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- #21
Thanks Matt, I certainly will.
I know nothing about stops, what is a SHELL strop? Any idea about when it was made?
Exciting Craftsman find at the Flea Market Today!
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Thanks Matt, I certainly will.
I know nothing about stops, what is a SHELL strop? Any idea about when it was made?
It’s actually pretty interesting! Shell is not technically leather, well it is and isn’t. It is the thick connective tissue which makes up a portion of the horses hide. It is selected from the rump and is world renowned for its toughness. This is to my best knowledge the explanation of shell, but another member may know more.
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- #23
It’s actually pretty interesting! Shell is not technically leather, well it is and isn’t. It is the thick connective tissue which makes up a portion of the horses hide. It is selected from the rump and is world renowned for its toughness. This is to my best knowledge the explanation of shell, but another member may know more.
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Thanks, that is interesting, I'll have to do some research.
Hello Mike, thank you for calling. First I'd like to congratulate you to very nice finds. To me horse butt is the ultimate strop material, unless the horse still is alive which would make it the most dangerous strop ever, and I would fully understand the animals reaction.
I'm sorry to say that I'm no ERN expert. ERN had a very large production and dussins of brand names during their century long production. Even I so have a special interest in their early production, but your very fine razor clearly is a later model. I'm guessing but I'd say that it was made in the late 1940's.
I wouldn't worry about the scales. If you check the razor every month or so you'll have time to see the first signs of cell rot and be able to react if ever needed. Until then I'd enjoy a pristine razor.
Thank you for sharing.
I'm sorry to say that I'm no ERN expert. ERN had a very large production and dussins of brand names during their century long production. Even I so have a special interest in their early production, but your very fine razor clearly is a later model. I'm guessing but I'd say that it was made in the late 1940's.
I wouldn't worry about the scales. If you check the razor every month or so you'll have time to see the first signs of cell rot and be able to react if ever needed. Until then I'd enjoy a pristine razor.
Thank you for sharing.
Mike, I have the same razor and my scales looked identical and they rotted my blade. My scales were decidedly synthetic. Do you know yours are natural and not synthetic? My guess is yours are synthetic. If they are time is running out on them.
I can't image ERN made two versions of scales for Sears but it's very much a possibility. I would think that at the time they thought their synthetic scales were superior to natural scales. But they probably couldn't have had the foresight to know that decades later they would rot.
Do look into it. There are supposedly tests to see if tortoise is natural or synthetic. I can't recall what they are but if you can find them and do them then it may save you a lot of grief.
Hope that helps.
Chris
I can't image ERN made two versions of scales for Sears but it's very much a possibility. I would think that at the time they thought their synthetic scales were superior to natural scales. But they probably couldn't have had the foresight to know that decades later they would rot.
Do look into it. There are supposedly tests to see if tortoise is natural or synthetic. I can't recall what they are but if you can find them and do them then it may save you a lot of grief.
Hope that helps.
Chris
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- #26
Thanks Arne.
That would certainly take some talent, stropping a razor on the back side of a horse while dodging his hooves.
I'm not worried about cell rot, I have at least a dozen razors with celluloid scales and thanks to knowledgeable guys like you who warned me about it, I keep a pretty close watch on them.
Thanks for the date information.
That would certainly take some talent, stropping a razor on the back side of a horse while dodging his hooves.
I'm not worried about cell rot, I have at least a dozen razors with celluloid scales and thanks to knowledgeable guys like you who warned me about it, I keep a pretty close watch on them.
Thanks for the date information.
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- #27
Thanks Chris, I have seen what cell rot can do and it's not pretty. I ran across one at a flea market, when I opened it, the blade crumbled in my hand.
I'm no expert on what genuine turtle looks like, I thought I could tell but I can't. The pins on this razor have no washers and I don't recall seeing pins without washers on celluloid scales. But as I said, I'm not an expert. I appreciate the information if someone could tell by looking at the pictures.
Thanks again Chris for your concern.
Here's another picture.
Beautiful set ... the razor reminds me of the tortoise scaled Pumas although I'd guess this Craftsman is from a different Solingen maker. Most of those razors are from the late 40s through the 50s, which is when I'd guess this one was produced.
Cell rot is real but it's unpredictable - just because one razor rots doesn't mean that a second razor from the same maker will go at the same time. And the second one may never rot. But tortoise celluloid scales are known to commonly get it, which is what those almost certainly are. That blade is in good enough condition that you would see if & when anything starts happening to it and you'll have time to rescale it if you want.
Cell rot is real but it's unpredictable - just because one razor rots doesn't mean that a second razor from the same maker will go at the same time. And the second one may never rot. But tortoise celluloid scales are known to commonly get it, which is what those almost certainly are. That blade is in good enough condition that you would see if & when anything starts happening to it and you'll have time to rescale it if you want.
Wouldn't the blade have rusted by now if cell rot was an issue?
I agree.
I suspect it has to do with how the razor was stored etc. but you never know.
My very first razor as a teen was a tortoise scaled razor from Eicker & Sohn. Magnificent blade. Through circumstances I won't go through at length here I wound up getting another blade with plain white plastic scales a few weeks later that I settled on to use for the next twenty years. So the Eicker was in storage in a plastic coffin for that time. When I opened it I was flabbergasted that the blade was rusted right where it met the scales on down to the edge. There was also a nasty smell coming from the whole thing. Long story short I surmised that the scales were the culprit and cut them off straight away.
In the intervening years I've come across this several times with other synthetic tortoise scales. For vintage blades this can be a red flag.
Just want to save you any grief that I have gone through.
Chris
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- #32
Thanks. There were 2 well known Solingen razor makers that made razors for Sears, this one was made by ERN, I don't remember the other one right now.
It's possible that ERN and Puma got their scales from the same place. I've seen a lot of different razors with the same scales. I have a Boker and a Schmachtenberg Bros that are identical.
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- #33
This is what I've heard.
Find of year! Congrats!
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- #35
I miss the old Craftman stuff. Remember their forever hand tool replacement? Matter of fact I miss Montgomery Ward and S&H Green Stamps too.
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- #37
I picked the mat up at a gun show about 10 years ago, it's part of another disorder that I have.
All of that reconditioning and restoring suggested sounds like too much work. Send that set to me and I'll take care of it. So you don't lose all the way around I could give you 20 percent of what you paid. Haha. I scored a Craftsman blade and separately a strop. Super cool to have a set. Enjoy
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- #39
Where were you a week ago? I've been fretting over all of these recommendations, not knowing what to do. Do I use Vaseline, or no Vaseline, Neatsfoot, no Neatsfoot, throw the scales away, don't throw the scales away. But, I'm sure you'll be happy to know that I believe I've got it figured out and won't need to take you up on your offer. I'm sure your relieved to hear that.
Congrats on finding your set.
I love the look of that razor. Very nice beautiful blade.
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