Thread: Rescale / Restoration of 18th century France razor

I have been after a nice example of a FRANCE razor (Sheffield, not French) from the firm Brittain, Wilkinson & Brownell for a long time. I saw StraightOverload's post; he wanted to shave with something from the 1700s and I was after a razor with this particular mark, so he was generous enough to trade his razor for a shave ready one from the same period.

The mark as seen in Gales & Martin for BW&B is 'FRANCE'; however this razor has a border around the lettering. Similarly, most razors I have seen with 'LISBON' (Thomas Warburton) have lacked borders; one example I have with a border is marked on the spine William Warburton (his father). I'm not sure if something like that could be the case here, where this bordered mark predates the one in Gales & Martin. I've also looked into the possibility of it being the mark of one of the Sheffielders with surname France but didn't find anything conclusive in the Cutlers Co History.

In any case, I had some scales from a beater French razor (actually from France, the country) of the same period, so I swapped out the wrecked horn scales this one came with for this very nice pair. Collars are period brass. The scales were a pain to get apart to clean - the wedge end had three brass rods inserted through the scales and wedge to keep everything solid, so after drilling the original pin out (which was hard steel) I had to individually drill out each one of those (they hide under the large collars). I replaced the brass rods when I put everything back together. The pinning was made interesting by the sheer size of the brass rod needed to fill the holes, probably nearly 1/8" thick.

I think it looks pretty good now that it's finished and polished up

very nice !!! glad it all worked out !!

turned out wonderful !!!!!

Very nice, the scales are perfect.

Wonderful job. Very tasteful!

Originally Posted by ScienceGuy

The scales were a pain to get apart to clean - the wedge end had three brass rods inserted through the scales and wedge to keep everything solid, so after drilling the original pin out (which was hard steel) I had to individually drill out each one of those (they hide under the large collars).

is this a common thing at one point to add the extra brass rods ?? I ask cause I drilled out a pin one time and gave it a twisted to loosen things up and nothing !! it was a no repairable set and just wanted to save the good side but after breaking the bad side off I noticed the extra brass rod that was after the original pin but covered in dirt !! I thought it was an interesting addition but was crious as to if it was a manufacturer add on or personal .

This is the first one I've taken apart with 3 extra pins, but I've seen a number with one pin. I'd guess they were put in to keep the wedge from rotating.

Originally Posted by ScienceGuy

This is the first one I've taken apart with 3 extra pins, but I've seen a number with one pin. I'd guess they were put in to keep the wedge from rotating.

ya mine only had one .. I would of never noticed it had I not taken the scales apart , and have only saw it in that one razor and never heard of it till your post ... interesting either way !!