Thread: Joseph Rodgers 9/8 Meatcleaver

I did this one for one of our members. It kinda happened by accident because of something unrelated, so he sent it to me to fix it up however I liked.
Interesting side note: I once bid on this one on ebay, only to lose it to the person who sent it to me.

Here are the 'before' pics. Note the hone wear and the goo that had etched itself in the blade. This blade was at one time or another put away with water or lather on the blade, I guess. Or blood...




The only demand that was made was to not use brass pins, so I decided to use the same stainless screws that Butch uses for his creations. I used purpleheart for the scales, which I found extremely nice to work with. It 'abrades' easily.

This is a manly cleaver. I did not want a smooth polished spacer and smooth polished scales. So the wood feels still a bit rough, and I only coated it with antiques wax. This preserves the wood texture. The insides are coated with several layers of CA to prevent moisture creeping in.



The 'Dutch Rattler' etching was very deep, so I was able to sand the blade without losing it. I managed to grind away the honewear without touching the etching. And the goo had indeed etched into the blade, but not too deep.



The damage in the tang ran pretty deep, so I did not grind it all out. That would have ruined the shape of the tang, so I just sanded the dirt away and polished it clean. There is also still some micro pitting in the spine on the toe. It is hardly visible, but it runs deep so I had to let it stay.



One of the things that I really like about this restoration is the butt spacer. It is a hammered ring of stainless, made specially for this razor by Mike Blue. The rough look is exactly what I wanted for this razor. Thanks Mike.

WOW Bruno!!! That is one nice job you pulled out on that one. Great looking razor.

I like it, and so long as its protected what else matters. THat is a monster of a blade though.
Nice Job!

Impressive work. The owner will be very pleased.

Oh Bruno,

that is one fine specimen of a blade! That blade turned out stellar too.

I hope you got to shave with it just once (or maybe more?)

Nice, nice, nice!

very nice!

Pretty awesome Bruno.
Like the hammered spacer concept too.

Very nice job on that big boy Bruno.

Thanks guys.
When I finished the razor, that is when I discovered that it would not fit in the coffin anymore. The coffin was already very tight with the original thin horn scales and flattened pinheads.

With these scales and the added width of the screws, there is no way it'll ever fit in that coffin again. Even if I had sunk the screws, the wood would still chafe against the box, and the scales would all apart anyhow.
The scales would have to be so thin that only ivory or bone would look good.

I explained this to the owner, and he didn't mind at all.
Now I can hone it and shave with it for a while and enjoy it. That was one of the reasons why it was sent to me in the first place.
The final problem after that is to come up with a price. which never came up beforehand.

Btw, originally I wanted to use silver alloy for the spacer, but that would have cost nearly 200$ if I had to have it custom made. That's the problem is you need one time pieces from someone you don't know.

Nice work Bruno. That's a good looking razor. +1 on that spacer.