Thread: An oddball razor

Whilst doing what has become a bit of a habit, trawling through cheep eBay razors I came across this one :



Its a John watts razor which in itself isn't particularly unusual, I've seen a few listed but none have looked like this. In fact I don't recall seeing any razor looking like this. Has anyone seen anything like this.

I would be interested in knowing what it might be and why it doesn't have a defined shoulder.

Aye up.

There's plenty of razor that are ground with no shoulder.

you only have to look past the standard ones to start to find them.

If you go on the invisible edge just have a look at the TI section at the basic black range. All of the TI legrelot form razors are shoulderless. As too are a good swathe of the Dovo razors, Bismarck, Laforme, flowing, Carre.

It's not that there rare you just haven't noticed it before

(on I'm from York, Only living in Coventry now).











This is one of my own razors with a similar shoulder to that one.




I think the big difference your seeing is a wedge grind with no shoulder. Since most new blades are hollow and the shoulderless aspect reflects back onto the tang.

Scales are possible pressed leather or paper during wartime. There are similar pressed metal ones also. Not uncommon but still a nice find!
Clean and hone her and enjoy the processes!
~Richard

I like the clean looks of shoulderless razors.

Watts was a respected Sheffield Cutlery house. In business as Watts from 1855 until 1953 at the Lambert Works in Sheffield and with an office in London. The company was originally started in 1765 and owned by Frederick Ward who used the B4-ANY trademark. Watts himself was not a master cutler. He took control of the company in 1855.

Somewhere in my junk, I have a Watts pocket knife that was issued to the Tommies in WWII.



FYI, you see these and similar for sale as "mariners knives". WRONG.
These were issued to the soldiers. The mariners/navy knives had no can opener nor screw driver.

It's a heck of a knife and snaps like an alligator. That ought to be a great razor.

Those scales are pressed leather - cuir bouilli - and were fairly common as a cheap scale material. The diamond filing pattern was used a lot on penknives and other knives - see Wullie's post above. There used to be large cards with all sorts of penknife and pocket knives attached to it with elastic loops in the newsagents when I was a kid. All the older boys used to spend ages choosing one while the rest of us looked on in envy. How cheap they appear now, with their thin flimsy handle coverings and pressed steel parts!

I waited until I was older and got a giant dagger in a sheath. No one batted an eye at a kid with a knife, back then...

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Those scales are pressed leather - cuir bouilli - and were fairly common as a cheap scale material. The diamond filing pattern was used a lot on penknives and other knives - see Wullie's post above. There used to be large cards with all sorts of penknife and pocket knives attached to it with elastic loops in the newsagents when I was a kid. All the older boys used to spend ages choosing one while the rest of us looked on in envy. How cheap they appear now, with their thin flimsy handle coverings and pressed steel parts!

I waited until I was older and got a giant dagger in a sheath. No one batted an eye at a kid with a knife, back then...


Regards,
Neil

You'd have hard pressed where I went to school to find a kid without a knife or two in his pocket. When we got old enough to drive to school, most of us had a shotgun and a rifle in our cars/trucks. I went hunting before and after school a lot.

The only school shooting I remember was when David Smith and I squib loaded (very light load) his old muzzle loader and rang the bell on the outside of the school house. Been thinking of going by that old school and seeing if the lead tracks are still on the bell where we shot it back in 1969. They were still visible in '73 when I got back from 'Nam.

the outlaw school bell shooter,
Willie

Originally Posted by Wullie

You'd have hard pressed where I went to school to find a kid without a knife or two in his pocket. When we got old enough to drive to school, most of us had a shotgun and a rifle in our cars/trucks. I went hunting before and after school a lot. snip....

Yes a knife was by definition the possession that made a boy a boy. But some young ladies and some Nuns could stick a blade better than anyone while playing "stretch" or "mumbley peg" against them.
Many of us had paper routes and a knife was a necessity. Binder twine around bike tires was a common traction enhancement for late and early season riding especially if there was ice or wet clay on the road..
And hunting was a common sport where I grew up also. Not unusual to see guys riding hteir bikes home with a "tweny ritooful" on the handlebars. The gun was left with the custodian during school hours. A CB or BB cap in the overgrown field behind the school made a partridge or pheasant stew very common and not a few squirrels joined the pot also.
Thanks for the memories!
~Richard

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Those scales are pressed leather - cuir bouilli - and were fairly common as a cheap scale material. The diamond filing pattern was used a lot on penknives and other knives - see Wullie's post above. There used to be large cards with all sorts of penknife and pocket knives attached to it with elastic loops in the newsagents when I was a kid. All the older boys used to spend ages choosing one while the rest of us looked on in envy. How cheap they appear now, with their thin flimsy handle coverings and pressed steel parts!

I waited until I was older and got a giant dagger in a sheath. No one batted an eye at a kid with a knife, back then...

Regards,
Neil

Always wondered what they were. They're obviously different to the known scale materials but I'd have never guessed compressed leather.