Tortise Shell ??? How can you tell

[lenny357]

Tortise Shell ??? How can you tell?? Some say you can rub it and it smells??

[BIGHEAD]

JMHO but those look like celluloid to me

[knife7knut]

Those look to be clear horn that has been artificially,"spotted" to resemble tortoise.An easy way to tell if it is horn is to look at it under a magnifier.Horn will have a series of straight or near straight lines in it as it is made of a hair-like substance.

Look at real tortoise shell under a magnifier and it resembles water spotting on a painted surface.This is due to a build up of very thin layers similar to ivory.

The rubbing test will determine if it is in fact celluloid.I actually prefer to test for celluloid by touching the tip of my tongue to the surface after slightly rubbing.Celluloid will give a slight burning sensation due to the release of the camphor(one of the chemicals used to make celluloid).

Never rub too hard as it may cause a heat build up and warpage of the material;and NEVER use a hot pin to test the surface!!!!!

Here are three razors.The one with the shield and pique(pin)work is horn.The grain is very noticeable even without a loupe.The light colored one fooled me at first when I got it.The colored sections of it were raised slightly from the surface and looked a lot like real shell.Then I thought they might have put real pieces of tortoise shell in celluloid.Finally after examining it closely under good light with a 10x loupe I could just see the lines indicating it was spotted horn.
The last one is real tortoise shell.I have provided some closeups and you can just make out the layers;almost like jigsaw puzzle pieces.

[lenny357]

Thank you, fantastic I learned something
Ya when I was at the CASE Show Their was a tested shell one or so I thought, wish I knew this then. It might have been the real deal.

[Pen & Toothpick]

I saw those too..never thought they were real.