Thread: Thoughts on this one? Joseph Rodgers & Sons Razor..

I just snagged a lot of razors off e-bay and included was this razor:



It is a Joseph Rodgers, Sheffield razor. I thought the tang was very unusual, so, i decided I'll give it a shot to restore the blade.

now, I did some google searching, and i found this image:

Pair of Joseph Rodgers razors in ivory

What do you guys think? think this razor has ivory handle & tang?

The one thing that leads me to believe it might be celluloid is the ridges that are carved into the tang. I don't think thats very commonly done to ivory.

Either way, I didn't pay a whole lot for the lot, and included in it was another Sheffield wedge.

Any comments welcome!!!

It looks like ivory but its hard to be sure from a photo. Ivory has a very distinctive grain thats quite easy to see in thin pieces, if its synthetic the grain will be very regular or non existent, if its bone it will have pores, I think theres a quide somewhere on the site that might help?

Theres no reason why they couldnt use jimping on ivory, it will take very fine detail, nice razor by the way.

Hot pin test it. If you take a hot pin to an inconspicuious area you should find out. If it melts the scale, it's not ivory. Not sure how you draw the distinction between ivory & bone though, apart from searching for the grain, as bone has tiny channels through it where tissue or blood used to be.

I will post my findings once I get this razor in-hand. Thanks for the info on the pin test.

That's really cool; I've never seen a Rodgers with a covered tang, and I've never seen a stub tail with a covered tang either.

I bet she'll be a beauty once she's cleaned up.

Hey all -- I wanted to post an update to this thread.

I have since received the razor, and initially I was nearly positive that it was plastic. It felt so flimsy, and flexible, and smooth and I could see no grain whatsoever. I went ahead and started cleaning up the blade and stuff.

I tried the hot pin test, and the first few times I thought I was doing it wrong, or the pin wasn't hot enough, etc. So, the second night I grabbed another crappy razor that i knew was plastic, and i tried the pin test on that one and sure enough the pin almost went clear through the scale

So, I am now the owner of a beautiful Joseph Rodgers with Ivory scales and FULLY covered Ivory tang. I am not done cleaning it up, but, here are a few pictures. The grind is very interesting on it -- I've been told by the guys in chat that it is ground like a wapi?

Anyway, I'm not as good of a blade restorer as some guys in here *cough*Aaron

I've gotta pick up some higher grit sandpaper to finish'er off...since I don't have a tumbler

here are the pics:

That's looking good there. Great buy! Good news about the ivory. It makes the razor feel even better i find!

Hey, that is one heck of a find... and by chance no less.

Good luck restoring her. Be sure to keep us posted. I for one want to see final pictures.

To me the hollow is similar to the wapi's hollow, but your rodgers has a thick spine above the hollowing that is not present with the wapi.

great looking razor!

I have the exact same razor just that its covered in black. Its celluloid. If it was ivory it would be pinned to the tang. Mine is one piece which fits over the tang. I'm not sure how it's affixed maybe just friction. But you never know maybe yours is Ivory.