No hairline crack, yet.

[Amir]

Greetings!

I'm curious about my 1930's era ball-end handle, which happens to be in good shape on a UK Goodwill Empire.
If it has made it this far with no hairline cracks, is there any empirical evidence that it's unlikely to develop a crack?

From what I understand, the cause was stuffing a ball-end into a hollow tube, and some B&B experts believe they developed soon after they rolled out of the factory.

Does/did it matter whether the razor is/was stored over the years assembled or not, as a leading indicator of developing a crack?
By the way, is there a difference between an Old Type ball-end and a NEW ball-end handle?

--Amir--

 

[Shave_Rat]

I'm not an expert, of course, but another factor that seems like it would affect the handle cracking is how much the head is tightened down each time the blade is changed. Really cranking it down time and again could easily cause the handle to crack if it's already weakened from the press fitting the collar into the tube handle.

 

[MacDaddy]

I'm curious about my 1930's era ball-end handle, which happens to be in good shape on a UK Goodwill Empire.
If it has made it this far with no hairline cracks, is there any empirical evidence that it's unlikely to develop a crack?

From what I understand, the cause was stuffing a ball-end into a hollow tube, and some B&B experts believe they developed soon after they rolled out of the factory.

I don't think we have any truly empirical evidence one way or another, but it seems reasonable to think that it's the sort of problem that could have showed up right away and over time. I'm no metallurgist, but this particular section of Wikipedia's page on brass would be of interest:

Brass is susceptible to ammonia or substances containing or releasing ammonia. The problem is sometimes known as season cracking after it was first discovered in brass cartridge cases used for rifle ammunition during the 1920s in the Indian Army. The problem was caused by high residual stresses from cold forming of the cases during manufacture, together with chemical attack from traces of ammonia in the atmosphere. The cartridges were stored in stables and the ammonia concentration rose during the hot summer months, so initiating brittle cracks. The problem was resolved by annealing the cases, and storing the cartridges elsewhere.​

Essentially, the brass of the handle would have likely contained residual stresses from the drawing process that was almost certainly used to form the tube without a subsequent annealing. Add to that the fact that it's certainly possible that razors could have been exposed to ammonia-based cleaners throughout their life, which would further weaken the metal, and it seems that you've got a particular recipe for trouble.

Does/did it matter whether the razor is/was stored over the years assembled or not, as a leading indicator of developing a crack?

I wouldn't think this would make much if any difference. Aside from elevating the top end of the handle so that it might be slightly more likely to be damaged while resting on its side if something heavy were put on top of it -- and even there I'm reaching -- having the head screwed into the handle doesn't change any of the stresses within the handle itself. Not like, say, a Single Ring, where you could imagine that the tighter you screw it together the more you're forcing the handle tube up against the neck fitting.

By the way, is there a difference between an Old Type ball-end and a NEW ball-end handle?

Aside from very minor variations that even appear to have happened within the various generations, the easiest way to distinguish them is from the inscriptions that are stamped into them, or lack thereof:

• The Old Type handles that were made before the expiration of the earliest patents should all carry the patent date. The possible exception here being Canadian ball-end handles made during his period, which may not be stamped at all. Because of WWI it seems that the British plant wasn't operational during this time, so there's nothing to worry about there.
• Ball-end Old Types that were made after the patents expired and the New Improved razors came out weren't stamped with anything anywhere, as far as I've seen.
• NEW-era ball-end handles will have more detailed patent information on them, usually (if not always) in two rows of type.