All About Pocket Knives

I've collected several razors over the years. I have this pair that I believe to be ivory handled. Pretty set regardless figured I'd share

Ross

Cannot tell from these pictures if handles are ivory. I have bought a few razors on ebay thinking handles are ivory but they are not. Some of the man made ivory-like handles are difficult to distinguish from real ivory. I am not a razor collector but i think that real ivory was much less used for handles than was the imitation ivory. However some razors have ivory and this might include yours.
I hope a razor collector might post to say why genuine ivory was not used more often for razor handles. Maybe 'slippery when wet' ?
kj

I'm pretty sure. Theres a couple ways I know. One is the inside u can usually see saw marks from when then ivory is cut. The other is if you heat a pin and put.it on the inside plastic it melts and pushes in the ivory it doesnt move into it. I would do the pin thing I'd hate to mess any handle up...

Ivory handles tend to be thinner too.

That's all I know.

Yep, that is a nice pair of ivory scaled razors.

Quick way to tell is NO WASHERS on the pins. The split at the toe on the one is another good indicator.

No washers on handle pins of straight razor if ivory: very useful tip. Is this quite reliable, like maybe 90% of the time ?
Certainly pin cracks are common with ivory handles.
kj

You will rarely see washers on pins in ivory, tortoise, or mother of pearl scales.

Owd Wullie wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 3:37 pm You will rarely see washers on pins in ivory, tortoise, or mother of pearl scales.

Never realized that! But that is good info for sure. I've seen cracks before though and seems a common issue. Thanks for sharing!