Old Marsden

This old Marsden is, I think, the oldest razor I have. Really neat horn pressings and a pretty good old stub-tailed blade.
Finally got it going.

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A bit of a challenge, I bundled it into a few for horn repairs a while back. Beetles had all but eaten away the back scale pivot and the old blade had been dangling from the front scale for many moons.

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No rescale here! Without unpinning the bottom, I cleaned up the scales with light diluted Simple Green and set out to graft a donor piece. Getting everything straight and the grain the right direction, a bevel on both pieces was made on the back side.

Joined with 2 part epoxy mixed with bakelite dust, all was cut, shaped and sanded as evenly possible.
A bit more applied to the front to even that out. Front pin-hole was wallowed out, so filled, sanded, and redrilled. Then finely sanded as best as I could.
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Some Sharpie was applied to all four bolsters and around the edges for uniformity. The scales were then saturated with neetsfoot oil and allowed to soak in for a few days. I have found putting horn in a bind as the neetsfoot soaks in will sometimes straighten them a bit.

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Never unpinned the bottom. Got it pinned back at the top using the original collars which were still dangling up there. Neat old razor, I think.

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Marsden seems a bit of an enigma.. Some info from Zak's blog can be seen here; Sometimes, the only evidence is circumstantial. | The Shivering Beggar

Some more pics of the scales. In the morning, our hunter is setting forth with anxious dogs accompanied by Cupid sitting upon a bull.
I suppose a love for hunting and Cupid is quite 'bullish' on it as well?

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As-returning in the evening, Tired dogs, some fowl and a rabbit are harvested. The hunter is now enjoined by Baccus.
Seems apparent that libations are in order!

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Got it all honed up after a few trials. Shaves well!

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Still a few bites, not much done to the blade. Thanks for looking. :D

DAMN!!!!! That is awesome.

Always a pleasure to view your expert repair/restore work. Just a lovely old razor.

Bob

........ :bow ..........

Well done, Tom

TLC for a fine old piece.

Congrats

The Razor Gods are smiling Tom,,,,,,,,,,,,

Superb as always, the scales are magnificent...so do you have a date range on the razor - gorgeous piece!

So many tips to learn from you Tom - fantastic story book as well.

Absolutely a beautiful restoration!
How cool is it to have scales on a razor that tell a story!!
Definitely well worth the time and effort. A great shave is the bonus with this razor.

Pete <:-}