Thread: D.C Halsted 9/8 FBU

Wayne - my post from a 2009 thread:

"...Some of those large misshapen holes are not the product of wear and tear - a lot of old razors, particularly pre-1900 ones, had the hole punched in them (the smaller hole in an anvil, next to the hardy hole, was used by the hole-puncher) by the forger. These take on the shape of the punch - I've seen a lot of them, and most are squarish or oblong and very wide compared to the drilled holes in more modern razors. So - at a point in time it was normal for the hole to be over-sized, and those old razors don't seem to have any more problems than the ones produced much later (if anything I think they had less problems!)...

Obviously, the hole started out being smaller/thinner but after some time the wear on the punch flattened the top an mushroomed it out a bit, so it had to be re-ground at the tip, which in time made the punch smaller and the conical part smaller and thus wider.

The impact of the punch on the still red hot steel had the effect of displacing the metal, throwing up a ridge around the hole. You can sometimes see this during restoration - a preliminary grind of the tang shows that the area around the punch mark stands proud. This is true of the makers mark, too. So - depending on the planes of the razor at the tang and amount of impact distortion in the metal, the scales grip the tang tighter than one might think. Note that these oldies never had washers between tang and inner scale surfaces either, which accounts for some of the strange grooves and wear patters you sometimes see when you disassemble them.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Precisely why I suspect this (our) Mr Halsted (If this is indeed the man whose name is on the razors) to have been a businessman, knowledgeable of all manufactured items in order to have this post. Same sort of man who marketed razors with his name upon them as well as most anything else. There have been thousands who did!

I was beginning to think this Tom as the blade (as you so rightly point out) looks remarkably like a W&B.

However, I just cannot get past the mark "Manufactured by D. C. Halsted" - I can't believe that any maker, let alone W&B, would allow this deception. I must go with what is on the tang - D. C. Halsted made it. 'Razor Manufacturer' is a recognized term in the old census records, usually followed by "employing [so many] men and [so many] boys.

Regards,
Neil.

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

I was beginning to think this Tom as the blade (as you so rightly point out) looks remarkably like a W&B.

However, I just cannot get past the mark "Manufactured by D. C. Halsted" - I can't believe that any maker, let alone W&B, would allow this deception. I must go with what is on the tang - D. C. Halsted made it. 'Razor Manufacturer' is a recognized term in the old census records, usually followed by "employing [so many] men and [so many] boys.

Regards,
Neil.

Then, I wonder if 'Blanks for concaving' were not purchased, the razors finished/stamped? Any good cutler could accomplish it and deem himself the 'maker' and would not show up as an 'official' maker.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Then, I wonder if 'Blanks for concaving' were not purchased, the razors finished/stamped? Any good cutler could accomplish it and deem himself the 'maker' and would not show up as an 'official' maker.

Ugh, I see a cart winding down cobbled filthy streets in mid-ninteenth century London with the cart pusher shouting: 'cockles, mussels, blanks for concaving....'

Originally Posted by WW243

Tom,
Check page 37
does not do much to advance the knowledge base.....but it does something.....I hope, in the right hands.

I do believe you are right, Bill (I've got my party-hat on, anyway! ) for this particular D. C. Halsted was an American. A New York City Directory for 1854 informs us that he was in hardware:



His first name is David, so I am supposing he is the same 'government officer' I found in my previous listing. Having a Govt. post, being in hardware and being a juror for the 1854 New York Exhibition for the cutlery panel just pile the evidence up more. That 1854 Exhibition was in response to the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London and a lot of erudite english men reported on it compiling 'Special Reports' for the Houses of Parliament, the reports being printed in London which is why it seems at first glance that Halsted was English.

It seems like Halsted started off in the firm of Ingoldsby, Boisseau & Co:



The reference is from a retrospective by Scoville, published 1868. From another 1841 City Directory we find this:



Which confirms the link between the law firm and hardware.

Regrettably I have to discard my previous reservation about 'Manufactured By' as the razor was most definitely not manufactured by Halsted (a clerk by profession) but was imported from Sheffield with this marking on the tang - an act which I find curiously heinous.

Regards,
Neil

Just to be clear....Neil, you meant to say 'most definitely not...'

Bill,

I most definitely did - or did I..?

Seriously, I have amended the post, the error being due to my failing eyesight, I suppose - I can not focus on anything at the moment and seem to leave out bits when I am typing or typing things twice without realising it - how bloody marvelous is that?!

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Bill,

I most definitely did - or did I..?

Seriously, I have amended the post, the error being due to my failing eyesight, I suppose - I can not focus on anything at the moment and seem to leave out bits when I am typing or typing things twice without realising it - how bloody marvelous is that?!

Regards,
Neil

Neil,
As long as you are able to saying something like "curiously heinous," I think you are sound. I too am noticing the ravages of time and mixing of various Dr.'s versions of better living through chemistry. We soldier on through the humiliation of inhabiting a rotting pillar of flesh knowing that we were once the Colossus of Rhodes!

Well, Gents. I suppose it is time to do the little SRP victory dance! You lead, Bill!

That is a beast of a blade!!