This might be a John Barber stub tail - not sure. Reminds of a JB, but it's definitely a stub tail.
At any rate - it was a real mess when it showed up yesterday. It's no show-stopper now but it's 100% better.
I did a little bit of work in-between honing a bunch of razors and testing a few new stones; I wanted to keep this as 'original' as I could.
I did wind up choosing to use large collars instead of simple pins though. I managed to get the scales about 75% of the way to 'ok' by just unpinning the pivot and working on them that way. I wanted to save the pin at the wedge but I decided to unpin that end also. After some sanding I found a split in one one scale and I decided to pull the wedge, clean and sand that area, and then try to stabilize it. So far - so good.
The large collars are tactical here - they're affording me a larger bearing surface and I believe that's going to help a bit. The scales were warped, cracked, delaminating on the inside really badly and quite chipped. The reinforcement plan worked and the delam is fixed; I think I got lucky there - they do seem to be stable and the blade centers. I sanded only what I absolutely had to - so the horn is still a little wavy and still a bit warped. Oh well - I can live with an imperfect razor I guess. Hah.
Yeah - I coulda cut new horn scales or something but I really wanted to keep the old original pants on this one - without losing the battle-scarred look.
I thought about doing a full resto on the horn - but they're thin and really stressed. I think it best to leave them at this stage.
Besides - they do lend character to this old war-bird... can't be denying her the dignity of having served hard, long, and well.
Anyone can put on a pretty polish. Not everyone can wear 200 yr or work with such style though.
Anyway,
Needs another round of 1k-2k w/d and some polishing but for now it's fine. Still have to hone it.
Oh yeah - it's a full wedge.
The edge has a fair amount of chipping, pitting, and a seriously rounded bevel. Looks like it was honed free-style.
At any rate - it was a real mess when it showed up yesterday. It's no show-stopper now but it's 100% better.
I did a little bit of work in-between honing a bunch of razors and testing a few new stones; I wanted to keep this as 'original' as I could.
I did wind up choosing to use large collars instead of simple pins though. I managed to get the scales about 75% of the way to 'ok' by just unpinning the pivot and working on them that way. I wanted to save the pin at the wedge but I decided to unpin that end also. After some sanding I found a split in one one scale and I decided to pull the wedge, clean and sand that area, and then try to stabilize it. So far - so good.
The large collars are tactical here - they're affording me a larger bearing surface and I believe that's going to help a bit. The scales were warped, cracked, delaminating on the inside really badly and quite chipped. The reinforcement plan worked and the delam is fixed; I think I got lucky there - they do seem to be stable and the blade centers. I sanded only what I absolutely had to - so the horn is still a little wavy and still a bit warped. Oh well - I can live with an imperfect razor I guess. Hah.
Yeah - I coulda cut new horn scales or something but I really wanted to keep the old original pants on this one - without losing the battle-scarred look.
I thought about doing a full resto on the horn - but they're thin and really stressed. I think it best to leave them at this stage.
Besides - they do lend character to this old war-bird... can't be denying her the dignity of having served hard, long, and well.
Anyone can put on a pretty polish. Not everyone can wear 200 yr or work with such style though.
Anyway,
Needs another round of 1k-2k w/d and some polishing but for now it's fine. Still have to hone it.
Oh yeah - it's a full wedge.
The edge has a fair amount of chipping, pitting, and a seriously rounded bevel. Looks like it was honed free-style.
