and lower plates plain with a cut-out shaper to go in between - the scales with lettering and/or designs and patterns used an engraved, relief mould, which is why the letters on yours stand proud of the rest of the horn

The horn had the tip cut off, was split along on side and heated then flattened into a plate. Then the plate was re-heated and split into thinner plates - some so thin that they could be used in lieu of window glass, some (lant-horns = lantern) surrounded a candle or oil lamp. In your case a plate of suitable thickness was placed inside the former (which was pre-heated and daubed with tallow so the horn did not stick) and the screws were tightened. The whole lot was then heated and the screws tightened more - at some point the horn becomes liquid and flows, even seeping out the sides of the former.

They used to make a lot at one time, often stacking the tightly screwed formers in a pit in the ground and leaving them for some time until cool, when the scales could be removed and the edges trimmed.

The profession of 'scale presser' was practiced by many - they also made combs, buttons, etc in this way. But it is unlikely that the scale-presser made the mould. So, if the initials are well formed they are either there at the special request of the scale pressure who made the scales when he commissioned the plate from the maker, or they are the plate-makers initials. If the initials are crudely done or 'scratch-like' then they are almost certainly those of the scale presser.

One set I had was commissioned by the firm of Colquoun & Cadman - they sold razors, hones and other paraphernalia, but they were not makers - they just re-badged and re-sold. However, they had horn scales made for them. On one of their razors, the inside of the scales had the initials of someone else - these had a scratch through them and a "C&C" was next to them, so they had probably used scales made by or for someone else, and had their own initials engraved on them.

If a firm did everything in house - which was not the norm in Sheffield, you would expect that the scales would have the razor-makers initials on them, but as these little jobs were farmed out to what was essentially a cottage industry, razor makers initials are a bit of a rarity.

Regards,
Neil

Mr. Miller since your so knowledgeable of the process how bought you broaden your product line and start fabricating pressed horn scales? Nothing fancy of course, put me down for 6 sets of a portrait engraving of myself for starts. Heres a reference photo of myself to go by.

Now then Darl, that pic is certainly an improvement over the last one you sent me...

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Now then Darl, that pic is certainly an improvement over the last one you sent me...

Indeed Good Sir!!!

The new scale looks wonderful.
I currently have one with a similar problem. One side is fine, the other partly broken. I have the idea to repair it, but still play with ideas...

Neil, as always, a veritable cornucopia of information. As I was working the new horn, I was wondering "did they actually make any money spending all this time filing and sanding this garbage?" The scale with the makers mark (and yes, the letters are raised, not engraved) also has the wedge formed from the horn itself, and I was also thinking "how much horn was wasted leaving that wedge end" Guess the answer to that question is "Not a strip of horn wasted!"

DDTech... I save scales when ever possible. This one was missing pieces. Check out the work done by Undream maybe contact him or some of the other guys that do such great work on repairing horn. I believe Voidmonster has also done some remarkable repairwork on horn.

Originally Posted by Tarkus

Heres a reference photo of myself to go by.

I don't buy it!
Its not you
to GOOD LOOK'N