Thread: Silberstahl Scale Problems

Has anybody else acquired a German Silberstahl razor. I have bought 2 off of e-bay, and both had the same badly warped scales, which really bummed me out because I really loved the colors and Solingen inlay on them. In both cases, the seller's neglected to disclose the scale warp, but that's another story.

So I looked around at other Silberstahls on e-bay and started noticing many had warped scales. I have never seen this kind of systemic warp in any other razor.

Anybody had a similar expereince and anybody know why? Better yet, any body had luck flattening them back into shape?

plastic scales with inlays have a tendency of warping. Sometimes use of a hair dryer can heat the scales enough to release the stresses. Some sort of wedge between the scales will keep them from warping in unwanted directions. Be careful not to melt them w/ too high a heat. Allow to cool slowly by slowly reducing the amount of time the hot/warm air hits the scales. I had good luck w/ several of my razors using this method, one was a Wonderedge.

I have also found that many ebay sellers never seem to mention scale warp, even when it's bad enough that the blade cannot close without hiitting the scales.
Those plastic scales are tough to get back into shape too.
I've had some luck by unpinning and dissasembling the scales, dipping them for a few seconds in very hot water and clamping between two flat pieces of wood and letting them sit for several hours. Even then they rarely turn out perfect and sometimes start warping again.
YMMV, but I usually have much better luck straightening horn, bakelite or celluloid.

Most every razor out there other than the Chinese ones have scales made of Celluloid rather than plastic, (I have seen a very very few Solingen plastics) there are many different formulas of how it was/is made, some of these have a tendency to warp or shrink.. The way the razor was put together can make it even worse and cause warping and cracking..
All these different formulas is also why repairing them is such a pain, as sometimes things work and othertimes they don't, take whatever steps you decide to go with slow and careful and you should do fine ..

Some are prone to Cell rot which is even worse...

Thanks for all of the responses. I am going to take it very slow with the new Silberstahl I got. I will post my results.