Thread: Packwood!!!!

" Most every stubtail I've seen has had horn scales that are yellow at base but have some sort of blackening going on I suspect was intentional."

I suspect your referring to tortoise shell ?

I'm fairly certain the ones on my Evatt 1790s are tortoise, but I've seen blonde ones that have some sort of lacquer or staining going on across the entire surface area that is not simple patina. I wish I was able to buy every piece I've seen, but some people just refuse to come down on things that need heavy amounts of work. So much time has passed, I don't know what to say about the condition of anything once it finally gets to me, I am just grateful when it is a state I can work with or around.

But he is right, I've never seen anything of this age in wood, let alone one piece slotted wood, yet the condition of the razor being so old and corrosion aside, not appearing o have been subjected to many stones in its life, the intact washers,and the fact that there was about a century's worth of patina on the scales when I acquired it really confused me.

Originally Posted by kcb5150

Hmm... When did one piece slotted wooden scales such as these first make an appearance? I think these are mahogany.

I've only ever seen modern razors with one-piece wood scales from the factory. I have seen one or two old razors that had been rescaled similarly in the late 1800's. Probably homemade. Woodworkers needed to shave, too!

I agree with Zak. Original collars, later homemade scales. The blonde horn you were talking about - most likely horn that had been dyed to a darker color. After age and wear you can see the light horn peeking through around the edges. While not rare, tortoise is uncommon. Blonde, mottled, and dyed faux horn were commonplace and are often confused for tortoise, but once you see the real stuff you know.

I had to order a full progression of grits. Won't be able to resume till friday/sat Manhattan is a PITA for certain stuff.

I need one more whack at low grit, but I got it up to 400 level polish for a progress report. Any remnants of pitting in danger zones will be eradicated then and then I am bumping back up as I feel it would just be getting greedy given what I started with and it would be a major case of diminishing returns.. I've been doing this in 1-2 hour blocks. It is just draining to constantly be mindful of maintaining the angles on the faces of the blade as well as the text so I take breaks. I bought some cheap sneaker inserts and folded them into wedges to spool the sandpaper around. It has served me well.