Mother of Pearl Scales.

[JonnyAngel]

Hello All

I was wondering if anyone knew if it was possible to make Mother of Pearl Scales for a straight razor and if so who I would talk to.

Thanks.

[professorchaos]

As I understand it, MOP is dangerous to work with - apparently it can cause inflamed bones (), respiratory ailments and other unpleasant afflictions.

[jamesbeat]

Dovo do a razor with MOP scales, and it's quite a common scale material for knives too. I have heard it's an absolute bear to work with though because it cracks at the slightest hint of heat, plus there are the health risks as above.

It may be that pearl is a material best left to factory production with its associated safety procedures and expensive machinery, than the custom maker in his workshop.

MOP is also very fragile, it's not too bad on knife scales as they are usually supported by metal liners and bolsters, but I imagine razor scales would be very vulnerable to damage from flexing. Metal liners would help, but also add weight and upset the balance.

I don't know how or if Dovo overcome this, or whether you just have to be really careful with the pearl handled razors.

http://www.gentlemans-shop.com/acata...pen-razor.html

[Thebigspendur]

Most makers who use MOP either use it for trimming various part so they can use the thin stuff. Dovo and some of the others who use MOP for the entire scale make the scales very thick so they don't have the flexing and breakage issue. They also use abalone which comes in very large shells.

There are suppliers on the web. Using MOP is not for a novice. If you do you must use a very good air filter-respirator