I have a question and never really gave it much thought but what type of extra care if any is needed for ivory or horn straight razor scales, i have several ivory scaled ones along with horn and bone and would like to keep them from cracking, I hear about some using balms and old and such but don't know what to use and how often.
Natural Scale Care
- Thread starter Jnatcat
- Start date
I don't do anything for ivory, new horn, tortoise, or bone, other than wipe them all down dry. Old horn that is delaminating will get a periodic wipe down with neats foot oil. I've also used hand cream, which worked just fine. Oils will change the color of bone and ivory, making them almost translucent at the pivot. I don't know what kind of balms might be used.
timwcic
"Look what I found"
I have a dozen ivory scaled and they just get wiped dry. The most aggressive cleaning I ever gave them was distilled water and a cotton rag. My wife has heirloom ivory jewelry, and she cleans them the same way but polishes with beeswax once a year due to perspiration.
Horn scales get a neats feet oil wipe if showing signs of severe wear.
Horn scales get a neats feet oil wipe if showing signs of severe wear.
Like blade steel, it depends where you live.
The biggest issue ivory can have is with fluctuations of conditions. So you want to keep it in a sealed container to create a buffering microclimate.
Ivory likes an RH of 45-55%, and about 70f temperature. So what you dont want to do is put lots of silica gel in with the razors, it will make the air too dry and the scales will shrink and crack. If you live in the tropics you might use a tiny bit of silica, but it is a balancing act.
I have two containers for my stored razors, one for natural scales and one for synthetic. I make the RH in the synthetic box lower because it is better for the blade, and safer for the scales.
The biggest issue ivory can have is with fluctuations of conditions. So you want to keep it in a sealed container to create a buffering microclimate.
Ivory likes an RH of 45-55%, and about 70f temperature. So what you dont want to do is put lots of silica gel in with the razors, it will make the air too dry and the scales will shrink and crack. If you live in the tropics you might use a tiny bit of silica, but it is a balancing act.
I have two containers for my stored razors, one for natural scales and one for synthetic. I make the RH in the synthetic box lower because it is better for the blade, and safer for the scales.
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Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
Neats foot oil for horn, beeswax for everything else.
- Thread starter
- #6
I keep them all out in the open and they all look good now and all I have been doing is wiping dry so I am guessing I will continue that practice until I see an issue, maybe just a dab of neats foot oil on a cotton patch and a light wipe down once a year.
A bit of Ren wax once in a while.
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