This. They weren't wasting ivory on junky razors back in the day, so materials like ivory and tortoise are usually a guarantee that the razor will be good, as long as it is in decent condition.
Ivory scales
- Thread starter aussie
- Start date
That’s a beautiful razor! Congrats on those!Whether they're bone or ivory (and I'm certainly not enough of an expert to know) I'd leave them for the moment, and see if the crack develops. It's probably fine just like that I imagine.
I don't know of anywhere where it would be illegal to possess old ivory, there may be places but I don't know of any. It is however in many countries illegal to sell without certification that it is antique rather than modern, and the same goes for transporting across international borders.
Than most other things, yep. Scarcity I suppose, but actually in the UK at least they're not desperately uncommon.
I don't have many ivory scaled razors (3), and I use them quite a lot because they all happen to be excellent razors. But personally in answer to the q. I'd say - no.
Even leaving aside the questionable nature of the ivory trade throughout its history; I find horn more tactilely appealing, I also think it's more nuanced, varied and visually interesting than ivory.
I do still like it though, I have a matching pair of these old James Johnson near wedges that really are rather nice.
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Why is it that ivory scales are almost always pinned without a washer? I've never heard a good reason, if there is one.
Of all the ivory razors I have I can only think of one that has washers (a Klas T).
Of all the ivory razors I have I can only think of one that has washers (a Klas T).
These are my thoughts on that issue:
Advice on ivory scales please
I recently bought this set of razors, purely because of it's connection to Aberdeen in Scotland. The photos of the advert was not clear enough for me to be able to tell it is ivory, but when they arrived, it was clear they are. Usually when you see ivory scales, especially sets, there are...
www.badgerandblade.com
I don't know the answer, you'd think a washer would spread the pressure out. Many of my Swedish razors with non-ivory scales also don't have washers though. A Berg, an Engström, and two Törnbloms with hard rubber scales, and two Söderéns with celluloid scales. I really hate it with the hard rubber because the pins tend to pull through and make it impossible to tighten the pivot.
Yes, intuitively the washer would spread it out, which is confusing.
My theory has always been it is harder to peen well without a washer, so they save that guy for the expensive scale materials. The cheap stuff gets the washer and the new guy with the big hammer.
