Thread: I. Barber stub tail restoration

Thats a beauty for sure. The edge is so evenly curved. And how it ever centered... I have no idea. I have a hard time with an evenly tapered tang so I dont know how you got it.
Nice job on a fine looking razor!

Those scales look amazing . Very nice .

Really well done, good for another couple hundred years. Those scales are stunning.

Wow great work! Love the scales.

It is a beauty. Every restoration that you post is pretty damned great. Congrats on another winner.

Nice work. Too bad about the forging flaw/cold shut. Hard to see under 200 years of patina. Fairly common in the old Sheffields. Most that I see tend to run up along the spine. Small ones sometimes show up in the tang. Your choice of finish helps mask the flaw.
Maybe one of his earlier blades before he had his trade mark.

Originally Posted by karlej

Nice work. Too bad about the forging flaw/cold shut. Hard to see under 200 years of patina. Fairly common in the old Sheffields. Most that I see tend to run up along the spine. Small ones sometimes show up in the tang. Your choice of finish helps mask the flaw.
Maybe one of his earlier blades before he had his trade mark.

Thanks, Karl, I appreciate it! The forging flaw doesn't bother me, I figure it's been ok for a couple hundred years that way so to me it's just part of this particular blade, is what it is. I would like to understand better how it happens because I know little of the forging process. I've seem them in the tang before too, and this one extends into the tang as well. Did Isaac Barber use a trade mark at one point? I'll have to search around for some examples.

Originally Posted by xiaotuzi

Did Isaac Barber use a trade mark at one point? I'll have to search around for some examples.

I. = J. in old English. I believe the maker is John Barber. His set-square and compass trade mark was granted in 1823. He also used a trade mark which was a crown over the word 'Wolf'. The Wolf trade mark was originally owned by George Shepherd. Listed as John Barber & Son in 1833. He died in 1834. John Barber also claimed there were others counterfeiting his razors.
To add to the confusion there was also an Isaac Barber granted his freedom in 1811. So it could be his razor. It sure has the lines of a John Barber razor to my eyes. Maybe Voidmonster will chime in with his knowledge of the old makers.
A cold shut is an imperfect weld caused in a forging by the inadequate heat of one surface under working or by an oxide film.

Thanks for the explanation about "cold shot". Looks exactly like you describe.

I don't think it's John Barber.... I think the maker is likely exactly who John Barber was worried about making "spurious and inferior imitations" and why John Barber started using his famous square and compass mark.


Shaves great by the way! Had a go with it this morning

Tuzi, as usual your restoration was amazing!!

Thanks for the info as well, it's great to learn about these old razors and their history.
So glad you git it back into working order and it shaved so well for you.