Samuel Osborn, Mushet Steel

this was a good week. not only did i get a very nice white tam o' shanter hone, but also an excellent razor made by samuel osborn & co., clyde steel works, sheffield. osborn was the exclusive manufacturer of robert mushet's special steel, the first commercially used air hardening tool steel and predecessor of modern high speed steels. the blade of this razor is made from such a steel. it contains about 8% tungsten and some manganese and is hard and extremely resistant to abrasion. the back of the tang has a made-in-england stamp, so the razor was made post 1890.

setting the bevel on synthetic stones was easy, but it took almost two hours to finish on natural stones. a very fast nakayama finally did the job, but i truely wished i had finer synthetic stones to use. it shaves quite well despite the troubles i had while honing the beast.

and a photo of the beauty: almost zero hone wear, some spots, but nothing serious, thin ivory scales, free of cracks, and a wedge made from lead. compared to many other sheffield razors the finish of the razor is exceptional.

Attachment 238156

regards,
hans

That is a beauty, congrats.

Bob

Nice looking razor - and the blade seems to be tight in the scales as well. I have a few original Ivory razors and at that angle in your photo, most will fall into the scales.

Ps – I like your glassware as well.

darn, i got caught!

i wanted the stamp to be seen on the picture and put a small piece of paper between the tang and the back scale. otherwise the blade would have dropped down. usually, i'd fix that with a chasing hammer or repin the scales, but not in this case. i really don't want to ruin the delicate ivory scales. btw, the blade is pretty heavy, a near wedge, maybe quarter hollow.

i'll tell my wife that you like her glassware! :)

regards,
hans

It is a beauty. The strange name, Mushet Steel, got me curious .......... ;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushet_steel

jimmy, don't miss neil miller's post about osborn and mushet: http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...ml#post1468856

regards,
hans

That is one sweet Razor, I'll bet it shaves as good as it looks too. I have an Heljestrand MK 30 coming with similar scales, my only Ivory, factory scaled razor.

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Originally Posted by FAL

That is one sweet Razor, I'll bet it shaves as good as it looks too. I have an Heljestrand MK 30 coming with similar scales, my only Ivory, factory scaled razor.

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great, i love heljestrands! actually 3/4 of my razors are heljestrands...

this osborn is my only ivory scaled razor, too. i bought it because of the blade and would have been happier with synthetic scales, because i don't dare to remove or to tighten the scales, and, more important, the razor had to go through customs. if they opened the parcel and noticed the ivory scales, it would have been confiscated. so i was pretty nervous while the razor was on its way from sweden to switzerland. but all went well, and i am a happy shaver!

regards,
hans

Really nice razor. I've got one, but was in bad condition wen I bought it.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...cations-3.html

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Originally Posted by Lewy

Really nice razor. I've got one, but was in bad condition wen I bought it.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...cations-3.html

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while waiting for my razor i tried to gather as much information about osborn/mushet as possible. of course i also stumbled over your thread about the restoration. most excellent work! i really like your use of bamboo to replace the ivory scales. looks very nice!

may i ask how you remove pins from ivory scaled razors without damaging the scales?

regards,
hans