Thread: Do I have a vintage TI?

So a while back I bought a fixer upper on ebay because it was cheap and I thought I could fix it up:
vintage straight edge FONTENILLE MEDAILLE 134 - eBay (item 110373576391 end time Apr-08-09 19:36:14 PDT)
I maased her (goldwash gone... noooooo!!!) and tlc-ed her and soon she'll be honed, but I never found any info on her. UNTIL... I checked the shoulderless shaving gang and what do you know? Crichton posted a pic of a TI, that except for the point style (his is French, mine is Spanish) is exactly the same! http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...ving-gang.html (scroll down a bit, it's one of the first posts. Same file work, same sholderless, same thumb notch, same jimps, everything is the same except scales and point. Is it possible I got a company that was bought by TI, or an early TI, or something like that?Please help.
I put the links in but here are some pics for convenience, I will work on uploading a same style shot of the Fontenille to compare with the TI.

I don't think its a TI. There were quite a few companies making straights in France so the style similarity really doesn't mean much. TI did obtain some blanks from at least one concern that went under, that was Le Grelot.

TI wasn't the only French maker producing quality blades so either way you have a quality piece there.

no, you don't, that's a different company

Could it be the same type of blank- ie. TI used Fontenille's old blanks? Because the tang and spine are EXACTLY the same...

i do have couple fontantelly and was thinking it is made in spain. i think i was wrong it is made in France and great shavers. Now they same as TI i have no idea. Need to search or someone can help. if you need picture of them i can put it up. 2 of them frame back 1 is regular one.

They look like they could be cut from the same blank, they're so similar.

Nice buy either way.

I'm holding it up to the screen and I am convinced they were either made from the same blank or by the same grinder. If you look at the thumb notch, it is the same style, and extends the same amount. The Spine work is the same. If you look at the heel of the blade, both of them have a slightly different curvature at the edge, almost like a flattened spot. The concaving even ends at the same spot in the thumb notch. I'm not expert in this area, but unless the blanks were preground, and only finished later, this means they were ground by the same person or ground to the same specs.
I have researched this, but I can't find anything on Fontenille at all...

The length of the spine and edge are the same, it looks like the round point was just ground spanish... and the tang is slightly different. But I swear the spine work is exact and so is the thumb notch, shoulderless grind, spine length, (tip to pivot), edge length, and edge width. (How do I know? I resized the image on my screen to life size and help mine up to it, tilted it slightly and BOOM. So close to exact it's scary)

ok this is all sorry they all have oil i didn't have too much time.

Originally Posted by khaos

The length of the spine and edge are the same, it looks like the round point was just ground spanish... and the tang is slightly different. But I swear the spine work is exact and so is the thumb notch, shoulderless grind, spine length, (tip to pivot), edge length, and edge width. (How do I know? I resized the image on my screen to life size and help mine up to it, tilted it slightly and BOOM. So close to exact it's scary)

Doesn't matter. You have a Fontenille. It may well be that they purchased blanks from TI, or vice versa, but it is what it's stamped as.

I have a Dovo and a Chronik with the exact same size, grind, shape, and weight, down to the details in the jimping and polish. But that doesn't mean the Dovo is really a Chronik or vice versa.