Got me a cool Frederick Reynolds

[bamabubba]

I just scored this baby. It was massive in its day and with the hone wear you can tell it was heavily used. The scales are horn and in pretty good shape. I figure a good soak in neatsfoot oil will pep them up but there's some delamination on one end. Someone on another forum suggested using a THIN tool to get some CA between the layers where the delamination is. Anyone got any other suggestions on how to go about restoring this baby? I know the hone wear is there to stay...not a problem. I mainly want to clean up the finish of the blade and get the scales good to go. It's stamped Sheffield (no England) so I'd say it was made somewhere pre-1890?

Thanks!

 

[Seraphim]

You could de-pin, and thoroughly saturate the scales with CA to stabilize them.

I was going to bid on that one, but wasn't paying attention. I love the humpback!

 

[Seraphim]

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=64527&stc=1&d=1251474517

 

[Lexbomb]

Nice looking razor, with a little love I'm sure it will look great

 

[joshua82]

A trick I have tried is dipping the scales in wood hardener. You can boil a pot of water and put the can of hardener in the water to warm it up and then dip the scales in it. Wood hardener is a very thin liquid and when warmed up will penetrate very deep into the parts that have delaminated. I have taken some gnarly looking scales and transformed them back to "like new" condition with this method before. If you try this make sure you remove the pot of water from the stove and put the hardener into the water well away fom anything that can ignite it as it is very flammable. You will also want to unpin the razor to do this but in my experience the results are worth it.

 

[tomjr]

nice razor.

 

[hig789]

Very nice. I love the humpback also.

 

[bamabubba]

Thanks, guys. I'm looking forward to this one. I really appreciate the wood hardener tip as I'd never thought of that. The delamination is about 1/2 inch on one end, on one of the scales so I think it will be quite fixable. Will the wood hardener preclude using neetsfoot oil to further help replenish the horn or will the neets be necessary at that point?

 

[BenjamanBarker]

I really like that blade!! Can't wait to see it after the work is done

 

[joshua82]

I've never used oil and wood hardener together so I don't want to say one way or another. Oil won't improve the strength of the scales like hardener or CA glue, it just rehydrates them and improves flexibility. All three methods will definitely improve the appearance though so if the delam is just an aesthetic issue, oil will work.

 

[Mike H]

I have one of those. A really great shaver.
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...today-Now-with-PICTURES?p=3802753#post3802753

 

[bamabubba]

I have one of those. A really great shaver.
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...today-Now-with-PICTURES?p=3802753#post3802753

Oh man, she's a beauty!!!!!