Thread: Did someone try to "counterfeit" a razor. Or a manufacture error?

So the best I can tell it says "Sheffield steel" and underneath the stamp it seems to say "Alexander" But I cannot tell for sure. Anyone seen something like this before? I picked it up for $10 so I kind of hope they didn't counterfeit it lol.
I believe the blade says "Our Favorite". Obviously has a little bit of patina.

That is not patina. That is just plain rust. And bad rust at that.
Patina is when you have a smooth surface that has greyed with age, from moisture or acid, but without pitting and without red rust.

Your blade has rust and pitting as well as patina. The patina is harmless. The pitting and rust not so much.

Turn that frown upside down... That will be some work...probably not counterfeit but it wasn't treated with love. You can put some work it it and make it yours though.

In that state, I'd just put it aside and use it for pinning practice, trying out new dremel accessories, etc...

While that razor doesn't represent the perfect candidate for a restore I wouldn't say it couldn't shave again.
The determining factor will be how deep the rust is along the bevel area.
Also it looks like the stabilizer at the heel might need to be modified to make honing easier.
I have rescued razors that appeared to be in similar condition.
If you can't get the edge to shave smoothly after honing try rubing the edge lightly with a felt marker.
The marker doesn't have to have ink in it as its the felt tip that will work for you. If the edge feels rough or snags the felt tip then you know their are still microscopic chips or in your case maybe rust pockets, or both.
If the edge needs further refinment maybe try 4 or 5 thousand grit or even back to your bevel setter.
Some of these old blades were semi protected by having a layer of patina on them and if they were used later on the newly worked bevel would have the patina removed and was more easily rusted.
At any rate, if you get back to good solid metal in the bevel there is a very good chance that it will make a decent shaver.
You just need to decide how much time and effort you are willing to put into it.
Good luck and I hope you take the challenge. If nothing else you will learn a lot!

If someone were to counterfeit a razor it would look a whole lot better than that IMHO. It would be a known and popular brand that brings high dollars. To the best of my knowledge it hasn't been tried yet.

right. I was trying to be sarcastic with the "a little bit of patina". That's what i get for typing when it is really late and im tired. I guess im mostly talking about why are there 2 stamps on top of each other.I purchased it knowing it was pretty baldy rusted, not sure if I was going to restore it. But for $10 I was very curious about the stamping.

Based on various things I have seen on various stamps, I am pretty sure that there were companies that made blades with light stamps and then sold them to other companies who would remove the original stamp and put on their own.

I just can't remember all the details at the moment... So maybe take that with a few grains of salt.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

Based on various things I have seen on various stamps, I am pretty sure that there were companies that made blades with light stamps and then sold them to other companies who would remove the original stamp and put on their own.

I just can't remember all the details at the moment... So maybe take that with a few grains of salt.

Very interesting. I will have to do some looking around at that. It just seems so crudely stamped. Makes me wonder why they just wouldn't stamp the other side.

It was common practice for e.g. Dovo to make razors for smaller knife shops who would then brand them with their own brand. Or sometimes the shop would just buy them with their own brand applied by Dovo.

this could easily be one of the former, where a strong stamp was applied over the light stamp.