Doh! Make sure you look closely at all the pictures on eBay.

[johnmrson]

I was browsing eBay last night and came across an FW Engels with an acution or a Buy It Now of $40. I've been after and Engels for a while but never managed to get around to getting one, especially at that price. I had a quick look at a couple of the pictures and pulled the trigger.

Having a closer look at all the pictures I noticed why it was so cheap.

Rust and a huge chip. I did get a very nice set of FW Engels scales though.

I guess I'll have to start looking around for an FW Engels blade now. In the mean time I'll hone out the chip, take the blade out of the scales and buff off the rust and I might be able to turn it into a useable 3/8.

Learn from my foolishness.

 

[rockviper]

Isn't that "chip" a barber's notch?

 

[Stevestan]

I had a similar experience. There's a lot of crap on E-Bay.

 

[Picaro]

Isn't that "chip" a barber's notch?

Its actually an Australin invention known as the Mole Jump Blade.

Looks like you got your monies worth in those scales anyway, John

 

[dakotaev]

That sucks John, good luck on the search for a great Engels Special blade with trashed scales

 

[W_B_K]

Those scales are really beautiful. I'd say you made out fine!

 

[JeffE]

Um, I don't want to add salt to the wound, but I might take a pass on those scales too. If you look at the corrosion pattern on the blade in the first photo, you can see that it is concentrated right along the parts of the blade that are in closest contact with the scales when the blade is closed.

That is the surest sign of scale rot, at least as I've been told. These FWE scales are made from celluloid too, so scale rot is definitely a possibility here, and I'm not sure I'd risk a decent blade with scales that were in this state. I understand from others that, even if you keep a set of scales like this in the same drawer with other razors, they will all soon start to corrode like this.

On the other hand, I could be completely off base here or misreading the photos, so maybe just a close inspection of the razor when it comes in will tell you the right way to go. Good luck!

 

[Munxcub]

Is there any way to confirm celluloid rot? I have a questionable set at home.

At least you could save the embellishments off these scales if they are in fact rotting.

 

[sanfranciscian]

thanks for sharing, and heres to hoping the scales are fine, because they are beautiful.

Ian

 

[TMH478]

That's a really nice piece! I don't think I would have noticed that chip at first glance either. It doesn't help that it was photographed against a dark background. Either way, I think you did well! It would make a great display piece.

 

[maxman]

Yeah, the 'bay can be a double edged sword sometimes.
On the flip side, I bought some shaving items in a lot, most of which I wasn't interested in.
The item I was interested in wasn't In the condition I thought on closer inspection.
But, mixed in with that was a Dubl Duck satinedge in pretty good shape.
It wasn't identified in the description.

 

[JeffE]

Is there any way to confirm celluloid rot? I have a questionable set at home.

At least you could save the embellishments off these scales if they are in fact rotting.

I don't know how to tell if the scales themselves are "rotting", but I understand that they become very brittle and crack easily. Apparently, it's part of the chemistry of celluloid that it starts to break down, at least in some cases, and as part of this breaking down process, it gives off a very corrosive gas that will harm the blade.

The tell-tale sign is the sort of corrosion that you see in the first picture -- bright and shiny metal along the top 1/3 or so of the blade and then a straight line of solid rust along the bottom 2/3 or so of the blade. That's the part of the blade that sits directly adjacent to the "rot" when the blade is closed, so that part of the blade gets the worst corrosion.

 

[BillEllis]

What's that expression? Oh yeah... Love is blind.

 

[rajagra]

You could always do the old coochie razor conversion, if that's your kind of thing.

View attachment 134285

 

[Luc]

You could always do the old coochie razor conversion, if that's your kind of thing.

View attachment 134285

Shame, that's a killer Boker!

 

[life2short1971]

I just had a similar experience John. Welcome to the club!

 

[johnmrson]

Well the razor arrived in the post today. If you remember, this was the eBay picture I missed.

Here's a couple of mine. That is a big chip. There's a fair bit of rust but it doesn't look too deep.

Anyway, I got a couple of spare hours so I decided to have a go a fixing it up .

First I honed the chip out on the DMT 200/325. It still measures around 5/8ths so that's not too bad.

I then cut the pivot pin out with flush cutters and took the blade out. The scales are in excellent condition.

I popped out and just plugged the buffer in and set it on the floor. I gave the blade a good work over with black emery and polish. The rust wasn't too deep so there was no need for the 120 grit greaseless compound.

OK, time to put the blade back. Normally I use microfasteners but I decided to use proper pins. I've only peened one before but it'd suit the razor a lot better. I'm pretty happy with the result.

I then honed the blade and gave it a hand polish with a soft cloth.

Well that took me just over 90 mins from start to finish. I'm pretty pleased with how my restoring skills are coming along. I've still got a long way to go but I was able to turn a potential waste of money into a very nice razor that I got for a bargain price.

 

[Nerdman]

WOW John, you saved that one! Excellent work man! how much time did you spend on the emory? and polish?

 

[dakotaev]

Excellent save John!!

 

[life2short1971]

Excellent work John!