John Pitts 7/8 and a little history

[karlej]

John Pitts (c. 1797 – 1859) was a razor manufacturer in Sims Croft (off Hawley St.) by 1828. A later address was Trafalgar St. Apparently he brought his two sons Charles (born c. 1829) and John (born c. 1834) into the business. By 1845 Charles had launched his own business. His trade mark was a cannon and the word “Defiance”. John Pits Sr. died 3 May 1859 at the age of 62. He had already handed over the business to Charles and John Jr. who formed Pitt Bros. The firm was bankrupt in 1861. Charles abandoned razor manufacturing but John Jr. continued to work as a razor manufacturer at Trafalgar St. and died in 1872 at the age of 38. Descendants continued to run the business which was listed until WW1. The cannon trademark was later used by Wilkin and Brooksbank.
I believe this blade is made by John Sr. between 1830 and 1859. The horn scales that came with the razor were not the original scales.The blade measures 7/8 with what I’ll call a variation of an ariss spine being quill shaped on the top vice flat. The wide flat area of the spine offered the opportunity to show the contrast between a glazed and crocus type finish. I found it difficult to capture in pictures the sharp contrast between the two finishes. The scales are polished black horn at .110 thickness with a lead wedge tapering from .085 to .030. and assembled using brass pins and collars. I used a 2 x 72 grinder to restore the blade and keep the blade profiles sharp and clean. A buffer would have washed out the blade profiles and I do not have the patience for a lot of hand sanding. To produce the glazed finish I used a light touch on a sisal wheel loaded with Jantz medium cut compound after taking the blade to 1200 grit on the grinder.