Haven't quite made it to the workbench as they just showed up yesterday from the auction site. Wasn't sure how bad they'd be but initial inspection reveals mostly just patina, not much pitting, and the edges are clean. Both are W&B, not super old, and both will need scales. I haven't decided how much of the patina I want to take off.
What's on your work bench right now?
- Thread starter Luecke2326
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@Darth Scandalous, I see a little something near the pivot pin on the bottom one. Is that actual damage or just a little schmutz? I am wondering if you can just clean up the existing scales. Original American bison scales can be pretty special. I have also seen videos of people repairing minor damage to horn with epoxy + horn dust. @Gamma has a video showing how to do this.
The bottom one is cracked at the pivot on the other side. That wasn't a surprise, seller's photos caught it.
They're both celluloid, even though they don't look like it in the photos.
A Frank Wood, Sheffield. I normally dont like to unbutton true antique razors, but I needed to give the scales a proper clean to work out if they were ivory or bone. I'm thinking bone now, but they are the thinnest bone scales I've seen.
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Yes it is surprising how thin you can get bone scales, but to me, bone has a little more give in it to ivory that's one thing I need to try making bone scales I have 2 blanks here but the smell of sanding bone that puts me off lol.
But it looks very close to a 5/8th w&b blank I see a lot of Sheffield razors all look alike, so it makes me wonder if they used the same forge when sourcing the blanks.
Yes, it's quite possible. The blanks could be made in one place, then sold to the makers who stamp, finish and scale them.
I've had early 20th century German razors of different brand names which I am SURE are the same blade. If you are lucky you can snap up an unknown brand for a fraction of the price of a hyped brand, and they will shave exactly the same.
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- #1,827
Great looking bone scales! There’s something amazing about the look of true vintage bone. The razor looks to be in great condition and as @Ice-Man mentioned, the razor itself is very similar to Manhattan cutlery, W&B, and Wostenholme razors I’ve owned.
It’s amazing when you find that no name razor that is out of this world! I own several several no name German hollow ground razors, that I’m certain are made of Swedish steel and shave amazing!
W&B #1 is cleaned up and in a set of horn scales I made a while back and never used. They had some issues (many, really) due to my inexperience but I was able to make them work.
It's crazy that all of the streak in the horn was only wide enough to make it onto one side of the scale.
It's crazy that all of the streak in the horn was only wide enough to make it onto one side of the scale.
Got Frank back into one piece, and used it as an opportunity to practice my washerless peening.
Just finished some new acrylic scales for an old Thomas Turner blade i had in the To Do pile.
Love your little anvil.
Thanks. I found it rusting in the yard of a second hand store. When I asked how much the guy looked confused about why I would want it. Good buy.
My bench vise has an anvil part, but I can put this anywhere.
- Thread starter
- #1,833
I restored the 7/8, 1/2 hollow, French Point(ish) Wade and Butcher from my weekend antique store find. I unpinned the razor and dropped the horn scales into a bag of Neatsfoot oil, so they could rehydrate, gave them 4 days. I lightly sanded the rusted spots with 1k, 1500, 2k, 2500, and 3k wet dry sandpaper, before buffing with black Emory and green stainless steel compound. I don’t like them to look new, I feel like it takes away all the history behind this old blade. So, cleaned and polished to this point is usually as far as I will take them.
For the scales, I did a light sand with 3k wet dry sandpaper and then buffed them off with some Flitz polish. Put it all back together and I’ll be honing it up tonight on Naniwa 1, 5, 8, Coticule and finishing on an Escher Barbers Delight.
For the scales, I did a light sand with 3k wet dry sandpaper and then buffed them off with some Flitz polish. Put it all back together and I’ll be honing it up tonight on Naniwa 1, 5, 8, Coticule and finishing on an Escher Barbers Delight.
Revisited the French bag o' rust. Wasn't sure about the blade, due to some pitting on the bevel. A half-assed bevel set and it looks like it might just be okay. The scales turned out nice! Even though I'm almost positive they are celluloid (the smell...), they were delaminating at the ends. Never seen that before.
Did the scales in CA, because they were very brittle, actually breaking in the de-pinning operation. I think they pinned it with a broken drill bit! Man, how I struggled with that one.
With no maker's mark, I figured it was a $2 razor, but the little sucker sure is a hollow one...
