Thread: Ben Franklin's Wedge

OK, probably not, but it is at least that early.

It came in the mail today and I shaved with it this evening, and it gave me a nice shave.

It need a lot of restoration, but it has the original horn scales, and they aren't too bad considering how old they are. The pins appear to be pure rust, but they held together long enough for me to clean, hone, and shave with it.

The biggest difference between this and the more modern style razors is that the tang doesn't have a flat spot going back from the edge to the scales, instead, it is still shaped like a blade, only very dull.

It made stropping it somewhat difficult. You can't apply a lot of pressure or it flips off your thumb.

But it does shave very smoothly. I'd say the steel is comparable to a Wade and Butcher, Sheffield.

It says "Spain" on it, which is interesting, because if it were Spanish, it would say Espana or Espagna.
Spain could be the maker's name, or it could be made in Spain to sell to the English or Dutch.

Maybe Magellan shaved with it as he sailed through his straight into the Pacific Ocean?

That's one kickass vintage razor. Do you have an idea of it's actual age?

1700's for sure, probably around 1780 but could be earlier. Around 1780 razor makers started adding some kind of embellishment on the end of the tang, which quickly evolved into the little curl up at the tip, now called the "monkey tail."

This razor has no hint of that at all. It also has no hint of shoulder. It is wedge shaped both horizontally and vertically. Where the cutting edge starts, the razor has been ground down thinner by hand. That is all.

There isn't much difference between this razor and razors that were made in Sheffield in 1740 either. The steel is really good, like I said, so I don't know if it could be placed in the 1600's. Probably not.

I just found out that the pins were iron, not steel which accounts for their atrocious condition.

The amazing thing about this razor is that I after I sanded off the 5 really deep red rust areas and "polished" it a little bit, (including scraping the tang on both sides of the scales in order get the razor to open and shut!@#!!!) when I laid it on the hone, it was flat as a promise. It honed up very nicely for an old wedge, though as you can see, the wear areas are not always on the spine, they are all over the place.

And it still shaves, how beautiful!!

It's amazing how these things last for ages! And it still shaves... Talk about quality!

I'm not an expert but considering the reasearch I've been making it looks like a 1700's razor. Looks good and If it shaves, it's even better. If I were you I'd consider changing the pins to new brass ones or something and keeping the original ones stored away somewhere. If they ae made of iron and very rusty, I suppose they could end up contaminating the steel on the blade's tang. Plus, being rusty, they just might brake sometime and, heaven forbid, you might end up - by accident - droping the razor or hurting yourself.
I would also keep the scales... if they are good and seem to still do it's job. I would, however consider making a replica of the scales and replace them, keeping the original ones stored away somewhere for safe keeping.

Great find that was. And it's still in working order... amazing. I guess we don't really know what is a thing made to last. That razor must have shaved well over 4 generations worth of beards...

Considering the "Spain" thing: you probably are right on the name thing; possibly not made in Spain... and your argument on the spelling is probably right too. But I have to correct the spelling. Spain, in spanish is "España"... the "gn" is used in italian, not spanish. Just spliting hairs, sorry.

And concerning Magallan: he was not spanish at all! He was a portuguese navigator that decided to knok on the spanish kings door since the portuguese king had refused to fund his circum-navigation voyage. His name, in portuguese, was: Fernão de Magalhães. He was born in 1480.

"Ferdinand Magellan (Portuguese: Fernão de Magalhães, IPA: [fɨɾˈnɐ̃ũ dɨ mɐgɐˈʎɐ̃ĩʃ]) (Spring 1480 – April 27, 1521, Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines) was a Portuguese maritime explorer who, while in the service of the Spanish Crown, tried to find a westward route to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. This was the first successful attempt to circumnavigate the Earth in history. Although he did not complete the entire voyage (he was killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines) fellow Basque-navigator Juan Sebastian Elcano completed the final westward voyage. As Magellan traveled farther west than the Spice Islands, which he had visited on earlier voyages from the west, he became one of the first individuals to cross all the meridians of the globe. He was the first person to lead an expedition sailing westward from Europe to Asia and to cross the Pacific Ocean.
Magellan should also be recognized as the first explorer to enter the Pacific from the eponymous Strait of Magellan, which he discovered. He is also remembered as the first European to reach the archipelago of what is now known as the Philippines, which was unknown to the western world before his landing. Arab traders had established commerce within the archipelago centuries earlier.
Of the 237 men who set out on five ships to circumnavigate the earth, only 18 completed the circumnavigation of the globe and managed to return to Spain in 1522.[1][2] They were led by a Basque Juan Sebastián Elcano, who took over command of the expedition after Magellan's death. 17 other men arrived later in Spain, 12 men captured by the Portugueses in Cape Verde some weeks later, and in 1525/1526 5 survivors of the Trinidad."

Again... spliting hairs, sorry! GREAT RAZOR!!!

Okay, you started it!!!

Magellan is one of my great heroes. I knew all that stuff you said, my thought was since his expedition was outfitted in Spain, his razor might have come from there... All silly of course because the no one in Spain would have spelled it "Spain."

And my favorite fact about Magellan's voyage:

His chronicler, Pigafetta, kept a detailed log entry for every single day of the voyage. When the last ship arrived back in Spain, the last entry in the log was one day behind the current calendar date, yet described the events of the arrival of the ship that day.

At first it seemed a minor thing, but as more people examined the log and tried to explain it, it became irrefutable evidence that they had, indeed, sailed backward around an earth that was a rotating globe.

Fantastic!!!!

Originally Posted by toolarts

Okay, you started it!!!

Magellan is one of my great heroes. I knew all that stuff you said, my thought was since his expedition was outfitted in Spain, his razor might have come from there... All silly of course because the no one in Spain would have spelled it "Spain."

And my favorite fact about Magellan's voyage:

His chronicler, Pigafetta, kept a detailed log entry for every single day of the voyage. When the last ship arrived back in Spain, the last entry in the log was one day behind the current calendar date, yet described the events of the arrival of the ship that day.

At first it seemed a minor thing, but as more people examined the log and tried to explain it, it became irrefutable evidence that they had, indeed, sailed backward around an earth that was a rotating globe.

Fantastic!!!!

Good one, Toolarts! I did not know about that...
I was just trying to call atention to the fact that he was, in fact, portuguese. Some people tend to think that he was spanish. But hey... splitting hairs. There's no need to start a quarel over this one! I was just informing... and looks like I was trying to teach the preacher how to preach. I am no longer here... Call it "patriotic zeal" if you want... But my guess, concerning his grooming kit, would be that he didn't have a razor! He wore a beard on all the portraits!
Great razor, my friend! I wish I could set my claws on one of those antique razors...

Blueprinciple ( www.theinvisibleedge.co.uk ) often has razors of this period for sale in his collectors razors page.
Maybe it's a non Spanish makers way of stating the steel came from Spain. Toledo??

Originally Posted by fpessanha

Good one, Toolarts! I did not know about that...
I was just trying to call atention to the fact that he was, in fact, portuguese.
Great razor, my friend! I wish I could set my claws on one of those antique razors...

No quarrel here! You just got me started on one of my favorite subjects and sometimes I can become a real bore!!!!

Thanks for the kind note.

By the way, I scored this in a lot, and I have 3 more of these ancient razors I am cleaning up.

It's kind of a job getting them shaving, but once I am done, I'll put some more pictures up. If you really want one, we can probably work something out.