Thread: The Stub-Tailed Shavers

Originally Posted by PortlandJosh

Tell me what you think Am I right in thinking its from around 1830?

The pronounced tang and stabilizer place it later than a sure enough stub tail. Might have been reground from its original shape or possibly the monkey tail broken off and that ground as it is. Kind of thick on the end for the second possibility though. Just IMHO.

Originally Posted by PortlandJosh

Attachment 108732Attachment 108733Attachment 108734
Tell me what you think Am I right in thinking its from around 1830?

It being a Lord & Harvey, you've got a fairly narrow range. 1817-1837.

I would assume it's earlier than later, so within a few years of 1820 on either side. I've seen a wide range of styles from Lord & Harvey razors, but yours is the most different. That's an unusual blade shape for an early Sheffield, maybe they were taking cues from the French designs?

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

It being a Lord & Harvey, you've got a fairly narrow range. 1817-1837.

I would assume it's earlier than later, so within a few years of 1820 on either side. I've seen a wide range of styles from Lord & Harvey razors, but yours is the most different. That's an unusual blade shape for an early Sheffield, maybe they were taking cues from the French designs?

That's kind what I thought from what I could find on Lord & Harvey. I haven't seen too many and so I was curious about the style as well. It has very little hone wear for its age, But it unfortunately has small chip near the toe. I can't decide if I would want to risk changing the shape just to get the chip out.

Moved this thread over to here at the suggestion of Martin103 from Show and Tell.

Picked up off the bay. No name that I can find, full hollow 6/8 with mis-matched scales. One scale is flat sided with the number 5 inscribed while the other scale is convex. The flat side may be original while the convex is obviously not. Stub tail style would indicate this to be made in the early 1820's to 30's.
Any help with identification would be appreciated.





It polished up nicely with hand sanding and found no major defects that I could see. Just a little dink in the edge. Took out the slight frown and the dink on DMT and reset the bevel on the Naniwa 1k. Then the Norton 4k/8k combo and then took it up to the 12k naniwa Super Stone.


Got a good 2 pass shave with it this morning. There are issues with my technique, what with the stub tail and floppy scales but that will correct itself in time. Definitely in the rotation.

I like the idea of using a blade that has a history, that somebody treasured enough to cobble together repairs to keep it in use. I'm also thankful that they preserved it somewhere dry so that it could be brought back to a polish in an evenings work.

The next decision will be to preserve the work that someone else has put into it up to this point or update the scales and produce a tool that can last another 150 years.

Thinking about some black G-10 and reusing the wedge. Inlay a #5 and sign and date the inside.

my one and only , she has been doctored up but she shaves like a champ !!!!

Originally Posted by brothers

R.Wade 1810-1818

Say what you want about ebay razors, but this is my favorite and ugliest little duckling. I had no idea what it was going to be when I received it, but I guess because it's so ugly, I was the only bidder. I am a very lucky guy.

I can't say that it has much hone wear or that it's not been used, and it's got a couple of areas of pitting, but the edge is outstanding. It's easy to hone and when I've done my job right, it's the sharpest edge that ever hit my beard.

It's a 6/8 example of Mr. Wade's pre-Butcher days. Holy mackeral, what a razor. It likes me and I love it right back.

Guys, I don't know why I don't post much here, but now I've got a question after seeing all of the above stubtails that you guys have restored. I haven't done anything to my Wade other than honing it and shaving with it. Do you guys have a consensus as to whether it's better to shine them up, or should I just leave it as it was found? You can see the picture of this razor up at post #39 on page 4. I'd really like to see what you guys say.

Originally Posted by Walt

The second entry is a pre-Sheaf Works W. Greaves, which would put it somewhere in the 1780 - 1816 range. I am a history buff and I really connected emotionally to this razor. The first time I shaved with it was almost a spiritual experience. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to not only hold, but to actually use something that was two centuries old. Most items of this antiquity are in museums or displayed in collections "under glass". I know it's an inanimate object, but I would like to think that it was happy to once again be scraping lather and stubble from someone's face as it was originally intended.

Regards - Walt

I'm envious now! Must.find.

Originally Posted by brothers

Guys, I don't know why I don't post much here, but now I've got a question after seeing all of the above stubtails that you guys have restored. I haven't done anything to my Wade other than honing it and shaving with it. Do you guys have a consensus as to whether it's better to shine them up, or should I just leave it as it was found? You can see the picture of this razor up at post #39 on page 4. I'd really like to see what you guys say.

I'm not deep into it but for me, I take it razor by razor. They are all tools to be used, IMHO, so the intention is to put them all into the rotation. They need to be sanitary so a hand polish is the minimum I'll do. Rust and tarnish require sanding and once I start that, I'll tend to go to high polish. Engraving that I want to preserve with a tarnish, I'll clean and hone. Rust is the source of pitting, so I'll work to take pits out.

Scales are part of the whole package. Old and beat up are all right as long as they're safe to shave with.

Other than that, it all boils down to "how does it shave?"

Originally Posted by brothers

Guys, I don't know why I don't post much here, but now I've got a question after seeing all of the above stubtails that you guys have restored. I haven't done anything to my Wade other than honing it and shaving with it. Do you guys have a consensus as to whether it's better to shine them up, or should I just leave it as it was found? You can see the picture of this razor up at post #39 on page 4. I'd really like to see what you guys say.

id rather just hone or have it honed ( my hone skills arnt the best yet )unless it has some serious rust goin on or something i wanna take off but they are nothing in the end like a full restore .. im pretty new to this thing , but ive picked up a few older razors i at first wanted to sent out and have restored and honed , but today i tried my hand with them on the hone and they shaved GREAT !! so all ive done to them was take off a few spots and now they are on the shelf with my other shavers !!

Here's my John Barber I restored. It has bone scales with a lead wedge. Triple stacked washers brass, brass, SS. The biggest I filed into flowers. I love this razor!!!!