William Revitt razor

Here's a pretty little Sheffield razor which I've owned for probably 20 years, and it's finally ready to be put to use. I'm indebted to Neil Miller for most of the work on the blade, including honing - all I did with it was the initial clean up to 240 grit and rebushing the pivot hole. The maker's stamp was never legible to me, and it's very nearly buffed out now, but Neil supplied the following information:

"It's a very old blade, therefore probably a softer metal. Maker was William Revitt, of Stannington, Sheffield. His business was conducted from Meadow Street, and he first appears in the 1825 Sheffield Directory. There was a flood in Sheffield in 1865, and Wm Revitt claimed £4 10s 0d loss of property!"

So, 150 years old, give or take. It's a shade over 1/2" at its widest, but it would be an exaggeration to say it was a 9/16".

Scales are in ash retrieved from the bin at work (all right, I make sure that bits like that wind up as scrap...) and are bookmatched; the wedge is buffalo horn. The timber is quite iridescent, and changes colour as you turn it in the light, not that you'd know it from my photos.

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...ts/Revitt1.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...ts/Revitt3.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...ts/Revitt4.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...ts/Revitt5.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...ts/Revitt6.jpg

Nice job and I love the smile on that blade. A bit on the small side in width but a real beauty. :tu

I have a Revitt. Though nowhere near as fancy, she is one of my favorite shavers. A really really great blade.

Beautiful razor!!

I like a razor with character. Nice Job!

nice razor
here's mine old patina - Straight Razor Place Forums
and here's the reference i've found about them
W. Revit: Does Anyone Know Anything About This Razor? - Straight Razor Place Forums

actually look at the rest of that second thread, you may like it

Thank you all for the kind comments, and to Gugi for the links which were well worth following. My guess, based on the tang style and the remains of the stamp is that I have a later razor, nearer to 1860 than 1820. The stamp reads "Wm Revitt Patent Temper", by the way. The original scales were black horn, but too dog eared to reuse in my opinion: the new ones are a straight copy as regards shape and thickness.

I had an acceptable shave from this last night, but the cutting angle is a little steep (Neil had trouble with the edge flaking and had to go up to three layers of tape - I might do the trigonometry some time but it's got to be over 20 degrees). I expect matters will improve somewhat over the next few stroppings as the edge smooths out some more. It's very much at the wedge end of the spectrum - very quiet on the strop and practically silent when cutting whiskers. It feels tiny in my hands (don't know where to put all my fingers!), but the width is fine, not that much of a jump from my customary 5/8 razors.

Looks a winner. Beautiful timber.

I'm an ancestors of William revitt he was one of my great grandfather many years ago after doing my family tree i found i was related and I'm trying to get one of his razors and franks .

Hi and welcome. You have come to the right place for information and hopefully someone will be able to guide you in finding a good example for your namesake collection.

That's always nice to know that kind of history about your family and even nicer to have a physical item to have and display. I know what you mean as I have some fairly noteworthy ancestors one of whom was a signatore of the Magna Carta. I always say its cool bragging rights but it never made me a dime. :rofl2:

Anyway, best of luck to you in your search. I do not think that I personally have any but I will check and also keep my eyes open. Here though is another source of information you may find interesting and useful.

https://www.hawleysheffieldknives.co...val=r&kel=1042

And also this.

https://sha.org/assets/documents/Tra...0Tableware.pdf