Thread: First restoration finally finished

Thanks for the pic Bruno. If this one ever comes for sale let me know. I have traveled much like the person who crafted this razor appears to have. I feel a kinship to the brother who crafted this razor as I do for all the brethren.

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Don

Bruno,That is really a job well done.I have one that has the name as well as the square and compasses.If John Barber was a mason as some one stated,I think the Grand Lodge of England should have a record.These razors are getting harder to find,especially very nice ones like yours.I have never shaved with mine,please let us know how this one shaves.Best regards Gary

Bruno,
That restoration is SPECTACULAR !!!!!!

Excellent +3

This is the first that I have seen of this thread - what a fine job on that resto Bruno! She's beautiful!

Thanks Gary. I plan to hone her this weekend.
I never got around to honing her properly, but now that I have the new coticule from Howard I can't wait to try it.

I will post back with the results.

Ok here is the verdict.

It took a long time to set the bevel, and to hone it properly. It seems that John Barber had some pretty 'out there' ideas on blade design. Mind you, from a esthaetic pov this razor is stunning imo.

If you look at the edge, you'll see that it is straight from the heel to the middle of the blade, but then from the middle to the toe it curves upwards.
The spine otoh it curved from heel to toe, so I cannot hone it with the standard X , and the rolling hone method does not work that great either.

To make matters even worse, the spine is thicker at the toe than at the heel.
Initially I thought this was wear, but it didn't look like it.
I compared it with my NOS John Barber when I still had that, and that has the same feature. It's no production error because it looks far too good. I am pretty sure these blades were made to be like this.
The spine starts off a bit thick at the toe, and then gradually gets narrower until it progresses into the tang at exactly the right thickness.

All in all a very interesting honing experience. I also tried narrow hones, but that didn't work because near the middle of the hone, the blade would lose proper contact with the stone and either don't touch the stone at all, or touch it but drag across the edge.

The wide stones worked best on this one. Still, when 'rolling' the blade from the middle to the toe, it does something strange, and it almost feels like I am freehanding the razor across the stone.

Anyway, I finished it on a wide coticule, stropped it for 50 laps and then took it to a shave.

It shaved very nice, without any irritation at all, and had no problems with my whiskers. I Only had to make short strokes on my chin, because the hairs are hardest there and the blade was very light.
It was sharp enough to be called shaveready, but it is not the sharpness that can be achieved with a perfectly straight blade.

Routine updates on the coticule should bring to edge to its ideal shape, or -if I had one- I think this razor would be a perfect candidate for a hanging strop with 0.5 micron chromium oxide.

I have also sent an email to the Grand Lodge of England, explaining the situation (with a link to this thread) and asking if they have any information they can share.
I'll report back if when I get a reply.

It would be great to have more information, because this is both a beautiful razor and an excellent shaver, and it is a shame that nothing more is known about him.

i would have to agree with the previous posts. it would seem he was a traveling man and i would love to own a razor forged by a craftsman. it would do my soul good to be able to use a tool of this caliber. please update us on any info you get back from the lodge, it would be most enlightening. (sorry, i had to)