Restoring Partial Broken Horn?

[LittleStropper]

I have a pre-Sheafworks W. Greaves, which puts the razor at before 1823. These are quite uncommon and I wish to preserve it as is. The problem is that the razor has beautiful ORIGINAL nearly 200 year old dark honey horn scales - they are magnificent and I do not want to replace them with anything. My problems is is that, on one side near the pivot pin, the horn is cracked in a jagged pattern and the piece is missing, so there is nothing to "glue" back. I want to preserve what is there, but I also wish to stabilize the razor to protect against greater damage.

I was wondering if there is a way to "graft" on another small piece of horn and then dye it to come close to the original, or perhaps use epoxy to create the missing area, sand it down and color it. I have never done this before so I am open to all advice.

I am including photos below. The scales and razor are MUCH more beautiful in person - the artificial light washes it out.

 

[MileMarker60]

Great looking blade.
Instead of trying to fix that area with epoxy, why not just make a new side out of horn.
While it's not original, neither is epoxy and considering it's at the pivot hole stability could be a problem. I would sand and polish the good side to get a true color. Then do your best to match up the horn color. If done well most will not be able to see the difference and will be ready for another 100 yrs of service.

Here is a pic of a Ka-Bar I did.
one side original the other side black horn.

 

[luvmysuper]

I salute your effort to maintain the original.
If it were I, I would graft on a piece of acrylic, using epoxy as the connecting material.
I personally would not worry about matching too much, as the intent is to call attention to the original material.
Too close a match makes no differentiation between the two.
Working with expoxy as a replacement is possible, but you have to mold expoxy to the shape, let it harden so it can be accurately shaped and drilled.
You then still have to use new epoxy to connect the two pieces.
Just using acrylic to begin with is much easier.

These old razors are a magnificent and unique part of history and every effort should be made to keep them as intact as possible.

Good luck.

 

[LittleStropper]

I salute your effort to maintain the original.
If it were I, I would graft on a piece of acrylic, using epoxy as the connecting material.
I personally would not worry about matching too much, as the intent is to call attention to the original material.
Too close a match makes no differentiation between the two.
Working with expoxy as a replacement is possible, but you have to mold expoxy to the shape, let it harden so it can be accurately shaped and drilled.
You then still have to use new epoxy to connect the two pieces.
Just using acrylic to begin with is much easier.

These old razors are a magnificent and unique part of history and every effort should be made to keep them as intact as possible.

Good luck.

That's how I feel. People tend to focus on the blade and forget about, or minimize the historic significance of, the scales. The condition of these scales is something that two centuries, and ONLY two centuries, could do. Not matter how close you TRY to get, you will never be able to capture the depth a warmth of this horn. You see it on old pocket knives too.

That said, I have the UTMOST respect for the craftsmanship of some of the razor restorers on the board. They put SO much time and love into their work - far more than they will ever get out of it financially. These are the folks that would have been the great craftsman of the early days of straights. As much time as they put into new creations, I put in almost as much time into preserving razors as they are - the main task there being to stabilize the piece and to ensure it doesn't get any worse in the future. That is really my main goal here - to stabilize the piece so that there isn't a piece of broken scale hanging out of the side where it can get snapped off. I but broken razors all the time so I can see as many examples of scales as possible. When new scales are REALLY required, when the old ones are completely destroyed, they go into a "holding area" where I wait, sometimes years, for identical scales to come in. You can imagine the amount of pressure I feel not to break the "new" set while peening the pins

Thanks for you opinion.

 

[MileMarker60]

I wish you all the luck but in my opinion ( and I'm sure others may differ ). If the intent is to be a razor that is used often, it will be a constant struggle to keep the razor tight and together. If it was the wedge end it wouldn't matter but the missing piece looks to be right through the pivot hole.
If it's going to be a show piece, I'm sure you can make something work. I'm interested to see what you come up with.

 

[LittleStropper]

I wish you all the luck but in my opinion ( and I'm sure others may differ ). If the intent is to be a razor that is used often, it will be a constant struggle to keep the razor tight and together. If it was the wedge end it wouldn't matter but the missing piece looks to be right through the pivot hole.
If it's going to be a show piece, I'm sure you can make something work. I'm interested to see what you come up with.

Good point. I am a dealer, not a collector. Although I do fall in love with the little shavers every now and then. I would strongly advise a buyer NOT to use this one as a shaver or, they insisted, shave with it before every presidential inauguration and then carefully dry it, coat it with Renaissance Wax and put it back in the case for 4 years. If you are dedicated to preservation as a collector, you simply have to keep some of your holdings as "savers" not "shavers."