Brittain Wilkinson & Brownell

Restored this today "Brittain Wilkinson & Brownell". ("France" Tang Stamp) It is a "Dip-at-Toe" 1780 ish.

It has a satin finish and Silver collars. To be honed tonight. I made sure it has a pretty bevel.. It did have some severe chips at the toe end and a nasty pit on the edge. I have grinded it so that the pit should fade away with a 1k bevel set.
Cheers

Attachment 332462

Attachment 332463

Attachment 332464

Attachment 332465

Attachment 332466

Attachment 332467

Attachment 332468

Attachment 332469

nice work. it fits very nicely in the scales too.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gasman

nice work. it fits very nicely in the scales too.

---

Thanks, I have about 10 days growth with this razors name on it..

I've been at this for over an hour now, the bevel (whole blade) is pitted.. I am making progress with one handed rolling X's on the 1k . It has turned from a nightmare to enjoyment :)

Attachment 332477

Attachment 332478

Attachment 332479

Gonna take some time to work thru all of that. But, I've been there. Just keep on keeping on. Kill the edge now and then and go more. And go more. And go...

That edge looks way better when you’re not looking at it with a scope. Glad you’re enjoying yourself, it will be worth it when you have a clean face and no weepers.

Beautiful razor :chapeau

It is 99% there. I knew it would come good, they always do, plus removing the chip showed me good steel not far away.
What i will do it take this opportunity to dismantle it before the bevel is 100%.

The blade won't tighten fully in the scales because i had to to use 200 year old extremely thin washers. I need new thicker washers to add some meat to the pinning area.

These scales have large bore holes which required tubing then the pin 1/16 sits inside that tube but this meant my modern washers would not fit. I do wanna buy washer a die cutting set... Trying to bore a larger hole in a washer is not really possible ..
After some thought i have a solution, just cut the tubing to fit inside each scale (maybe 3 parts, one for the razor), then i can add my modern washers and get a nice tight clamp on the razor.

My only real problem is disassembly .. I can salvage 200 year old collars no problem but my own work is difficult, the collars are silver and i only get 2 attempts , it has to be bang on dead center drilling..
If you don't hear from me then i have destroyed the razor ha ha.

Good luck with the pinning. I think it was Shaun who sent me these little pieces when I first started out restoring razors. I still have one set so I won't part with them but he should know where to find them if you think they will help. It's a little thicker nail with two bushing collars for when a hole is bigger. Helps take up space. Sorta like a pop-rivet. Anyway, thought I'd just throw it out there as an option. Good luck.

Attachment 332496Attachment 332497

For real fussy work like that where you want to be extra careful unpinning, I use dental drills and a small Jacobs chuck for the Dremel flex shaft hand piece.

Once I get a good hole centered and started, I switch to a small carbide ball and eat away at the pin. I tape the razor to my pinning anvil, a 6-inch piece of polished small gage railroad track for stability. With a piece of rubber drawer liner between the razor and the anvil. Good light and a magnifying visor help.

When I have used a brass tube to shim the pin hole, I cut the tube the width of the tang. I have also filled the pin hole with epoxy and drilled, and glued in a brass pin and drilled the pin. All three methods work.

To drill the hole square, I lay the razor on a flat surface and measure the angle of the tang, then cut a wedge as close as possible test fitting on the flat surface. Then hot glue the wood wedge to the tang (hot glue will fill any small gaps) and glue the razor and wedge to a larger piece of wood for stability and drill on a drill press.

Nice pinning by the way.

Sometimes, I tend to leave the washers out on oldies for more friction. But I get they may be ancient and brittle. Also, reinforcing the pin-holes with CA and smearing some inside the scales helps with that.

Can you get a close-up of the tang stamp? I've not seen one like that. Nice!

Thanks for all the tips guys. Interesting to hear how we all have our own methods and tricks.

I tried to drill the pin but I have some super strong Nickel Silver rod that just slightly deformed even with a new bit and cutting paste. In the end I just clipped the head off slightly grazing the collar, that will buff out.
I will pin it back together tomorrow evening when I have time.
The real problem is the razor shape, it tappers from the toe to tail, it must finish at 1mm tail end..
Cheers

France stamp..
Attachment 332535

Not made in France, but for France? I assumed they were English.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Not made in France, but for France? I assumed they were English.

---

Yes, they are or were in Sheffield..Makes me think of the "Amsterdam"" stamp for Roberts & Son..Probably it was cool and trendy back then ? :)

Re pinned this one and it cinched up tight and centered perfectly by my design. I settled on stainless washers because they have a bit more meat on them compared to my modern brass washers. That and my sturdy support collar washers allowed me to get a nice tight pivot without flattening the pin heads.

I have spent countless hours honing this, trying to get a clean apex, i wont say bevel because that won't happen, all the time thinking how i am turning a nice piece of history into swarf.
Eventually today i gave up. You can see the last photo i took showing what comes after the current pitting near the apex and this runs up n down both sides of the bevel to different extents..
The metal is good steel apart from the pits so i will let it rest for a while having widened the bevel some ..
I do show the razor in my latest shave video which is processing as i type this..
Cheers :)


Attachment 332666

Attachment 332667

Attachment 332668

Attachment 332669

Attachment 332670

That's an incredibly thin tang!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sharptonn

That's an incredibly thin tang!

---

Yes it fits inside a 1 millimeter measurement at the tail.. This razor makes me think it is as old as possible because it is so crude..
Cheers