John Stanley Boston 7/8 wedge

I've always liked American steel. I picked this off eBay last week. More and more I've been gravitating to wedges for a shave, I didn't have a razor with a double finger notches in the tang and a whole laundry list of reasons why I thought I should have this razor.
Anyway I have not found any information on this manufacturer. Does anyone have anything on this maker?
It's going to take a bit to clean this up but the pitting seems to be shallow (I hope) and it has no hone wear and appears to have never been sharpened. Sadly the etching on the show face is very faint and I doubt it can be saved. It says 'Boston Steel'. Scales are horn, brass pins and collars and the wedge is integral with the scales. They're in great shape with no bug bites.
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That looks like a great project, and I too love the double notch. I'd like to see where this one goes in the restoration process.

Had my eye on that also. Glad a site member owned it. Good luck!

Very nice. Seems more than a few obscure makers in Boston?

Lovely blade. If it were mine it would see metal polish and then the hones. Love the age marks. Enjoy it!

This could be your man.

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So a cutler. I wonder if it was Sheffield-made for him?

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

So a cutler. I wonder if it was Sheffield-made for him?

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Given that it says 'manufactured by' and that he was listed as a cutler and not a merchant (assuming this is the correct John Stanley, I'm not sure how common the name was. The date range seems right to the style of the blade though), I'd say this was made by his firm.

In that case, I would say Mr. Stanley was likely Sheffield-trained. It's a beauty!

love the waist line on that one

Here it is all cleaned up. I was really discouraged to find cracks along the spine and the tang which I assume are from the heat treating process. The cracks were not apparent under the black corrosion. Some of the pitting was scary deep but it cleaned up. I left some pitting around the makers stamp. I have seen these type of cracks in the past on some Sheffield wedges. I do not recall them mentioned in the forums. Can any with more knowledge then me chime in? I expect it will shave well, just not the thing of beauty I'd hoped for.
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The pitting does not show in the pictures, so I will leave that up to my imagination. I think it looks pretty darn fine. I don't mind a little pitting here and there as long as it is clean. I have an old Joseph Wostenholm that has enough pitting around the makers mark that it is illegible in parts. I think part of that is the beauty of a truly old blade. I do polish them up and get them smooth when they let me, but I am ok with it when they choose to show their age.

The cracks are likely forging defects. They appear sometimes on older Sheffield blades. Should be perfectly stable, just a cosmetic thing.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

The pitting does not show in the pictures, so I will leave that up to my imagination. I think it looks pretty darn fine. I don't mind a little pitting here and there as long as it is clean. I have an old Joseph Wostenholm that has enough pitting around the makers mark that it is illegible in parts. I think part of that is the beauty of a truly old blade. I do polish them up and get them smooth when they let me, but I am ok with it when they choose to show their age.

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The blade faces cleaned up with no flaws other than the defects from forging or heat treating.

great job
very nice

excellent job! Hope it shaves as good as it looks!

That's interesting, was just browsing in the Classifieds, and there is an ad to buy a "double notched" straight razor, I couldn't recall what a double notched straight razor looked like...now I know! Beautiful job!