Thread: Silver frameback IXL?

Howdy ya'll.
I've been looking for my first frameback (particularly a brass one) for a bit now, and I found and bought this one.
ebay pic;



I just received it, and while even this pic that I took of it doesn't really capture the color, it's definitely not brass, and it's definitely not steel;




It really looks like silver, so my question is; Do any of you have or have you seen a silver frameback?

Also, this thing is paper thin (less than 1/8", even at the tang). Are most framebacks like this?

All in all I'm pretty stoked on it. It's 7/8+, and I think it's gonna clean up great.

I have a copper frame back and it is very skinny, even at the tang. It is one of my best shavers even with the light weight. This should clean up very nice.

Dave

Originally Posted by BigBubba

Howdy ya'll.

It really looks like silver, so my question is; Do any of you have or have you seen a silver frameback?

Also, this thing is paper thin (less than 1/8", even at the tang). Are most framebacks like this?

All in all I'm pretty stoked on it. It's 7/8+, and I think it's gonna clean up great.

Yeah, that looks very nice. I had an Engstrom with a copper spine once. Is the back heavy?

First response: I like framebacks in general and think the look of your razor is really fine.

I haven't (as of yet) seen a straight razor which uses silver on the blade although silver plated steel knives were once very common for use at the table.

That backing material is most probably nickel silver (alloy of copper and nickel) which would be far preferable in a wet invironment than actual silver. It would discolor far more slowly and is definitely stronger than silver. Too, it works easily and solders just as easily as copper, brass or silver would.

I encountered a similar approach to razor making in a rather more modern version of straight razor at the local flea market. The blade was a thin, stamped out affair pressed into a steel backing. Unfortunately the modern version had none of the charm or elegance that your razor does and looked very sorry, indeed. the effect was made the all the worse by a really crappy set of scales. I wouldn't haveanything to do with new version at all. My estimate of date of manufacture on that modern version would be sometime in the late 1940's - 50's, so the idea has obviously stood the test of time even if the concepts of form and elegance suffered a bit along the way.

there are few kinds of framebacks. the ones like yours that the blade and the tang are one whole thing with a separate spine are indeed rather thin.
there is a different appoach where the blade is separateand goes into the frame which can either be part of the tang or can be a completely different piece - these tend to have thicker tangs. some people find the thin shanks a bit uncomfortable to use, too.
framebacks are nice - definitely something a bit different

It certainly looks like a good frameback. One question though - does that brassy bit remove to leave a pretty conventional looking razor? If you can slip it off like a sleeve, is the razor a wedge? If it is a wedge (or close) and the brassy bit isn't integral, then it might be a honing sleeve - used to increase the angle of the blade to save removing all of the metal on each face of the blade each time you hone it.

Great post!

Regards,
Neil