Thread: 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.



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.



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.



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.


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.



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?



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!



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





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

DAMN!!!!! That is awesome.

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

Bob

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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 <:-}