Thread: Hello From TN, USA

Welcome, Maulgryve. Beautiful scales. I have been shaving exclusively with SR8s for 3 months after years of on and off experimentation. SRP is a terrific resource and is the reason I have been able to stick with it this time. You have a lot of pleasant shaves (and probably a little frustration) ahead of you. Persistence and consulting the experts is the key.

Originally Posted by roughkype

Those are gorgeous scales. The top set, with the red, and the bottom set, with the black, are all box elder? Are the colors all natural?

Nice looking blades, too!

Best wishes

The top set is Box Elder. It is actually a pinkish color. It is a very strange wood, and the only one that I have seen the pink color in.

The bottom is some sort of celluloid that I believe the previous owner may have burned perhaps. It has a brown spot that I do not believe from the factory. It did not disform the scale at all, but instead added that nice brown color.

Thanks everyone for the compliments on the blades!

Originally Posted by Maulgryve

The top set is Box Elder. It is actually a pinkish color. It is a very strange wood, and the only one that I have seen the pink color in.

The bottom is some sort of celluloid that I believe the previous owner may have burned perhaps. It has a brown spot that I do not believe from the factory. It did not disform the scale at all, but instead added that nice brown color.

Thanks everyone for the compliments on the blades!

Those really are some stylin' scales you made. Is there finish on them yet, or do they sand up that shiny?

About your browning celluloid scales--if they really are celluloid, you may be seeing some cell rot. Keep them away from blades! Is there any corrosion on the blade that was in them? Near the brown zone? When celluloid breaks down, it releases a vapor of either acetic or nitric acid, depending on how it was made. Either one will gobble up the steel. Worse, the gas can act like a bad apple in your razor drawer, and promote other celluloid scales to break down.

To test the scale's identity, heat the end of a paper clip and touch it to the inside of the scale. If you get a piney smell, it's celluloid.

For some outdoor adventure, put on your sunglasses and light a piece of the stuff on fire. Do not hold it, put somewhere safe then light it. Burns as bright as magnesium, or an arc light. Now imagine the fear old projectionists had of their films catching fire! Under some conditions, in fact, celluloids can spontaneously combust. So don't leave vintage razors on your dashboard in the sun... even your Allstate agent might not understand that one.

The box elder shined up so good with a little bit of wax.

And that is scary about the scales. I do not know for sure if it is celluloid or not. I was guessing, since I thought celluloid that was what they made the old handles out of if they weren't made from some organic material. The reason I thought it was a burn spot was because the other scale had a little bit of a melted spot on it. I was able to sand most of the melted spot out. If it is rot like you suggested - then I will toss them in a heartbeat. The blade that was in the scales is the Anchor razor that is sitting above the scales in the same photo. It did not have any serious rust on it that I recall. I will test the paperclip method and see what I smell when I get some time.

Thank you so much for the heads up.