Celluloid Rot

[Acmemfg]

Briefly....what if any way is best to prevent this cancer from attacking your razors?

 

[totorlekiller]

Get rid of the scales.

 

[Doc226]

Not much you can do to prevent, once it starts the only solution is to get rid of the scales

 

[Acmemfg]

Just toss any set of older celluloid scales in your possession? I mean as there seems to be no warning or advance symptom of this disease, what can you do to prevent this disaster from ever taking hold?? I suppose I will be keeping some razors in the leper colony just to be safe😱

 

[Steve56]

If you Google-fu celluloid 'rot' etc you will find that once it goes off, nothing can be done, but museum people who curate celluloid items recommend keeping celluloid out of light and at an even temperature and humidity. No surprises here, that's what they recommend for everything and it isn't bad advice.

I have no doubt they're right having had millenia to observe the decay of materials and what accelerates or delays said decay. I find it humorous though that recommendations for ivory and tortoise are to keep the materials dry, out of light, and at a controlled temperature and humidity. You know, like the elephants and turtles did! Lol.

Cheers, Steve

 

[sfeile]

If you Google-fu celluloid 'rot' etc you will find that once it goes off, nothing can be done, but museum people who curate celluloid items recommend keeping celluloid out of light and at an even temperature and humidity. No surprises here, that's what they recommend for everything and it isn't bad advice.

I have no doubt they're right having had millenia to observe the decay of materials and what accelerates or delays said decay. I find it humorous though that recommendations for ivory and tortoise are to keep the materials dry, out of light, and at a controlled temperature and humidity. You know, like the elephants and turtles did! Lol.

Cheers, Steve

 

[Steve56]

 

[Legion]

Just store it sensibly. If you detect signs of cel rot the only cure is amputation. But if you even suspect some scales have it, quarantine them, it is contagious.

Honestly, even in museums, nobody knows what triggers it spontaneously, so try not to worry and use the razor normally. If it starts, just get rid of those scales quick.

 

[kcb5150]

The clear ones are the biggest culprite. Clear spots on fayx tortoise, clear invisible celluloid, that sort of marble look like in old bartmanns is pretty bad, that stripey red and yellow one robeson/shumate used is pretty bad, the glittery silver swirly one too. Those are the ones I see most often go off. That and of course double duck cracked ice. Black ones almost never go off. Le grelot ones have a habit of shrinking though

 

[Lmarkow]

I find it humorous though that recommendations for ivory and tortoise are to keep the materials dry, out of light, and at a controlled temperature and humidity. You know, like the elephants and turtles did! Lol.

I've always assumed that these materials handle conditions differently when they're still attached to the animals we take them from. I don't think blood flows through ivory or shell, but I do think a natural material used as nature intended will do better than a natural material put to an unnatural use. It may also be that these extra precautions are necessary because we change/degrade the natural materials by how we transform and then treat them.

But this is all just speculation on my part. You may be absolutely right.

 

[Steve56]

Larry,

I posted partially in jest, when the shell and ivory were on the living animals, they were being replaced over time, an attribute that does not unfortunately carry over to straight scales.

Shell I don't know that much about, but I do know that ivory is dimensionally stable and it appears to be quite durable. From what I've read about curation of ivory, it seems to be centered around the prevention of yellowing or staining, not the loss of integrity of the material.

Cheers, Steve

 

[Acmemfg]

Ounce of prevention=pound of cure. Razor is scheduled to be sent off for re-scaling....in wood