Thread: Wedge

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

How can there be a 'lot' of wear to the spine when the makers name on it is still intact and the lower edge isn't seriously faceted? Did the metal grow back?

Well depends how each of us defines 'a lot'; I mean 1/8"+. Because of the angle change at the spine, the stamping is on a facet perpendicular to the spine. I have a similarly shaped and stamped M&S with well over 1/8" of wear at the spine side and it hasn't gotten anywhere near the letters yet.

I'm going by the sellers pics. The spine is roughly square in section. I say 'roughly' but however rough, it would still have an acute angle at the beginning of the grind, or in other words where it sat on the hone. The names on these are usually stamped fairly centrally, and this example still is fairly central.

On a spine like this - on most spines, even - 1/8th of an inch is huge, twice the width of a modern pivot or wedge pin, and would have produced a roughly 18 degree facet that would almost certainly have touched or eaten into the makers name.

If it was buffed long enough to remove traces of the facet the name would have been eaten into even more and more then likely 'smeared'. Besides, the seller declares that it has had little wear and I see no reason to automatically conclude that he is a liar.

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

I'm going by the sellers pics. The spine is roughly square in section. I say 'roughly' but however rough, it would still have an acute angle at the beginning of the grind, or in other words where it sat on the hone. The names on these are usually stamped fairly centrally, and this example still is fairly central.

On a spine like this - on most spines, even - 1/8th of an inch is huge, twice the width of a modern pivot or wedge pin, and would have produced a roughly 18 degree facet that would almost certainly have touched or eaten into the makers name.

If it was buffed long enough to remove traces of the facet the name would have been eaten into even more and more then likely 'smeared'. Besides, the seller declares that it has had little wear and I see no reason to automatically conclude that he is a liar.

I'm not trying to call him out on anything, just going on my experience. Here's pics of the one I was talking about. The razor had been honed a lot, then buffed, then started to be honed again by me (so the shiny areas don't represent the extent of the historic wear). Even with the wear, there's still a good 1 mm til the bottom of the letters. But it depends on how large the square section is, maybe it was a lot larger to start with on this one. Some of the old John Barbers have quite a bit of meat on the square section before the lettering as well.





I'm not blaming the current honer, just saying that it looks like that has all come from honing at some point.

Well, that could well be. They were all hand made after all.

All I am concerned about is that the restorer/honer doesnt get a heap of negativity poured on him without even being asked to comment.

I'd rather believe that someone is honest - if the reverse is true then I'm just as happy to be corrected, but its got to be concrete, not ifs and buts.

I'd say it was a decent razor. Only the price would put me off, not the size of the bevel. Providing the metal is good enough then wide or thin, it is only the tip that shaves your whiskers off, not the sides.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Well, that could well be. They were all hand made after all.

All I am concerned about is that the restorer/honer doesnt get a heap of negativity poured on him without even being asked to comment.

I'd rather believe that someone is honest - if the reverse is true then I'm just as happy to be corrected, but its got to be concrete, not ifs and buts.

I'd say it was a decent razor. Only the price would put me off, not the size of the bevel. Providing the metal is good enough then wide or thin, it is only the tip that shaves your whiskers off, not the sides.

Regards,
Neil

Ah yes, sorry if it came out that way, that was not my intent.

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

All I am concerned about is that the restorer/honer doesnt get a heap of negativity poured on him without even being asked to comment.

Yes, this should never be personal, and we have to be objective most certainly not assume malice without any evidence.

Failure to do so in this case will result in the deletion of this thread, because after being repeatedly banned from this site for serious violations the seller is not and will not be able to comment.

Can't we all just get along? Except seriously, my monkey Jake really dislikes pitted blades that have been buffed and buffed meetings of planes...that soften the angles, really horns him off, then I have to clean up the mess. (The bottom dropped out of the price he was asking).