10 Attachment(s)
8/8 R. Sutcliffe Sheffield Razor
As acquired this blade was badly rusted and pitted. Luckily it had a nice deep makers stamp. There was no way to save the masonic etching. The scales were rotten but appeared to have been honey horn. The big brass collars were smashed almost flat and 1 was missing. Since I have learned never to throw anything razor related away I had a spare to match. The scales are over 6 inches in length and I had to dig into my stash of large blanks from Austin Kennedy. I added a couple of in process pictures after regrinding and setting the bevel. I chose to use a glazed finish for the blade faces and a crocus finish for the spine and tang.
Not much information out there that I can find on R. Sutcliffe. Tweedale's Directory lists an R. Sutcliffe that died in 1811. Could this have been made by a family member? I did find other Sutcliffe names in directories in Sheffield in various trades.
This razor seems to date from when the first of the big blades started to show up 1820 - 1830. It has a wide flat tang with thumb notch which I have seen from that time period. Maybe Viodmaster or Scienceguy will chime in with a history lesson.
Attachment 260635Attachment 260636Attachment 260637Attachment 260638Attachment 260639Attachment 260640Attachment 260641Attachment 260642Attachment 260643Attachment 260644