Smythe
Well-Known Member
Preface:
It is my belief that Celluloid Scales were manufactured by a molding the material in dies, the material would be cut to a rough shape and pressed between heated dies.
Perhaps a prototype would be made and mold cavities cut in steel, brass or copper based on the design of that prototype. Celluloid softens at around 120 degrees F and is easily pressed into shape between the dies. It hardens again after cooling and maintains its new shape perfectly.
This is the same technique used to make horn scales long before.
Metal bolsters and inlays would be attached by simply placing them in the mold-cavity just before the rough-cut celluloid. When the die is closed, the heated celluloid would “flow” and form perfectly around the bolster and inlay and also fill the cavity. When cooled, the die is opened and the Celluloid scales are removed with the metal firmly attached.
Molding scales is the most efficient (and cost efficient) way to mass-produce razor scales, in fact, “today” molding is still the method to produce many common everyday items.
Today in our hobby, we make all our scales by hand… it is as if we spend much resources to make a prototype that then becomes the final product for a single finished item. Then we do it all over again for the next single item. This is understandable because most of us do not have access to the tools and machinery necessary to produce scales quickly and efficiently (yet alone, add bolsters or inlay). And may I add, our peevish obsession for articles manufactured with blood, sweat and tears… it is as if the more one suffers and labors over the work, the more valuable it becomes.
While we cannot do much about the way our hobby manufactures scales, at the very least, we may attempt to add an inlay without the need to make molds or melt plastic, and as a bonus, we may inlay on wooden scales.
Finally, I used the word “Inlay”, but the method may perhaps be referred to as “Outlay”, but I prefer to call it “Mounted”.
Now before we begin… for those of us who are “too smart” to wade through “Hand-Holding instructions, please allow me to summarize the process in the following paragraph:
We will make a simple “frame” to cover the scales and catch any glue “spillover”. The frame is a strip of clear tape with an opening cut out to the exact dimensions and shape of the inlay (bear in mind that complex shapes may be difficult to cut… but not impossible). We will then place some mixed epoxy into the opening and then place the inlay onto the scales, a toothpick is used to set and center the inlay in the opening and then we place another strip of tape over the whole and is allow it to cure.
The upper and lower tape is then removed leaving the inlay embedded in a glob of epoxy mounted on the scales… if you are relatively careful it will be neat and clean.
It is my belief that Celluloid Scales were manufactured by a molding the material in dies, the material would be cut to a rough shape and pressed between heated dies.
Perhaps a prototype would be made and mold cavities cut in steel, brass or copper based on the design of that prototype. Celluloid softens at around 120 degrees F and is easily pressed into shape between the dies. It hardens again after cooling and maintains its new shape perfectly.
This is the same technique used to make horn scales long before.
Metal bolsters and inlays would be attached by simply placing them in the mold-cavity just before the rough-cut celluloid. When the die is closed, the heated celluloid would “flow” and form perfectly around the bolster and inlay and also fill the cavity. When cooled, the die is opened and the Celluloid scales are removed with the metal firmly attached.
Molding scales is the most efficient (and cost efficient) way to mass-produce razor scales, in fact, “today” molding is still the method to produce many common everyday items.
Today in our hobby, we make all our scales by hand… it is as if we spend much resources to make a prototype that then becomes the final product for a single finished item. Then we do it all over again for the next single item. This is understandable because most of us do not have access to the tools and machinery necessary to produce scales quickly and efficiently (yet alone, add bolsters or inlay). And may I add, our peevish obsession for articles manufactured with blood, sweat and tears… it is as if the more one suffers and labors over the work, the more valuable it becomes.
While we cannot do much about the way our hobby manufactures scales, at the very least, we may attempt to add an inlay without the need to make molds or melt plastic, and as a bonus, we may inlay on wooden scales.
Finally, I used the word “Inlay”, but the method may perhaps be referred to as “Outlay”, but I prefer to call it “Mounted”.
Now before we begin… for those of us who are “too smart” to wade through “Hand-Holding instructions, please allow me to summarize the process in the following paragraph:
We will make a simple “frame” to cover the scales and catch any glue “spillover”. The frame is a strip of clear tape with an opening cut out to the exact dimensions and shape of the inlay (bear in mind that complex shapes may be difficult to cut… but not impossible). We will then place some mixed epoxy into the opening and then place the inlay onto the scales, a toothpick is used to set and center the inlay in the opening and then we place another strip of tape over the whole and is allow it to cure.
The upper and lower tape is then removed leaving the inlay embedded in a glob of epoxy mounted on the scales… if you are relatively careful it will be neat and clean.
