Thread: Opinions???

So do you think this can be restored?


Just kidding. A friend who's an archeologist found this on a dig near where a fort was built in 1837.
So it looks to me like a stubtail with a barber notch. I guessed it was probably made in the decades before, after and including 1840 (he told me about the fort after I made that guess.) His question was what the scales had been made from. My comment was: "Scales could have been anything from horn to celluloid (first made in 1856) to bone but not Bakelite which was first made in 1907. Cool though. Oh, or wood could have been used also but less likely." I told him I'd post and get some opinions. So, what do you think.
Oh yeah. You can even see the pivot pin.

I'd just hone it up and give it a test shave.

Originally Posted by ace

I'd just hone it up and give it a test shave.

that would be a REAL man's razor

Cool find. I dont think you would find any name left on it but it would be fun to try and find a stamp.

That one will be a lot of work. If you can pull that one back from the grave you'll be a legend.

Though I haven't been through all 81 pages, most of the scales in the stub-tail club look to be horn with a few in bone.

Try soaking it good with WD-40 in a sealed zip lock bag for a few days then use a brass brush to remove some of the rust. Maybe you can find a name on it. Either way you will see how much of the blade is there.

I'd guess the scales, if they were the originals, were horn. Possibly tortoise shell if it was high end.

looks like the rust should hone out to me

Give it a good scrub with a brush to loosen the surface, and give it a soak for a couple of days in some Naval Jelly, Evapo-Rust, or something, then scrub it again....be interesting if you could get a read of the maker on the tang.

If it's just encrusted with dirt/gunk, who knows, might've protected part of it...worth a try to throw it in a jar and see?

Very, very cool find.....:-)

I see that forts Peyton , Mackinac, and Christmas were built in Florida for the Seminole War in 1837. Was it one of those?

How long did the fort stay occupied?. Fort Peyton was abandoned in 1840 and burned to the ground in 1842. If there that would tell me that it was pre 1842.

I would say that the scales were probably horn.

What is the flat spot above the pivot pin?

I have not seen that on a razor.{Not that I have seen everything!}

Could it be a surgical knife?

I looked at the pictures again and see the flat thing is on the bottom.