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18th Century Razor, Restored and Back to Shaving Once Again.
At first glance most people would look at this blade the way it was and make it part of the recycling bin or make it part of some wind chime or whatever. But I was familiar with the makers mark and firmly believed it could be potentially shaving once again. The makers of this mark "R(heart) / SPAIN" is Ann Rowland, indeed a female cutler, listed in Gales & Martin 1774, Gales & Martin 1787, British Directory 1791, and none after.
That said there is no doubt that this blade was fabricated in the 18th Century. Here the razor the way I received it.
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There is no doubt that this razor was used extensively, the wear on the blade seem like it was honed many many times but not abused, certainly someone took the time to make new scales from one piece of wood and more then likely a piece of metal left over from who knows what for a washer to hold it together with a single steel pin.
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I had a clear vision in my complex brain as to what I wanted to look like after restoration, and be somewhat "time correct" and practical. That consist of bone scales, big large copper washers with an ebony wedge. Did have the necessary bone for scales and ebony for the wedge but no large copper washers. So my idea was to use a copper rivet like the picture below, cut the tail off, drill a hole in the middle and use that for washers.
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At this point this entire project took a wild turn, in having a discussion with my friend Roy (Cudarunner) he showed some interest in working on this old blade and I end up shipping the razor, the rivets, the bone and a chunk of Gabon Ebony to him. From the time he received the package we begin exchanging e-mail about scales shapes, exchanging picture of time correct period razor, thickness of scales, and my quest and vision to make washers out of them copper rivets. Personally I found the email exchange to be quite fun, turns out good olde Roy is just as anal as myself about a lot of things (sorry Roy, good quality in my book).
The blade was clean up of all its gunk, leaving some patina and minor pits.
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Scales were made to shape, wedge and large copper washers, pinned with copper rod, Roy really did a fantastic job exactly like the way I wanted it.
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And lastly it was sent to Glen for a proper honing job.
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It is something really special to be able to shave today with a razor like this one.