Thread: My First Good Antique Shop Find

Just picked this up for £5, not bad





pics maybe a little small actually.. and crappy quality..

However what i have is a 5/8 joseph rodgers and suns, near wedge/wedge with barbers notch. Think the wedge is lead, rust up on the spin and round the pin under the scales but the edge and bevel looks super clean

The cleaning and honing should be no problem, but the scales are another matter. i think they're bone from the grain in them but as you can see they're cracked down near the wedge pin. If i can get them off in one piece would it be possible to stabilise this and then sand them down?

very thin scales too, but would love to save them

Cheers

Simon

Nice find! The scales do look like bone in the pics but being very thin makes me think of ivory. Give them a rubbing with mineral oil and see if they clean up. A pink pencil eraser or gum eraser on dry scales is also used to clean ivory and will not harm the scales if they are bone. I would just clean in the crack as well as I could and use some gap filling CA in the crack. Usually a crack at the wedge doesn't effect the function of the scales. I have several with a crack in the same place and am using them as is. If they cause a problem later on I will replace the scales at that time. Good luck!

Well the crack i was talking about is a moot point now as the scales seemd to have less obvious cracks on the go and fell apart a little as i got the pins out.. I was really gentle by the way, just tapping, but it looks like the pinning was holding them together. These have been repinned in the past actually, i suspect that's where the obvious crack came from. and it looks like it's been like that for so long that the two edges of the crack have settled into the deformed position the pinning was holding them in

These are bone or ivory btw, the saw marks on the inside are evident.

So this is what we have.

A tiny chip, a portions come away by the pivot pin, and a couple of cracks you can't see in the body where the scales are split a little along the length.



I really want to save these scales.. is it doable?

Mods, feel free to move this to the workshop as i guess it's becoming a resto question now

Cheers

Simon

I just had the same issue and did the following: clean crack very well, CA and clamped for 6 hrs. I was careful assembling, and the only issue I have is the crack is visible, IMO even cracked bone is still one of the nicest scale material out there! Good luck!

Dumb question but what's CA? Thanks by the way! good to know people had been ab;e to bring these back.

and er.. clamp them with what..? I'm very much a coffee table restorer, but am imagining a big G clamp isn't the way to go. As for cleaning, rag and some lighter fluid? or qtip?

I'm not even sure what CA stands for, it is just crazy glue... I used my vise with some paper towel lining the jaws. As for cleaning I used soap and hot water, nothing abrasive or you will end up with a dark colored crack (trust me). Also let the scales dry before gluing, super glue is water solluable.

Sweet went out and bought some, will pick up a vice tomorrow. I don't think i'm going to be able to glue the little chip back in, seems to have stopped fitting, but i should mange the bit up round the pivot alright. Might not be pretty, but determined to rescue these.

well, have been kindly informed , by a very experienced restorer that these scales are junkers.. however i've also been offered an old set of scales that may match the shagged ones by the same gent

Either way it's a nice find for the price. I love the magic of finding stuff at antique stores. Best of luck getting it cleaned up.

Oh yeah definitely, can't complain for 5 quid (about 8 dollars). And definitely on antique store magic as well, been popping in around the edinburgh stores for months and this is the first I've found. It's even better when you've learned to clean them up and hone (a little) and know you can (mostly) get it going yourself. This was a great little self birthday present. Really chuffed with it.