8 Attachment(s)
Hale Bros 5/8" Vintage Rebuild
Finished this one recently for a Sydney customer new to straights. He believes it was either his Grandpa's or maybe his great Grandpa's. As it's a pre 1890 Sheffield its likely the latter. Hale Bros started production in 1871 according to Uniclectica.
Clean up was a bit of a worry as once the red rust was flaked off I could see it was covering more of that stubborn black tarnish that can be so hard to shift. I'm glad the edge was relatively unaffected.
Under the microscope you can actually see hundreds of black micropits & a ghost of the damage still remains with a noticeable pit on the mark side but overall this one came out better than we both expected. The makers mark also displays very well now the rust is gone.
The scales were sanded from 320 grit - 3000 grit & finished with Novus 1-2-3. They are celluloid & I'd say they were replacements at some point. I believe originals would have been horn
Pewter wedge was retained with patina & new brass pins & washers hold it together. Ppins were left as peened.
I'm not easily impressed but this is the kind of shaver that converts people to Sheffield wedges. Just a superclose, smooth & easy shave with very slow stubble return 20 hours later. The straight spine, small edge & spine bevels, even grind & healthy edge steel helps make this one a stand out. The edge was obviously well maintained over the years & I didn't even need to use tape at bevel set.
It is what I would call a softer tempered Sheffield yet it honed up easily on the Shaps & J-Nats. Ordinarily I would have reached for the coticule on one of these but as a wise person said 'when it comes to razors nothing is written in stone' :)
