Thread: Nowill restoration

This was a little Christmas present to myself - a pair of Nowill straight razors in ivory scales. They were not in bad condition when I bought them, the pivot areas needed cleaning of a little rust, blade polished and scales sanded to remove slight scratches.
The quality of these razors is obvious as soon as you handle them, and the grind is so accurate that the tiny bevels are completely even along the whole edge.
Unusually, the pivot pins were peened over washers whereas the wedge is washerless. I don't know if this was original or not, but if they have been re-pinned it was a long time ago as the washers were original two part ones.

Those are stunning razors Rob !
Lovely grind: you have to give it to the Sheffield razor makers, they were not adverse to experimenting a bit.
I also like the contours of the scales, I haven't seen that on vintage razors before!

To me it looks like the razors have been repinned, but who cares right ?

Very nice Christmas gift indeed! I have a couple of the 'KrossKey' blades and they are wonderful shavers.

Originally Posted by decraew

Those are stunning razors Rob !
Lovely grind: you have to give it to the Sheffield razor makers, they were not adverse to experimenting a bit.
I also like the contours of the scales, I haven't seen that on vintage razors before!

To me it looks like the razors have been repinned, but who cares right ?

I did debate whether to re-pin without washers but decided it's less risky with them than without - plus the scales has slight indentations from the previous washers. I'd rather have them as they are than risk a broken pivot.

Now that is what I call a Christmas gift fit for a shaver. Wonderful pair of razors with a nice clean up. It is the first time I have seen "gun stock" style scales on an English razor. Pretty unique I think.

Bob

Thanks Bob. I've never seen them in ivory before.

The other thing to note here is that the finish when they came to me was was high polish - the photos don't really show this well. Judging from the wear on the scales, slight scratches on the blade and condition of the box, I would say the razors were well used but also well cared for. It's always possible that someone re-polished the blades but I got the feeling it was how they left the factory.

Nice pair. Unique blades from Nowill as well. Great job!

Absolutely beautiful pair of razors ! Museum quality IMHO. Congratulations Rob.

Very nice find, unusual blade shape/scale design, Enjoy!

Very nice set Rob and very nicely yet sympathetically restored.