Thread: Question About Shoulderless Grinds with Demarcated Shoulders

Originally Posted by Hanlon

Thanks for that very thorough answer, really appreciate it!

I've got a matched set of three I. Turrill razors c.1830-.c1850 that also have this line. Turrill was a maker of dressing and writing cases, not of razors. For no real reason except the pleasure of detective work, I was kind of hoping I could trace their manufacture back to a specific maker like Rodgers, but you shot that theory all to heck. Guess I'll never know for sure who made them.

The whole 'who made that' question is one I've chased a lot, myself. I did a big writeup on it here.

The short version is that the tang stamp only tells you who put in the work order, not where it was made. Those Rodgers razors could've been made at Marshes & Shepherd's workshops, or the Butcher brothers, or the Raggs. There isn't really any way of knowing who actually made them unless they're from a tiny number of very small, historically identifiable manufacturers.

Originally Posted by CrownCork

In those times the bevels were ground freehand. Looks like a indexing mark were the bevel should originate on the heel

While I've definitely come across one or two that were honed that way, it was not the accepted norm.

Here's Ebenezer Rhodes, Sheffield manufacturer & Master Cutler on the subject in 1822:



And here's Benjamin Kingsbury, an influential London -- the edition was most recently updated around the same time as Rhodes, but it was first published in the late 1700's.

Originally Posted by MikeT

This pinwork, does anyone know the name of the art method? I've read it before and can't remember.
When I first saw it years ago I thought "meh, no big deal".
Upon closer inspection, it seems to have taken serious effort to do right, to do it well, it also has a unique style it seems, besides the unique method! Now I'm a big fan of it.
Does anyone have a timeframe it was being made?
...tiny little holes drilled and then metal pins inserted and filed flush. The work must've been time consuming!
Can I get a pic of the full scale?
Thank you!

It's called pique work, because very early on English manufacturers realized they could charge more for French words.

They did it exactly that way. I've seen maybe as many as 4 different gauges of wire used. Ideally, each pin would be very delicately hammered to make it more snugly fit, then ground flat. It worked best on ivory or bone, but I've also seen it in tortoise and very occasionally horn.

I can only guess at how accurate this wikipedia page is, but I don't have any real reason to doubt the dates it gives. Razor scales as ornate as what's shown there are very rare.