Did the scales in CA, because they were very brittle, actually breaking in the de-pinning operation. I think they pinned it with a broken drill bit! Man, how I struggled with that one.
With no maker's mark, I figured it was a $2 razor, but the little sucker sure is a hollow one...
- Thread starter
- #1,835
@CongaJon excellent cleanup thus far!
Wade & Butcher Special is coming along. First coat of walnut oil is on the walnut scales. Need to make a wedge still.
My first Joseph Rodgers - a 7/8 inch near wedge. Similar to:
Joseph Rodgers & Sons - 7/8 Blade Blade with Custom Bone Scales - Fully Restored Vintage Sheffield Straight Razor - Shave Ready - https://www.griffithshavinggoods.com/collections/vintage-straight-razors/products/joseph-rodgers-sons-7-8-blade-blade-with-custom-bone-scales-fully-restored-vintage-sheffield-straight-razor-shave-ready
I like the style.
Upon in-person inspection has the signs of a regrind. Thought about returning it but for less than $65 seems like a good opportunity to learn about regrinds. The quality of the regrind looks good to me - very little metal was removed, and the blade still has heft. The scales look old - might even be original.
The blade has a few issues. Some deep pitting near the spine and toe, and the tang. The end of the monkey tail is quite thin.
The scales are in good condition. They have heels instead of a wedge, and someone put a second short pin on the inside to connect heels. My plan is to keep the original scales for now, and replace the heels with a proper wedge:
The razor as I received it.
Disassembled.
Profile.
The scales with the inner pin still inserted into the scale on the left. You can clearly see two holes at the wedge area of the scale on the right.
Joseph Rodgers & Sons - 7/8 Blade Blade with Custom Bone Scales - Fully Restored Vintage Sheffield Straight Razor - Shave Ready - https://www.griffithshavinggoods.com/collections/vintage-straight-razors/products/joseph-rodgers-sons-7-8-blade-blade-with-custom-bone-scales-fully-restored-vintage-sheffield-straight-razor-shave-ready
I like the style.
Upon in-person inspection has the signs of a regrind. Thought about returning it but for less than $65 seems like a good opportunity to learn about regrinds. The quality of the regrind looks good to me - very little metal was removed, and the blade still has heft. The scales look old - might even be original.
The blade has a few issues. Some deep pitting near the spine and toe, and the tang. The end of the monkey tail is quite thin.
The scales are in good condition. They have heels instead of a wedge, and someone put a second short pin on the inside to connect heels. My plan is to keep the original scales for now, and replace the heels with a proper wedge:
- Remove the inner pin.
- Sand out the heels, retaining the horn dust.
- Fill the inner pin holes with epoxy plus the horn dust.
- Re-drill the main wedge hole.
- Clean up the scales.
The razor as I received it.
Disassembled.
Profile.
The scales with the inner pin still inserted into the scale on the left. You can clearly see two holes at the wedge area of the scale on the right.
Managed to drill out the pins from an ivory scaled CVH.! The job was part way done for me as the pivot pin was broken but it was corroded into the blade so drilling was the only option. Still need to clean them up a bit.
As it was, I ran into problems with the W&B from the previous post. The tang is a little bent which was keeping it from centering. I figured it this out *after* I'd spent quite a bit of time strategically tapping to try to get it to center. My external washers are pretty small and ended up pulling into the wood a little. So I practiced drilling those out first. (I really need to get some of those micro fasteners so I can mock these up properly).
Cleaned up the Heljestrand blade, and since I'm not sure whether it's going to take a clean edge, I temp pinned it into the walnut scales so I can hone it tomorrow. If it's salvageable I'll pin it back into the ivory. Fingers crossed.
As it was, I ran into problems with the W&B from the previous post. The tang is a little bent which was keeping it from centering. I figured it this out *after* I'd spent quite a bit of time strategically tapping to try to get it to center. My external washers are pretty small and ended up pulling into the wood a little. So I practiced drilling those out first. (I really need to get some of those micro fasteners so I can mock these up properly).
Cleaned up the Heljestrand blade, and since I'm not sure whether it's going to take a clean edge, I temp pinned it into the walnut scales so I can hone it tomorrow. If it's salvageable I'll pin it back into the ivory. Fingers crossed.
Just curious, what size drill bit did you use to drill out the pins?
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