Now I know who beat me on the swaty awesome 8" isn't it
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Zak...that BRAND reminds me of the "device" John Weiss invented to insure his certain death... I dug up the info when I owned the London Bridge Set by Weiss as well as one other Gentlemen's set...
From John Weiss Wiki entry:
John Weiss had a morbid fear of being buried alive, and to guard against this eventuality fashioned an instrument to penetrate his heart when the coffin was closed. Detailed instructions to this end were left in his will. John Weiss died on 26 December 1843 and was buried in the churchyard of St Nicholas' Church, Brighton with his surgeon Benjamin Vallance in attendance to carry out his wishes
Here you go, there's nothing on the tang's backside; I tossed in a view that demonstrates the grind:
I'm hopeful that this will turn out to be a good shave...despite some uneven hone wear, the bevel and edge are in surprisingly good shape (there's a tiny bit of a frown toward heel), though my arm hair has nothing to fear from it for now. My biggest concern is that the horn scales are really bug eaten, and there are some areas that are pretty darned thin and fragile appearing.
I think you're right! I just compared it to my Velvet Edge barber's hone:
It's a good thing that I have big hands! :w
I bet it hones up and shaves great.
If you feel like fixing the scales, I suggest grinding up a broken piece of horn scale until it's a powder. Pack that powder down into the cavities, then very carefully drip thin cyanoacrylate glue onto it. It'll wick down in incredibly fast and harden almost instantly to a consistency that's a good deal tougher than horn or CA glue by itself. Than you can sand that down and dye it (I use India ink, but I've been told RIT dye works even better).
Once you've done the process a few times, it's pretty easy. If you need some practice pieces and donor horn, gimme a shout and I can send you some.