Thread: John Barber pair in piqued ivory

Originally Posted by Wolfpack34

You beat me to it Zak!

Thanks guys! Fascinating stuff as always....

Hoboy! I got my half of this pair today, thank you ScienceGuy!

It surely does make for a dandy partner to my other Barber razor.





I can't say I've ever seen another like it that still had all the pins in the pique work.

Just like mine except not broken at the wedge pin - the only question I have is why haven't those showed up at my door.
I knew I am not using that pink whip often enough!!!!


If there was just one set of those, so far we've seen 4 of them. I have to check which day of the week is mine.

Originally Posted by gugi

Just like mine except not broken at the wedge pin - the only question I have is why haven't those showed up at my door.
I knew I am not using that pink whip often enough!!!!


If there was just one set of those, so far we've seen 4 of them. I have to check which day of the week is mine.

I snagged eBay pics of another pair like them, but kind of horrifically reground, patched up and generally held together with spit & baling wire. The eBay pair had double thumb-notches, but I think they were an aftermarket addition. They also had 'SILVER STEEL' as part of the spine stamp, so they definitely weren't part of the same set.

The one Hoglahoo posted on the wiki, on the other hand, has EXACTLY the same light regrind marks as this pair, which makes me awfully suspicious they came from the same set.

I got one pined, of a carved ivory pair. The pins were ok but there were a broken part which needed a reparation.



Those two (three with the one in horn showed by Zak) are really neat. I'd like to find me a J. Barber

When I look at those scales I think of the term 'old world craftsmanship.' I wonder how many hours it took to carve, insert the decorative pins ? Out of the ordinary for sure. I think the same about the hand filed jimps seen on old Sheffields. Completely uniform in depth and spacing. Amazing the skill they had back in those days.

Originally Posted by Thaeris

I got one pined, of a carved ivory pair. The pins were ok but there were a broken part which needed a reparation.



Those two (three with the one in horn showed by Zak) are really neat. I'd like to find me a J. Barber

Oh yes! I remember seeing the CCC thread about repairing those scales. Superb work!

Who made the blade that's in those scales?

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

When I look at those scales I think of the term 'old world craftsmanship.' I wonder how many hours it took to carve, insert the decorative pins ? Out of the ordinary for sure. I think the same about the hand filed jimps seen on old Sheffields. Completely uniform in depth and spacing. Amazing the skill they had back in those days.

I'm guessing it probably took the old Sheffield scale hafters maybe as much as 20 minutes each for pairs of these scales.

Those old jimps, the perfect ones? The file cutters who did them worked faster than you could imagine. 2-3 grooves per second.

Those guys were FAST and incredibly good.

(And died young of grinders asthma, and were paid poorly)

The blade is a Michel Désiré Pradier's one

Originally Posted by gugi

Just like mine except not broken at the wedge pin - the only question I have is why haven't those showed up at my door.
I knew I am not using that pink whip often enough!!!!


If there was just one set of those, so far we've seen 4 of them. I have to check which day of the week is mine.

I went back and scrutinized the pics of yours and also the one Hoglahoo has in the SRP Wiki, and I think these four are all from the same set.

They've all got the same weird die irregularity on the 'JOHN BARBER' part. It's 'JOH N.BARBER', complete with extraneous punctuation, on all four, which tells me it was a damaged die that they were stamped with.

So, Hoglahoo... What day is yours?

If you find the whole set, you guys should arrange a reunion gather!