Thread: Quite antique razor

I´m not used to show all the restaured process, but this is, I´m sure, a particular razor, well you can see all my work, and I´ll be do gratefull if you couls say me someyhing about it, I only can say you is too short, more os less 5 inches

Beautiful blade. Very nice. What are the scales made of?

Originally Posted by appa69

Beautiful blade. Very nice. What are the scales made of?

A hard kind of wood, maibe heather, regards

I would kill for this blade. Awesome old razor! You don't see these often.

Fantástico restauración de una magnífica navaja de edad!

Bien hecho, señor.

It is proper, Roberto! Thanks for sharing it with us! Very proper!

What a nice razor Roberto, and a nice, sympathetic restoration which keeps all the nuances of the razor's history intact - well done!

Of course, the scales are probably not original - the pins were wrong at both pivot and wedge, the wedge being pinned by what we call a clout or hob nail - they used to be hammered into the thick soles of leather boots and were very popular a long time ago - I have a bag of them from 1940. The original scales would have been made of horn - usually!

If they are original then they have had an injury at one or other end, resulting in shortening the scales. The only merit I can see in this theory is that if the owner replaced the blades original scales with hand-made wooden ones, surely he would have chosen the correct length? I guess we will never know...

I don't know what the wood is either, except that it looks to be too coarse in the grain to be a hardwood, but that might just be the pics and the staining and age. Obviously they are quite old.

Another interesting point are the small notches at the wedge end - it reminds me of split scales that have been fixed by tying string or wire around the wedge, the notches help to keep the string/wire in place. If that blade was in those scales at the time of this string/wire repair, then it looks like the tip of the blade would have cut the repair, so I suppose the other owner may simply have installed the blade in a set of scales that he already had, that were damaged before swapping them and which were too short...

Regards,
Neil

Odele Roberto.....this is the first time I have read the term 'sympathetic restoration,' given by Neil Miller. I like the term and seems to be applied sweetly to a one of a kind piece of history illustrated by the razor you dug up. Wonder if you posted a close up of the maker's mark if one of the historians could give you some more info about the blade?

Thanks Neil

The scales are quite rudes, cutting by saw in a single piece of wood, makeing so the hole for the blade, the finish of them is broquen, you cold see that one scale fit perfectly with the other in the near teh pivot pin, The two notches, in my idea, were made to kip the scales attached, wen the wire or strink failed then the hole with the nail was fixed. The nail are not a boot nail, in the photo provably you can not see it well but, is too long, and the head is comun, in star, to use in furnitures and wooden floors. We must think that when used the nail, it was the last and hopeless option, and the nail is contemporary. This kind of nails with small head, quite thinh. The boots ones are old familiars here, lot of cars weels failed with them, all had a quite gross head, to protect the boot obbiusly. The nail used is the kind we named like "clavos de portón", door nails, and is an important element to date a furniture (I work in it....jejejeje), everidody is in acordance it desapaired aroun 1800 but in countriside you could find this kind of nail until 1920 more or less. Extract, for me the most important part of the razor is the blaid and his marks, a mistery at the moment, all of this 1770-1800 razor marks has not any references, the scales are seeted after, of couse, provably a imitation of the primitive scales, but the ones we actualy has, suffered a lot of diferent situations, and the last one are the horrible nail, befor it I fairy sure it had no pin in the botton of the scales. I show you a fotograph of diferent kinds of nails, firts the 18th century wood nails, one original and othe a reproduction, and at last the boot nails, moder and forged. Many thanks for all, sure Lumus has a lot of great ideas in his studys, but we habe now new information, didn´t habe? regards

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

What a nice razor Roberto, and a nice, sympathetic restoration which keeps all the nuances of the razor's history intact - well done!

Of course, the scales are probably not original - the pins were wrong at both pivot and wedge, the wedge being pinned by what we call a clout or hob nail - they used to be hammered into the thick soles of leather boots and were very popular a long time ago - I have a bag of them from 1940. The originals would have been of horn - usually!

If they are original then they have had an injury at one or other end, resulting in shortening the scales. The only merit I can see in this theory is that if the owner replaced the blades original scales with hand-made wooden ones, surely he would have chosen the correct length? I guess we will never know...

I don't know what the wood is either, except that it looks to be too coarse in the grain to be a hardwood, but that might just be the pics and the staining and age. Obviously they are quite old.

Another interesting point are the small notches at the wedge end - it reminds me of split scales that have been fixed by tying string or wire around the wedge, the notches help to keep the string/wire in place. If that blade was in those scales at the time of this string/wire repair, then it looks like the tip of the blade would have cut the repair, so I suppose the other owner may simply have installed the blade in a set of scales that he already had, that were damaged before swapping them and which were too short...

Regards,
Neil

That my friend is a very old piece. I would guess late 1700's-early 1800's. I'm sure someone can come up with a date on it but I'm just guessing by looking at the blade & no tail. It could possibly be pre-1800's. I respect you for keeping the scales on it even though they are not original but made very long ago. I have an old straight razor I won on eBay from another one of our members which has some very old replacement wood scales & i was going to make new ones at first but decided to keep the wooden scales on it since they were made long ago. Very nice straight razor. Congrats!