Questioning the Age of a Wood & Co. Razor from York

[Lyon Heart]

I picked up a razor through eBay the other day as part of a lot. It has an old box labelled "Wood & Co. Cutlers York" I've found a picture of J. Wood & Co. (established 1760). It's a crazy thick wedge. The pins are polished steel with no washers and steel spacer between the scales. The scales are horn or wood (recently coated in varnish) and there is not a single spot of tarnish on the blade. There are large well polished jimps on top, and tiny asymmetrical jimps underneath. I can't tell if it was made ten years ago or in the 1800s. Having jimps , I thought indicated it's not exceptionally old. I can't find any others on the internet nor information on the company.

Any input "Wood" be appreciated.

 

[Luecke2326]

Bump,

Do you have more photos of the other side of your blade? Is there more info like city or country which is obscured. Based on the matching coffin alone, I’d place it as being made in the late 1800’s. The shape of the spine likely indicates that if may have been a frameback razor at one time but then again some razors were styled like this too. The jimps mean little in determining the age, I have a Greaves and and F. Fenny, Both are pre 1850 and both have jimps. The scale material is likely horn, but with a fresh coat of varnish, it’s hard to tell without closer inspection. The spacer/wedge is likely made of lead, which does not rust and your pins are likely silversteel or another alloy which is rust resistant.
As far as style goes, I dig her looks, especially the thumb notch and the heavy jimps on top. It looks solid, are you gonna hone it up or send it out for a honing? Neat old picture you found, Nice score!

 

[global_dev]

could that have been reground?

 

[Lyon Heart]

The smaller words on the blade are "Wood - York". York is also on the box, so I assumed this was York, UK. There is nothing on the other side of the blade except for a small "13" on the tang.

It doesn't have any resemblance to a frameback, but having been re-ground is a possibility. You can see a minor grind pattern on the face of the blade as well as a recently honed look. a recent regrinding would explain the unworn look. The shoulder, spine and tang show no signs of re-grinding. Overall it looks like a blade that has never been polished nor used.

It's heavy, 67 grams as opposed to a typical 36 grams for a 5/8ths blade. I always feel that shaving with an heavy un-hollow wedge feels a bit overly heavy.

I do consider it a very reasonable score for the $12.00 CAD that I paid for it.

 

[Twelvefret]

I have tried to research the importer, but did not find anything useful. I suspect the seller is responsible for the excessive hone wear and lack rough clean up with low grit abrasive.

However, I enjoy the razor's lines and point. I have a Wade and Butcher wedge and enjoy using.