Parkin Cast Steel restoration

[xiaotuzi]

I've had this razor for a few years waiting for the right time to restore it. An oldie! It was badly pitted, especially on the back side. The scales were in good shape so I was able to keep them. Even though they look black in the pictures, when held to the light they're dark honey. The collars had turned to flakey rust and pretty much crumbled when disassembling. I used replica collars and brass pins to put it back together. I also added very thin washers inside the pivot to limit further wear against the inside surface of the scales. This restoration was done by hand aside from a few minutes at the end I used a dremel and wool wheel with lapping paste to polish the 3000 grit sandpaper haze out of the spine, tang and tail.

The geometry of the blade is pretty cool. When looking down on the spine from above you can see the whole thing is shaped like a long, slight wedge from tail to tip. From the side you can see the blade is narrow at the heel and wider at the end. Because the width of the spine increases as the blade width increases, the bevel remains even throughout the entire edge.

I measured the spine width to blade width ratio at the heel and at the end (in inches).
Heel: 0.154/0.579 = 0.266
End: 0.213/0.795 = 0.268
Almost exact! I thought that was pretty cool.

The only info I have on this razor is that it might be made by Staniforth, Parkin & Co. from Sheffield, probably c. 1790-1810. The tang stamp is a down pointing arrow, a sideways L, PARKIN, and CAST STEEL. Glad to have this one in my collection. Thanks for looking!

Before:


During:


After:

[BobH]

Nicely done. You gotta love that narrow even bevel too.

Bob

[ovidiucotiga]

Outstanding transformation...how did you get the satin finish like that on the sides of the balde? by hand alone?!

[ejmolitor37]

That is beautiful, very nice job Garrison. A wonderful example of what is possible with hand tools.

[Leatherstockiings]

That turned out great.

How does it shave?

[xiaotuzi]

How does it shave?

We shall see in the morning! Cutting arm hair like a champ so far. I have to say though, it's a little different to hold onto, the tang is really thin and there is no heel. Gotta be careful where the thumb is, not getting too close to where the edge begins. Also, it's a long blade. Going to be fun!

[xiaotuzi]

Outstanding transformation...how did you get the satin finish like that on the sides of the balde? by hand alone?!

Thanks! Yes, the finish is done by hand. First I get the blade faces close to a mirror finish, hand sanding up to 3000 grit. Then I start applying the satin finish, working spine to edge back down the grits. Sort of like painting. A base coat of 2000 grit, then a coat of 1500, then 1000, then in this case 800. After that, one time with 2000 grit coated with 1 micron diamond lapping paste to soften the finish. This method was inspired by comments in this thread http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...in-finish.html Many thanks to the guys who contributed info there.

[Swifty2point0]

this is stunning! this blade shape reminds me a lot of the sweeney todd razors!
I too love that satin finish, I think if I ever make a razor this will be wha I base it off!

[tintin]

Yes! amazing job. Beautiful razor.

[Voidmonster]

Very nice!

Did the wedge have three holes?

The razor oughta be 1790-1805. Not a lot of those going around in shaving shape, and fewer still that haven't got a case of heel-tooth from pasted strops or overhoning!

I've found that it's a little weird to shave with them initially, but it pretty quickly becomes normal. I've never felt in danger of cutting my thumb while using one.