Thread: Help dating please

I wonder how old this wedge could be...
without any doubt a generic one and most likely made by an apprentice ?
three crowns ? could not trace a maker with this markings - very crude tang with a scratch marking but left unfinished
scales are dyed red going towards purple - looks like a hurry job on the pinning too
the razor was found in an old barbershop in Giethoorn (The Netherlands)
thanks

Rough gestimate 1830-1850.

If I remember my straight razor history:

We know its earlier then 1880 since its not stamped with the country of origin.

Also, I wonder if the tang started life straight (early to mid 1800s), and then was curved later in life when the curved tang came into fashion (mid 1800s)? That would explain the extra steel there, as bending the tang would bring about a weak point, which they reinforced.

Speculation, of course.

Originally Posted by Aldwyn

Also, I wonder if the tang started life straight (early to mid 1800s), and then was curved later in life when the curved tang came into fashion (mid 1800s)? That would explain the extra steel there, as bending the tang would bring about a weak point, which they reinforced.

Seems an awful lot of effort for a bendy tang. You wouldn't be able to simply bend the tang as it would snap. It would involve disassembling the razor, heating the tang to forging heat taking care not to ruin the hardness of the edge, then shaping it. Adding additional metal would involve forge welding heat - good luck keeping the edge cool with that.

My first thought was that it is a cold shut from the forging process. It's hard to tell from the pics, but it almost looks like a thin chunk of steel fell off the side of the tang there. So perhaps a flaw in the steel that let go during grinding?

I'm sorry I can't help with the three crowns. I have a nagging suspicion I've seen that before, but can't for the life of me recall who the maker was. Have you looked on strazors.com?

Yes I checked on strazors.com but no results . There is a German co however that carries 3 crowns as a mark but this one has the Sheffield mention...I read somewhere that the crown mark stands for made in Sheffield ...but don't know for sure - I also read that cast steel was later changed to silver steel ?

In Solingen, Gebrüder Korte have had three crowns as a trade mark. But as Bart correctly stated, this is a Sheffield razor. There are a couple of Sheffield companies with three crowns as a trademark, John Moreton and Spear & Jackson for example. But -without any proof- I would tend to attribute this razor to Charles Cammell. The Cyclops Steel and Iron Works, Sheffield was middle of the 1900's one of the largest producer of cast iron and steel. They had huge facilities, mainly produced steel for the railway industry.
There is a nice video on youtube about the company:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06vAC2CYThE

Don't know if they ever produced razors though, but is not necessarily the razor maker, that is mentioned on the tang. It could also be the steel company (i.e. there are a lot of Solingen razors out, which only mentioned "Böhler Stahl" or "Kayser Ellison steel").

Regards Peter

Here is an overview about the trademarks of Cammell including the three crowns (normally together with the name cyclops):

Thank you very much Peter.
that was extremely helpful !
best regards
bart

Cast steel was invented in Sheffield around 1740, it was a harder steel able to hold a finer edge. Between then and 1830 razors were often stamped with the words ‘Cast Steel’ or ‘Warranted’, to indicate they were made from this steel. Faraday introduced Silver steel around 1820-30.