Thread: my 3 new babies

well, it has been a long time coming. i started with this idea to get a couple cheaper ebay specials and try to turn them into something grande. when i first got to SRP the boards were full of Vlad's picaso's. his wood scales are amazing and from that moment on, i wanted myself some nice, exotic wood handles on my shavers.

so i set out on a journey to find cheap razors and to find some exotic woods. i spoke with gary holder and watched as he progressed in his scale making. he improved every single time and finally i asked if he would consider making me some scales if i supplied some exotic woods. we worked it out and on i went to find some wood. i travelled far and wide and finally got together with a fellow who had a plethora of exotic woods in large chunk form... so i went thru it and picked out a few types, lucky enough he agreed to cut down my wood choices to scale size and off i sent them to gary. during this time i scooped up a couple wade and butchers on ebay for under 20$, due to their deteriorated condition. they were some of my first restorations and i have learned tons since then but they turned out not so bad so i sent them to gary to match the scales.


Razor 1:



this is a Wade and Butcher 7/8th hollow ground with barber's notch. this wood is amazing looking and the picture doesn't do it justice. the wood is Mun Ebony, it has middle to dark green colour grains intermixed with almost black grains. its very contrasting and looks great with a heavy razor along with the nice 3rd pin. the scales were done by gary holder.


Razor 2:



this is a Wade and Butcher 6/8th 1/4 ground wedge. its very close to being a full wedge. the wood used for the scales is Bloodwood. the wood darkened and enriched nicely when finished. the scales were done by gary holder.


Razor 3:



this is a Wade and Butcher 6/8 full wedge. the picture of these scales is shamefull as they are by far the most beautiful wood i have ever seen used for scales. its Amboyna Burl, the eye(burl) patterns are so vivd and its actually an orange/rust colour inbetween the eyes, not a grey/redish colour as the picture shows . it truely is stunning.


so there are my 3 new razors. i got them back and i was a bit anxious about honing wedges. so with my desire to use these as daily shavers, i gave in and sent them out to Joe Chandler. thank heavens i did!!! they are incredibly sharp, wait they are 100x sharper then that. If anyone needs a new razor honed or an ebay special honed, by all means, consider Joe for the job.

so today is the 3rd day i have had them completed and so i just finished trying them all out. what an experience. the process was full of learning, full of intrigue and anxiousness, but in the end everything turned out great. i am getting used to using wedges as it is different then normal concave razors but at the same time these are heavy enough that i don't have to use any pressure at all to shave. they shave on their own and thats great. the 7/8th is mammouth to me. until today i used almost all 5/8th and 1 6/8th (which i like and think is my preferred size) but this 7/8th is really a different feel and shave.

thanks gary and joe, i really like my new razors.

~Jared


PS - you can check out a bunch more pictures in my user gallery. about 4 pics of each razor plus a picture of each type of wood before it was finished.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/compo...d,72/PageNo,1/

Theyall look great, especially the way they're pinned, and the burl scales are just incredible. It's really nice to see something a little different and it's hard to beat the beauty of fine woods.

Well done!

Those were the hardest razors I've ever worked on to get sharp. I literally worked on them every day for a week, and it took 5 tests to get them right. Glad you're happy with 'em, though.

Nice job. I like all of them. Especially the burl.

Ya mean, though, that Gary didn't hone them for you?

Congrats to all you guys! Nice job!

noob Q: I suppose that notch in the front of blade is the barber's notch? what is it's purpose?

Very beautiful scales, does it feel nicer than the celuloid when you use it?

Really nice. My favorite is the bottom one..

they all feel very different then the normal celluloid handles. though i think 2 of the 3 originally came with some kind of bone/antler handles as it wasn't the normal celluloid.

these handles have weight to them. the razors are wedges or the concave is 7/8 so they all have weight to them as well. its very different then holding a 5/8th concave with thin celluloid handles which feel light. the wood was all 1/8" thick when it started, then 2 of 3 got liners put with them which added a tad bit more thickness. so there is body to the handles, but very protective. i definitely don't have to worry about snapping/cracking the scales like it feels when stropping with celluloid.

the only downside about larger handles is that if the tang of the blade is small then there isn't alot of room on the back side to rest your last couple of fingers on.

the bloodwood one doesn't have a liner inside and that wood is very light feeling. quite nice actually.

~J

Those are razors are amazingly tastefull and classy.

The bug is biting even harder now.

The first thing I can't figure out is how does one close off the pins?

One pounds on the end of the pin until deforms into a mushroom shape and then until the opening/closing action is nice and tight. Actually it's more like tapping, gentle enough to hit your thumb without causing undue pain/injury, about 100 times but it can go as high as 200 if you're REALLY careful/gentle about it.