Thread: Fancy razor unknown maker

A fancy razor by an unknown Sheffield maker. The makers stamp is very light and struck unevenly. The makers name was mostly ground off when the upper bevel of the tang was ground. What remains is not legible. The remaining reads silver steel Sheffield. Based on blade and scale shape the razor likely dates 1830's - 1840's. It is restored in its original finish with glazed blade faces and crocus finished spine and tang. Unfortunately the etch on the fancy spine Superior Silver Steel was lost during the restoration. The scales are ivory with the original flower shaped silver collars. This is the first razor in ivory scales I have seen with collars. Generally they are pinned collarless like tortoise scales. The in process pictures show the blade faces off the 600 grit belt and the bevel set.

Nice looker karl. Too bad about the makers stamp and it sure has a nice shape to it.

Grear work. Love the collars.

Damn Karlej, that turned out great! Outstanding!

Lovely blade and collars. I bet it has a nice weight to it.

Very nice restore! I can’t believe you got ALL that rust and stuff off. Plus a great job keeping those sharp lines. I wouldn’t even care that much about the makers mark myself.

Just to be clear I did not remove the makers name. What is left of it is still there. It was ground away by the original grinder cutting the fancy bevels in the tang. Sure would be nice to know the maker of this razor. It is not uncommon to find a makers stamp that has been partially ground away especially if the stamp was not centered on the tang.

Not to get too far off topic...

One of my first straights was a W&B 6/8 wedge that I bought from karlej on Ebay. To this day that razor is a great shaver with some light touching up every so often.

About a month ago I saw another really nicely restored W&B on Ebay that I couldn't pass up. I told the seller that it was a great restoration and that it reminded me of karlej's work.

The seller told me I had a good eye, and that it was indeed a karlej restored razor. I'd say that it speaks volumes as to the quality of a person's work when it becomes recognizable.

*apologies if I've told this story before.

Karl has done several large Sheffield restorations for me and all have been superb. He is a perfectionist on his regrinding and puts a wonderful shaving edge on these old beauties. Agree that it is a tribute to him as his work is indeed recognizable.