Early Sheperd

John Sheperd was a razor manufacturer listed in 1774 in Redcroft. In 1787 the address was Hollis Croft. In 1797 the business was styled Sheperd & Sons. This is one of the earliest razors I have restored. 1780-1795ish. An elegant tapered blade 6/8 at its widest with fancy spine work. It is restored to its original glazed finish. The original pressed horn scales have been re-dyed black. The collars are period correct steel with brass pins.
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Beautiful work - as always.
Do you think someone did a correction on its tail? Because your dating is obviously spot on, and every other part of it looks like that period, except for the tail. Interesting. I saw a lot of regrind jobs done to earlier heavy grinds - changing them to half and full hollows, but I never noticed such a change to the tail alone.

Just beautiful restoration work.

Nice work Karl. I love the original scales. Nice save.

Very nice, Karl.

Do you think it was originally a square point, and the excessive hone wear seen in the before pics, is the cause for the rounded toe. ?

Just haven't ever come across a round point, from that time frame. :shrug:

Very nice, Karl.

Do you think it was originally a square point, and the excessive hone wear seen in the before pics, is the cause for the rounded toe. ?

Just haven't ever come across a round point, from that time frame. :shrug:

One of the most beautiful blades I've ever seen.

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Originally Posted by outback

Very nice, Karl.

Do you think it was originally a square point, and the excessive hone wear seen in the before pics, is the cause for the rounded toe. ?

Just haven't ever come across a round point, from that time frame. :shrug:

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IMHO the blade has not been reworked in any way. I have seen pictures of similar blades. Maybe Voidmonster or Scienceguy will chime in with more information. The blade is very much a near wedge. It was cleaned up on an 8 inch contact wheel. It had very little hone wear. What you see at the toe is the rust line were the blade sat in the scales. I do not think the blade had ever been separated from the scales but who really knows with a blade this old. Smith's Key has pictures of similar blades.
There is no hone wear where the blade bevel meets the tang. It is very difficult to restore a blade like this. Note the dark spots near what would be the heel of the blade. These areas where just barely kissed on the grinder, the dark spots being the original blade finish, and final finishing was by hand so as not to remove that nice straight line. Many of these early blades from hone wear have what we call a hook it this junction.

You are a great craftsman.

Wonderful restoration back to 'Original' Karl!

You manage to enhance the tang stamps on all your restorations to such a degree that they seem clearer than they were originally. It amazes me that you are able to bring back the finish to like new without buffing the stamp out of existence.

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Originally Posted by DZEC

You manage to enhance the tang stamps on all your restorations to such a degree that they seem clearer than they were originally. It amazes me that you are able to bring back the finish to like new without buffing the stamp out of existence.

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The hard contact wheel of the grinder is what keeps the details of the razor sharp and crisp. The soft wheels used with greaseless buffing compounds will quickly wash everything out. They still have their purpose but the grinder is my weapon of choice.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by karlej

The hard contact wheel of the grinder is what keeps the details of the razor sharp and crisp. The soft wheels used with greaseless buffing compounds will quickly wash everything out. They still have their purpose but the grinder is my weapon of choice.

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I remember an old post by Neil Miller saying that in the razor trade at least, no soft wheels of any kind were used. Grindstone to glazing wheel to lead lap for polishing, all firm surfaces.

Now that's a beauty Master Chief! How did I miss this one?