Thread: J.C. Coc.khills wedge

I managed to finish 1 more razor this year. Ironically enough, it is the first of of my own that I finished in more than a year. Make that a year and a half
But I am now down to the last commissioned restoration, waiting for supplies, so I took the opportunity to quickly finish this razor that I had been handsanding off and on for the last 2 years in between my commissioned work.

It is a 5/8 Sheffield wedge, made by J.C. Coc.khills. It has a serious smile to it.
It was severely damaged, as you can see from the picture. The pit in the middle was very deep. My nail would catch in it. It also had some serious hone wear on both the edge and the spine.



As I already mentioned, I spent a lot of time hand sanding. I essentially reground it by hand, using only sandpaper and my trusted sanding stick. I sanded to 1000 grit, and then polished with chromium oxide.
The scales were made from meranti wood, the butt spacer is brass, as are the pivot and butt screws.
for making the scales I used nothing more than a saw, a bastard file and some sandpaper.

The insides of the scales are coated with 8 thin layers of CA, carefully sanded smooth to prevent moisture from creeping in. The outside is coated with 4 or 5 layers of antiques wax.





As you can see, I carved my makers mark in the scales when I was done. I did this because this is my own razor, and I felt that I have finally reached a level where it is no longer presumptuous to mark my work. Of course I didn't mark the razor itself, because I didn't make it. But I gave it a second life and I made the scales, so I left my mark there.

I don't yet know what I am going to do with it. I like old sheffield razors, and I don't have a Coc.khills yet. But otoh I can't keep all razors I restore, and I can really use the money for buying restoration materials. I suppose I'll shave with it a couple of times, and then sell it.

P.S. I just found out that the forum software objects to the name ****hills, so I had to put a dot in the name.

That's an amazing transformation! Looks great.

Looks great, nice work and the scales look beautiful.

P.S.

I like the look your mark gives the razor.

Now Bruno, this is a real beauty. And it is smiling at me... ;-)

Al raz.

Nice save & interesting mark. Looks kind of runic.
Always hard to part with something that has all that effort in it. Owes you at least a coupla good shaves first.

If you guys think that picture is something, you should see his work in person! Simply flawless!!

Thanks guys. All of you.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Nice save & interesting mark. Looks kind of runic.

Ancient futhark, actually.
It is a combination of 2 runes: Jera and Eihwaz.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Always hard to part with something that has all that effort in it.

You bet.

Originally Posted by coachmike

I like the look your mark gives the razor.

Thanks. Now that my workbench in the basement is finally finished, I hope to show you guys more of it, next year.
EDIT: And perhaps not only on scales who knows what 2009 will bring

Nice job Bruno. The blade has such a great polish and the scales look good on that blade!

Today I test-shaved with it. This is an outstanding shaver. It gave me a very comfortable shave, and the smile makes it very maneuverable.

Now for the bad news: the extensive hone wear I started with smurfed up the blade geometry. The back side of the blade connects with the hone in a weird way. I first honed it coarsely with one layer of tape, and when that was nearly gone, I replaced the tape and used my Japanese stones to redo the bevel. Apart from that one spot, it turned out nice. That spot still has a smooth micro bevel, but it doesn't look nice.

This worked out very well, but the only way to ever properly hone this razor is with tape. And even then, the smile and the a-symmetry of the grind make this razor unfit for newbies, and not really a collectors item.
Anyone who has successfully honed a smiling blade will be able to maintain this one, as long as tape is used.