Thread: Masonic truth,faith,hope & charity razor

Awesome! Thank you Martin!

Great find and if that razor could talk!!!!! Get that baby restored and proudly display it or maybe even use it with care! Thanks for sharing.

Cheers Michael, working on restoring it, blade just needs sanding, scales just a soaking in oil, not going to sand them in fear of taking off carving, then new rods & washers, peening & honing. Then display case amongst the rest lol

I couldn't just display that beauty of a stubby. I would have to hone it up and shave with it just once, at least.

Bob

Thanks Bob, that was the plan lol

If you look closely at the scales (you may need a loupe) you may be able to see a set of initials pressed into the horn. At the time scales would have been likely made by a hafter from a separate firm, and with the pressed horn scales they often put some initials in a tiny spot. Zak (Voidmonster) has a lot of knowledge there.

Indeed, these old pressed horn scales are another of my hobbies, though the research for them is very thin on the ground.

I can name four families who signed their work in some form: Woofindin, Morton, Broadwell, and Wilson.

The latter three will all be represented by their family name somewhere on the design.

The Woofindins were a little sneakier, and they integrated their initials somewhere, usually almost microscopically small. I've seen both IW and VW (for John and Verdon Woofindin -- using I for J was a common stylistic choice in the early 1800's and before).

Both razors likely date to 1810-1830. Neither was made prior to 1800.

More likely than not the blades were purchased by the scale-pressers and sold separately from the original manufacturer, but the best I can do there is guess because I've never found any period documentation about that sort of decorative pressed horn scales.

However, I've seen a lot of them. It wasn't at all uncommon for one presser to copy the design of another, usually with an inferior version of the same design.

It looks like your Jonathan Hall is sporting the original scales that were copied for that London-marked razor.

London, rather than telling you where it was made, was instead a trademark of Samuel Lindley of Attercliff. There's little-to-no documentation on Lindley. He's listed in Gales & Martin's 1787 Sheffield directory, and I'm pretty certain the London razor in the picture was made a good deal later than that. 1805-1820, give or take.