Help ID new razor

[Tripoli3]

Hi, so today after lunch I stopped in at a local antique store. Found that they had a new selection of razors. All were pretty old. One caught my eye because:
A) it was a wedge
B) it had ivory scales

It looked to be in good shape except that the scale on the back side was missing a big chunk. Will see if I can get a restorer to replace it for me.

The price was right at $25 so I picked it up.

On the way back to the office I noticed something.. it was a stub tail!

Scales are mostly straight. Thick tang.. its an old one for sure.

The only stamp that I can see on the tang says "Silver Steel"

So I have no idea who made it. Hoping someone might recognize it or be able to narrow down when it was made.

My uneducated guess was 1820's but look forward to hearing from others.

[TwistedOak]

I've seen that type of deep scalloped jimping before, but I can't recall where. I do have a razor that is also just marked "silver steel". I believe my scales on that on are either bone or natural material. It's not a stub tail, no jimping, just a plain jane barber's notch 5/8 wedge.

[Voidmonster]

I'm afraid you'll never know who made it. I've seen that kind of scalloping on maybe three or four different manufacturer's razors. It is a pretty precise indicator of age, as I think all of them were from the early 1830's.

Most likely there was one particular Little Mester who had his workmen make them like that, and he probably worked for several different firms (as was extremely common at the time). What you've got is a razor that was made 'freelance'. Even the Little Mesters (sort of like foremen -- they had their own teams to cover the various stages of manufacture, but they weren't tied to any one 'name brand' company) ran short of funds and did work like this to cover shortfalls. They had to rent the space in the factories that employed them, had to buy their own materials, even cover the cost of gas for lighting.

The names I can recall off the top of my head on blades like that are Edward Allison, Packwood (made well after George Packwood was dead, and made for him by an anonymous Sheffield producer), and I think I've seen a Joseph Rodgers, or maybe Joseph Elliot. I haven't seen many of them though, and they look great!

Also, the scales are bone, not ivory. You can tell because of the tiny black spots. Those are the channels in the bone where nerves used to live. Ivory has no pores.

[Neil Miller]

+1 on what Zak said.

your guess of 1820ish is a bit early as silver steel had only been released to a small, select number of makers at this time, all of whom stamped their work. For the name of the alloy to have been used without a makers mark sbows that the maker was hoping that the new alloy would sell it, so it must have been well established - at least 1830ish as Zak said. It may well have been a decade or so later.

I like the handforged and finished signs it bears, like the unevenness of the jimping and the presence of the cold-shut line on the tang where the steel was getting a little too cold to hammer forge and the edges of a fold did not fuse together. Nothing to worry over though, cold shuts are not the same as cracks.

You got the scale material wrong - it is definitely bone. It is not a wedge either, as it has a slight concavity to the grind. It is what we call a 'near-wedge', a small point visually but a very important distinguisher in terms of how the blade was made, its age and how it hones.

Regards,
Neil.

[Dzanda]

Damn you're good, Voidmonster! Please allow me to add to your amazing knowledge base.

You're partially correct about the channels in bone, they actually housed both nerves and blood vessels. There are two sets of channels that may be visible to the naked eye: the longitudinal ones are called Haversian canals...these are especially visible at the cut ends of bone... while the transverse, connecting channels are called Volkmann's canals. There's a third set of channels called canaliculi, but you generally need magnification to see them.

*SNIP!*

Also, the scales are bone, not ivory. You can tell because of the tiny black spots. Those are the channels in the bone where nerves used to live. Ivory has no pores.

[Tripoli3]

Thanks guys! Great info!