LECOULTRE 7/8 FrameBack razor restore

I herd such good things about frame back razors; I had to try one out. The auction was too tempting to pass.
I hear not all razors are created equal, thought maybe I should bid on the Swedish frame back, but all were out of my budget (that’s what the misses would say, so I have to accept that).

When assembled the razor measures 7/8th inch. Only stamping on the tang is LECOULTRE. The 4 blades are numerically stamped N1 - N4 and Jaques Lecoultre Au Sentier… (I wonder if it’s missing 3 of a 7 day set).

The razor and box was in a terrible state; all blades had light patina, covered with a fowl smelling oil and two had small chips (less than 1MM) and … so it was immediately sent to the de-grease-de-smell-dis-infect tank... the box may soon be dumped (don't know how to get the smell out of it and i don't think its the original box).

The frame had rust/patina here and there but what’s interesting is the remnants of plating… Tin?, Silver?, Chrome?… also finger grips on the top of the tang, jimps on bottom.

One-piece celluloid scales were warped also appears to have been poorly repined, so the scales may not be original. Did the hot water in a glass trick to straighten… sand, polish and is now good.

I only polished one blade (one with chip) leaving the other 3 untouched (but covered in better smelling oil) I may polish the rest at some point.

These blades are not as easy to polish like a regular straight… there is nothing to hold on to… its as ridiculous as trying to polish a razor blade… wait-a-minute… that’s exactly what I did!!!

Looking at the blade got me thinking, it should be possible to make these blades… maybe even from an old stainless dinner knife. Seems to be stamped from sheet stock and beveled… the blade is hardened according to my bastard file. Maybe I will post in the “forge” forum.

The shave… wow!!!… after the first stroke I put down the razor and stepped back, shivers ran down my spine, whiskers simply vanished without protest…
I had a chilling image of some poor soul in some hot sweltering dungeon forging away at the steel in this blade.
“Rest peacefully my ancient friend, your toil was not in vein”
That was last night. At noon today, I am washing my face and still feel no stubble”

The first photo is ebay pic the rest is after the restore/shave

Maybe this is my pass into the The FrameBack Fanciers Club

Please clean the rest of the blades and post more pics, or pass it around so all of us can check it out.:D

These are great razors! I have a 6 blade set. Mine came in a box with a little "folder" to hold the blades and a screwdriver in its own little section. The box says something about 6 and there are six blades numbered 1-6 so I think it is a complete set that I have. I have seen others though that may not have been from a set. Regardless, good shaves!

I have one of these I bought for 2.00 at the flea mkt. I only have one blade. I havn't cleaned or honed it yet but I think I will get it out. I thought it was ugly but it looks like they clean up pretty good.

Don

I would try the strongest magnet you can find and use that to hold the blade while you sand. Awesome razor.

That is very cool. I would definately polish up the rest of those blades, and even make a nice new box for them. That would make a great travel kit, or even a regular use rotation. Nice find, and well done on the restoration. The magnet jig would be perfect for sanding/polishing up those additional blades.

I just got one of these, sadly with one blade. But I am noticing that all the other ones I have seen have a different company marked on the tang.

Great looking set. Tres Gothique. Could be Batman's razor... if it was black.:D

Now I want one. :(

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Originally Posted by Akady

I just got one of these, sadly with one blade. But I am noticing that all the other ones I have seen have a different company marked on the tang.

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LeCoultre was mainly the manufacturer of these razors with the replaceable blades. TI maybe made something similar. As for other manufacturers- a lot of times they have something different marked on the tang because they had different distributors or they were made for different companys but I believe they were all LeCoultre (this exact style or without the two finger notches).