Thread: The Mysterious Mr Packwood

Got my first "stub tail". Happens to be a Packwood, Sheffield, Silver Steel.


Looking at the pics of other Packwoods, this is the first I've noticed "Sheffield" under his name.


"SILVER STEEL" should make it post 1820.

A previous owner tried to shine it up with what looks like 80 grit SAND paper.

It's a wedge.


Few more pics at;
Packwood and Rodgers pictures by Wullie_01 - Photobucket

Nice,Looks like it would be a real bitch to hone.

I'm gonna find out......

Here is a very informative and entertaining article about "The Mysterious Mr. Packwood". I believe your razor may have been made right around 1800 and later reground, based on the dates in this article. Cheers!

Packwood

Originally Posted by Croaker

I believe your razor may have been made right around 1800 and later reground

Packwood

Why do you say "reground"? I have seen this word many times on this forum, but I never understood if it relates to the grind (wedge, half hollow, full hollow etc.) or to the shape of the blade. What is "regrinding"? And why should anybody do it?

I won this eBay Italia - Aste online e shopping a prezzo fisso but I'm waiting for it still. It also has "Sheffield" under "Packwood". And I as well will be looking for infos about it soon

Originally Posted by Croaker

Here is a very informative and entertaining article about "The Mysterious Mr. Packwood". I believe your razor may have been made right around 1800 and later reground, based on the dates in this article. Cheers!

Packwood

Oh, thanks for turning up this article! That's the most information I've seen about Packwood in one place.

However, I have to disagree with your assessment of the age of the razor. With the 'SILVER STEEL' stamp, the absolute earliest it could have been made is 1818, and that is highly unlikely, as that's when Stodart & Faraday published their paper describing the method to make it. In practice, the commercial use didn't begin in earnest for a few more years.

Finally, I'm pretty certain 'SHEFFIELD' didn't show up as a stamp like that until the mid-1830's.

Also, that is a real neat old razor.

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

Oh, thanks for turning up this article! That's the most information I've seen about Packwood in one place.

However, I have to disagree with your assessment of the age of the razor. With the 'SILVER STEEL' stamp, the absolute earliest it could have been made is 1818, and that is highly unlikely, as that's when Stodart & Faraday published their paper describing the method to make it. In practice, the commercial use didn't begin in earnest for a few more years.

Finally, I'm pretty certain 'SHEFFIELD' didn't show up as a stamp like that until the mid-1830's.

Also, that is a real neat old razor.

That's pretty much what I was thinking as far as age.

Thanks!
W

I dug around a bit more, now that I've got a first name on the Mysterious Mister Packwood, and I found out that he died in 1810. So, the razors that bear his surname are almost certainly the business being carried on by his son(s).

Also interesting to note, except for the stamps, that razor is a dead ringer for one of my old Wade & Butcher blades:



(Before it got restored by Undream.)

I've seen two others with a very similar shape (the tall, squared off spine), both I BARBER razors. One very similar with an unmarked spine and the other with "OLD ENGLISH" about where SILVER STEEL is on yours, except that one also has fluted notches on the bottom and top of the tang.

I have to agree that the original Mr. Packwood was not the maker of Wullie's razor, after re-reading the article. His dates of operation do not fit the blade profile. It looked to me like the heel of the blade on his Packwood, next to the tang, had been ground to leave a hollowed area adjacent to the tang. After looking at the frontal view of the blade, showing a near wedge, as well as the frontal area of my Packwood, shown below, it now looks to me like what I thought was an attempt to create a little hollow grind was simply the border between tang and toe of the blades. So, Wullie's razor is in its original condition. Thanks for pointing this out, Voidmonster.

the original Mr. Packwood was not the maker of Wullie's razor,

I believe, Packwood wasn't a maker of any razors.
It was a trademark. Who was the real maker is unknown. IMO.
Henry T.Lummus "Old Sheffield Razors":