Thread: johnson warranted stubtail

another one of therazors I picked up today while traveling home. this one a johnson warranted stubtail with tortoise scales with a decorative shield. a nicely weighted blade, this one is right up my alley for what I prefer. pins/collars/scales/blade all in great condition and look original. looks like someone used shellac on the blade as a protectant andpossibly the scales too. ill take some alcohol to the blade and scales (testing them first just in case) ad then im really itching to hone tis beauty and see how the shave is! the blade measures 6/8.

That is one that I would leave alone and just hone it for use. Good score.

Originally Posted by guitstik

That is one that I would leave alone and just hone it for use. Good score.

I concur cant wait to do so!

Originally Posted by guitstik

That is one that I would leave alone and just hone it for use. Good score.

Nah, multi color acrylic scales shaped like a rocket ship would go good ......... but ya gotta regrind the blade to look like a battle axe first ........ that is the latest thing .......

Kidding aside, nice old stubtail. Smooth shaving.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Nah, multi color acrylic scales shaped like a rocket ship would go good ......... but ya gotta regrind the blade to look like a battle axe first ........ that is the latest thing .......

Kidding aside, nice old stubtail. Smooth shaving.

what are you doing, looking over my shoulder at my design book again????!!!!
hehehehehe, kidding, my first thought on this one is how good it looks and how well it survived and how much I want to keep it that way and how much I cant wait to try honing and shaving with it and how much........ ok, so my mind went nuts when I walked in the door of the antique shop and caught this out of the corner of my eye. I literally had only one foot in the door and immediately dropped to the floor to see inside the case below the register where this one was. I stood up and stammered out "ill take that straight razor right there please...." (pointing frantically) the poor cashier looks a little wide eyed as I popped up from nowhere and started in. mustve looked odd for sure. she then proceeded to point me to the case with the other 3 fred Reynolds, warranted silver steel, marsden warranted and others. I took all but one. oddly enough the one I didn't take was in the worst shape and had the highest price tag

I've got two stubtails like that and they are great shavers. Yours ought to be too. BTW, in that thread you started of the haul, there was a razor that looked like it had the W&B Bow stamp on the tang, but a closer look revealed a different maker. Still, to my eye the shape of the stamping was like a British longbow, as the W&B is. So made me wonder if that guy's stamping isn't what caused W&B to print up the boxes with "The only true and original Bow Razor", or something to that effect. Anyway, you had a heck of a day there.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I've got two stubtails like that and they are great shavers. Yours ought to be too. BTW, in that thread you started of the haul, there was a razor that looked like it had the W&B Bow stamp on the tang, but a closer look revealed a different maker. Still, to my eye the shape of the stamping was like a British longbow, as the W&B is. So made me wonder if that guy's stamping isn't what caused W&B to print up the boxes with "The only true and original Bow Razor", or something to that effect. Anyway, you had a heck of a day there.

hmmmmm....... could've been the fenton with the way the writing is arched, made it look look like a bow? there was a wosty pipe, but nothing else I thought might look like that???? it could be on someone elses thread? im accruing a good little selection of stubtails lately, all but one found in the wild. one was in a lot from eBay. oldest is pre-1774, youngest might be this Johnson, it looks like maybe 1820-30 but I don't have info to back it up. I havnt gotten around to making any of them shave ready yet, too busy with other restores but this one should hone fairly quick without tape and be my first stubtail to the face. all the ones ive had in the past I sold and hadn't restored any or even made shave ready. maybe I had more reverence then or maybe I just enjoy old steel more now. the ones I enjoy shaving with the most all seem to be 1850-60ish. seems to be sweet spot for me.

Originally Posted by silverloaf

hmmmmm....... could've been the fenton with the way the writing is arched, made it look look like a bow?

I couldn't make out the name but it was the last two pix in that thread with the big haul. Yeah, it was stamped in what looked like a bow to me. I could be wrong, I was wrong once before.

yes, that was the joseph fenton & sons. I have 2 with different arrangements for the stampings/trademarks but both do have the stampings in a sweep of a bow to them like you said great razors from my experience