I just received in the mail from eBay for $25.49, a razor that says on the tang,"JAMES BARLOW & SONS MANUFACTURES SHEFFIELD ECHO"
I did a little research and found out the company existed from 1826 - 1856. Scratched ever so lightly with what I think may have been a pin or a needle, maybe 1 or 2 thousandth's deep, is "Shippy" possibly the guy's last name and the letter & number, S3 designating his rank in the USMC it means Squadron Operations Officer. Since the scratch marks are so shallow, I want to leave them there because, 1-Patriotism, and 2- It's nostalgic and cool. They can always be removed later if another owner wants anyway. I think the soldier
was on a ship, possibly in WW-1, maybe 2. Since then, because it's in so good a shape, it probably has been in a drawer somewhere. It may have even been stored during the Civil War also. The only other history I have is that about 30 years ago it was acquired by the man who sold it to me, from the widow of a watchmaker.
It's cool to know a little history on an old razor.
I want to restore that old razor and the questions I have are: The blade, even though it is 11/16" is slightly deviated from the original curve that follows the spline in the middle by about 0.017" or less. By the way, it came almost shave ready! all I did was strope it on a flat piece of leather on a table, looked at it under a glass that's about twice the magnification of a "loop" and it was close to being a mirror, just as sharp, if not sharper than a store razor.(Leather & rouge, then a flat piece of paper on top of the leather, rolling the blade in and touching the edge to the paper, then before stopping, pick the edge off the paper, then stop) I'm not sure whether I should straighten the blade out, or leave it alone and just polish the imperfections out of it. Whatever is best for the value of the razor.
The translucent horn scales are in really good shape for being about 180 years old. Several small nicks to fix and a little polish is all they need. I was thinking about taking the hinge brass pin out and clean & polish the inside of the scales too. The nicks will have to be filled as I don't believe in making the scales smaller. 1st, drill shallow holes in the nicks with a drill bit a few thousandth's thick by hand, mix several different colors of powdered water color paint till I get a match, then mix with super glue, trying it on a test piece 1st, and spray an accelerator on it. The drilled holes make the mechanical bond, and super glue makes an adhesive bond. 2 bonds instead of just 1 adhesive bond. And hope it is still translucent. Super glue will polish up like plexiglass and the water color powder tints it. The only drawback is that acetone will attack it. (can't clean it with acetone!)
Any advice? Especially on whether to straighten out the less than 0.017" deviation on the blade? Also, are there any better ways to fill the small nicks on the horn? (Epoxy's out, it won't stick that well.) I wonder if the scales are buffalo?
Or should I do nothing at all and just have fun shaving with it sometimes?
Thanks,
Z
I did a little research and found out the company existed from 1826 - 1856. Scratched ever so lightly with what I think may have been a pin or a needle, maybe 1 or 2 thousandth's deep, is "Shippy" possibly the guy's last name and the letter & number, S3 designating his rank in the USMC it means Squadron Operations Officer. Since the scratch marks are so shallow, I want to leave them there because, 1-Patriotism, and 2- It's nostalgic and cool. They can always be removed later if another owner wants anyway. I think the soldier
was on a ship, possibly in WW-1, maybe 2. Since then, because it's in so good a shape, it probably has been in a drawer somewhere. It may have even been stored during the Civil War also. The only other history I have is that about 30 years ago it was acquired by the man who sold it to me, from the widow of a watchmaker.It's cool to know a little history on an old razor.
I want to restore that old razor and the questions I have are: The blade, even though it is 11/16" is slightly deviated from the original curve that follows the spline in the middle by about 0.017" or less. By the way, it came almost shave ready! all I did was strope it on a flat piece of leather on a table, looked at it under a glass that's about twice the magnification of a "loop" and it was close to being a mirror, just as sharp, if not sharper than a store razor.(Leather & rouge, then a flat piece of paper on top of the leather, rolling the blade in and touching the edge to the paper, then before stopping, pick the edge off the paper, then stop) I'm not sure whether I should straighten the blade out, or leave it alone and just polish the imperfections out of it. Whatever is best for the value of the razor.
The translucent horn scales are in really good shape for being about 180 years old. Several small nicks to fix and a little polish is all they need. I was thinking about taking the hinge brass pin out and clean & polish the inside of the scales too. The nicks will have to be filled as I don't believe in making the scales smaller. 1st, drill shallow holes in the nicks with a drill bit a few thousandth's thick by hand, mix several different colors of powdered water color paint till I get a match, then mix with super glue, trying it on a test piece 1st, and spray an accelerator on it. The drilled holes make the mechanical bond, and super glue makes an adhesive bond. 2 bonds instead of just 1 adhesive bond. And hope it is still translucent. Super glue will polish up like plexiglass and the water color powder tints it. The only drawback is that acetone will attack it. (can't clean it with acetone!)
Any advice? Especially on whether to straighten out the less than 0.017" deviation on the blade? Also, are there any better ways to fill the small nicks on the horn? (Epoxy's out, it won't stick that well.) I wonder if the scales are buffalo?
Or should I do nothing at all and just have fun shaving with it sometimes?
Thanks,
Z
