Thread: Vintage Finishes

Originally Posted by WW243

Reminds me of life some 50 years ago in San Francisco, except it would have been week-old oat cakes, weed, wine and janky meat.

So THAT's how our house ended up with this ducting.

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

So THAT's how our house ended up with this ducting.

No one ever jerry-rigged like the ancient hippies.

Originally Posted by WW243

No one ever jerry-rigged like the ancient hippies.

That's not jerry-rigged. That is functional, normal ducting made out of uncut sheets of root beer can!

I'll try to write up something later, but here are some original finishes as examples.




















This one has been reground on the blade face but has original crocus on the tang.

This document has some info about Wostenholm finishes.

And an interesting read on pricing philosophy (and how quickly it changes) applicable to razors as well.

I spent a lot of time in my younger years bluing and re-bluing guns. I learned a lot about buffing/polishing etc. Later years I built knives much as Bruno does with his razors. I re-learned and learned some more about making stuff shine.

After admiring the "crocus" finish on some old knives and razors, I think that part of the secret is a hard wheel. A sewn muslin buffing wheel simply doesn't not have the rigidity necessary to impart that ultra flat surface that results in the glass like shine. A sewn wheel actually enhances the pits and striations left from from the previous grits. They also round off the sharp edges from the original grind.

I've seen firearms with a finish like crocus would impart. I got close a lot of times but never all the way there. I have seen some cork belts that can be run on belt grinders that you can apply buffing compounds to. When I get my big grinder running like I want it, I may give that a try just to see what happens.

Dammit Neil, you left too soon. R.I.P. Brother. You are missed.

ScienceGuy what makes you believe the 'for gentlemens use' W&B is reground? I see that finish on a number of Wade & Butcher blades. Glaze finished blade faces and crocus finished spine and tangs. For barbers use, for barbers only and the for gentlemens use are 3 that come to mind. Here is an example of an original finish FBU.
You have some wonderful razors. Interesting thread going here.

Originally Posted by karlej

ScienceGuy what makes you believe the 'for gentlemens use' W&B is reground? I see that finish on a number of Wade & Butcher blades. Glaze finished blade faces and crocus finished spine and tangs. For barbers use, for barbers only and the for gentlemens use are 3 that come to mind. Here is an example of an original finish FBU.
You have some wonderful razors. Interesting thread going here.

I've only actually seen a couple razors with glazed blades that I was certain were original. Regrinding, even touch ups, were so common that it's difficult to rule out. On this particular blade the grind was dished just enough to have some visibly different hone wear at the spine, which was too non-uniform for coming from the factory. True, I firmly believe this one was touched up on a grinder, but I don't have direct evidence. I also used to have an old Wostenholm that had the same exact finish on the blade face, except for a tiny patch of crocus, so in that case the regrinder just missed a spot. But that was all that gave it away.

Not direct evidence, but most of the large WB blades I have seen in original condition from the period were crocus. Since the FBU seems to have been a higher quality model than some of the others, I'd imagine it would also have the crocus finish.

Here's a couple of quickie pics under crap florescent lighting. First shows two unmolested glaze finished blades


Next is one of the previous beside an unmolested crocus finished blade.