Thread: John Williams Damascus 7-Day Set

Guys,
I've got an opportunity to buy a 7 day set of John Williams Sheffield Damascus razors. I can find very little info on this manufacturer. I am not a collector and am only interested in them if they are very good shavers.

Can anyone comment on if they shave well or not?

Also, I've read up some on the Damascus steel but can't seem to find any consensus if this really makes a difference in the shave. Is the only advantage that the edge lasts longer?

If you can post some photos of the razors, tang stamp, blades and scales it would be helpful and enjoyable. If these are vintage Sheffield razors, as opposed to modern production, they are probably not truly Damascus in the way the term is used nowadays. In the nineteenth and twentieth century razor companies sometimes used "Damascus" as a logo, but they are not the pattern welded steel that are what we call Damascus today. If they are vintage Sheffield blades they will undoubtedly make good shavers if they are correctly honed and in good condition.

Let's see if I'm smart enough to post a pic...apparently the only one that is not in super shape is the one pictured with a chip off the front....probably used at some point to pry open a paint can.

Those are beauties. That chip can be ground out by someone who knows what they are doing. If they all look like that you've got a great set of shavers there. Hard to say from the pic but from the slimness of the scales I'd bet they are genuine ivory. If the tang has "Made In England" stamped on it they are post 1881, if not .... it only reads "Sheffield" they were produced before that year. Great find, get them pro honed, unless you are capable, and enjoy them.

VERY VERY NICE!!! What a great set of razors. I wouldn"t let the chip bother me at all. As Jimmy said it can be ground out. To find out if they are ivory, touch the tip of a hot (real hot-heated with a match or gas stove) pin to the INSIDE of a scale. If it wants to melt it is celluloid or plastic. If it doesn"t want to melt it is ivory or bone. My bet goes to ivory. They should make great shavers. Nice, vintage 7 day sets are getting harder to find, and this looks like a great score! Very Best Regards, wildhog

I would bet they are nice shavers, but it all depends on if you feel it's a good deal.

Are you sure it's a seven day set? From the pictures it seems they are only six. But it makes sense after all, on six days you shave yourself, on sundays you have the barber at home working for you. That seems a perfect dandy set to me
That chip is a ridicule problem if you have a dremel set and a firm hand (and a sense for the rotation of the grinder).
A set like that is valuable (if the box is in real good conditions and the chip we saw is the only problem the str8s have), so you could also see it as an investment. But if you are only interested in a shaving tool and they are shave ready maybe you can try one and then decide?
However it is, they are beautiful! I would buy them just for that if I could, although the scales seem a little too thick to me to be ivory (they could be bone, but the feel is very similar, and sometime bone is better. I have a Jameson's Autocrat in camel bone of about the same thickness, and two others in ivory that are thinner). A test you can make to distinguish ivory from bone (it comes from my experience, so I apologize in advance if it's not reliable) is to oil the blade: after few days, the bone absorbs the oil and you can see its color change, while ivory doesn't.
From the shape of the tang I would say they are from about half of the 19th century, but the mark is the final proof (see above).
If you buy them, let us know how they shave!

I thought that the date for requiring 'made in ...' was 1891.

AFAIK 1891 was the date for the nation to be mandatorily impressed on significant products, while "made in" become mandatory in 1914.

If that was Ivory...wow. I don't condone the use of it, but if it's already been collected and is antique; impressive. I love it.