I was, in a moment of weakness, scrolling through ebay (despite the small heap of unfinished project razors which has already developed next to my work area), when I happened to come across an interesting specimen, which, of course, I then found myself purchasing. It was a razor of apparently Dutch origin, which is in my experience unusual. I've seen razors made for Holland, but until now not one made locally. The marking read "W. Schuurbiers en Zoon, Bergen op Zoom", which near as I can tell means W. Schuurbiers and Son was the maker, operating out of the city of Bergen op Zoom. Any Dutch users with info or conjecture about this, or other examples of apparently Dutch made razors, are welcome.
One generally associates Dutch razors with a rounded, gentle looking point, after all, the round point is also known as a Dutch point, yet here we are with a Dutch razor with what I believe would be considered a fairly aggressive example of a Spanish point (yet somehow most of the Spanish razors I've seen were Square pointed). With the razor in my hands, I see no evidence that would suggest the point had been reground or modified. Rather amusing in my opinion.
The blade measures about 7/8" wide, with a fairly heavy half hollow grind, and has horn scales (after sanding and polishing they developed a faint, beautiful chatoyance almost like mother of pearl) with a bone wedge. The pins are iron, like many French razors I've seen, and the washers are some sort of light metal which patinates a dull grey, possibly some sort of tin alloy like pewter.
There was a substantial chip in the rear third of the edge, but I liked the look and feel of the razor, so I reprofiled it into a sort of mid 19th c. Sheffield smiling wing shape. This left the heel area annoyingly thick, so I reground it on a wheel larger than the original grinder's to eat the honewear and thin it behind the edge for a sort of bellied hollow effect. This was my first time trying this, and it worked very well, only in the future I'll take the edge bevel even narrower. Honed it, finishing on the usual Nakayama, and while I haven't shaved yet preliminary tests bode well.
Thoughts?
Post regrind/cleanup, pre-honing:
One generally associates Dutch razors with a rounded, gentle looking point, after all, the round point is also known as a Dutch point, yet here we are with a Dutch razor with what I believe would be considered a fairly aggressive example of a Spanish point (yet somehow most of the Spanish razors I've seen were Square pointed). With the razor in my hands, I see no evidence that would suggest the point had been reground or modified. Rather amusing in my opinion.
The blade measures about 7/8" wide, with a fairly heavy half hollow grind, and has horn scales (after sanding and polishing they developed a faint, beautiful chatoyance almost like mother of pearl) with a bone wedge. The pins are iron, like many French razors I've seen, and the washers are some sort of light metal which patinates a dull grey, possibly some sort of tin alloy like pewter.
There was a substantial chip in the rear third of the edge, but I liked the look and feel of the razor, so I reprofiled it into a sort of mid 19th c. Sheffield smiling wing shape. This left the heel area annoyingly thick, so I reground it on a wheel larger than the original grinder's to eat the honewear and thin it behind the edge for a sort of bellied hollow effect. This was my first time trying this, and it worked very well, only in the future I'll take the edge bevel even narrower. Honed it, finishing on the usual Nakayama, and while I haven't shaved yet preliminary tests bode well.
Thoughts?
Post regrind/cleanup, pre-honing:
