When did straights start using plastic scales?

[jeff_C]

I have several "old" straights. 3 of my 4 have plastic handles. Seems to me that plastics came out about the time that DE razors were coming into popularity??? So i wonder why there are many old straights that have plastic handles.

Does this question make any sense?

 

[Raithskar]

What you are calling plastic, on the older razors, is most likley celluloid or bakelite. I am not going all in on this, but I am sure some more knowledgeable than I will chime in.

 

[jeff_C]

Good point... Im not sure... it looks like plastic. LOL.

 

[memnochlv]

Well I'm not sure when they first started being used, but... thermoplastic was invented in 1862 as Parkesine, and 1869 as Xylonite, and then as Celluloid in 1870. Bakelite was developed in 1907, announced 1909. (stole all of that from Wikipedia). So I'd say sometime after those dates for each. I tried looking up some information about resin handles, but since I'm not familiar with the types of resin they use I couldn't get anything specific.

 

[Firewalker]

Lets not forget Milk Plastic or casein plastic, it was used in Europe widely before celluloid. I have no idea if it has been used for razor scales but bugs would love this stuff!

 

[jeff_C]

Well I'm not sure when they first started being used, but... thermoplastic was invented in 1862 as Parkesine, and 1869 as Xylonite, and then as Celluloid in 1870. Bakelite was developed in 1907, announced 1909. (stole all of that from Wikipedia). So I'd say sometime after those dates for each. I tried looking up some information about resin handles, but since I'm not familiar with the types of resin they use I couldn't get anything specific.

VERY cool. Well that answers my question. I guess "plastic" isnt as new as I thought! THANKS

 

[memnochlv]

VERY cool. Well that answers my question. I guess "plastic" isnt as new as I thought! THANKS

Keep in mind, plastic is pretty general. More specifically it's a polymer. Polymers have been around ages. When most people think of plastic, they think of plastics made from synthetic components (Bakelite being the first). However a definition from Wikipedia: "A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids that are moldable. Plastics are typically organic polymers of high molecular mass, but they often contain other substances. They are usually synthetic, most commonly derived from petrochemicals, but many are partially natural."

However if you want to talk early technical plastics, another definition: "Early plastics were bio-derived materials such as egg and blood proteins, which are organic polymers. Treated cattle horns were used as windows for lanterns in the Middle Ages. Materials that mimicked the properties of horns were developed by treating milk-proteins (casein) with lye. In the 1800s the development of plastics accelerated with Charles Goodyear's discovery of vulcanization as a route to thermoset materials derived from natural rubber. Many storied materials were reported as industrial chemistry was developed in the 1800s. In the early 1900s, Bakelite, the first fully synthetic thermoset was reported by Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland. After the First World War, improvements in chemical technology led to an explosion in new forms of plastics. Among the earliest examples in the wave of new polymers were polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The development of plastics has come from the use of natural plastic materials (e.g., chewing gum, shellac) to the use of chemically modified natural materials (e.g., rubber, nitrocellulose, collagen, galalite) and finally to completely synthetic molecules (e.g., bakelite, epoxy, polyvinyl chloride)."

So as early as the middle ages things that were technically polymers could have been used. I think probably for mainstream use though, it would have been post WWI, though they were probably kicking up in popularity in the later half of the 1800s. Keep in mind, this is using Wikipedia as a refresher for long diminishing memories of chemistry classes in high school (=

 

[Firewalker]

RE: Materials that mimicked the properties of horns were developed by treating milk-proteins (casein) with lye.

Milk plastic, casein plastic is the first plastic made, horns used as lantern windows is not, they are just windows. I am working on the recipe to make a set of scales and wedge, it should be fun. I have the casein in powder form, it's straw yellow in color and does not smell at all. I use it as a laminating glue (under pressure) for overlays.