Thread: John Barber pair in piqued ivory

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!

I did a partial restoration on the one I got, including a very light regrind to remove a previous very light regrind. (Thank you 10Pups!)







Heh. I'm so used to not polishing the jimps¹ out that I left a bit of crud there. Oh well! Easy to fix.

1. Traditionally the jimps were rarely ever polished, probably because most razors were polished on a lead lapping wheel and polishing the jimps would rake big grooves in the surface.

Splendide restoration !

Smaller parts, such as the tang and jimps, were often polished using small diameter wheels and wheels that were very thin. Longer flat surfaces were often dressed using plain hardwood wheels with 'deadened' (ie well used or pulverised) 'crocus' (hard iron oxide that accumulated against the bottom and sides of the baking pots - the softer type in the middle was sold to colourmen and jewellers) mixed with suet and beeswax, and small serrated surfaces like jimps were polished (mostly on the top) with a small wooden wheel dressed with very thick leather - this got into all the crevices, unlike the lead-lapped wheel which would be injured if brought up against a serrated surface.

Traditionally, walrus leather was used. It was/is so thick, that it was ideally suited for buffing wheels. Back in the day seal hide was substituted for walrus as it had the same sort of thickness and 'give' to it.

As more of a 'glaze' finish was required, the speed of the buffing wheel would go up from2,500 sfpm to over 7,000 sfpm and the wheel would change from soft walrus hide, to hard leather and then to plain hardwood.

Regards,
Neil

The terms used were 'black polishing' for the main part of the blade and 'glazing' for the shanks, tail, etc.

The work was carried out by women and small boys usually.

Great job on the Barber Zak! It really came out nice. Can't wait to see it!

Great post Neil! I've been experimenting with a 'soft' satin look using 800 grit Crocus cloth and I really like the way the finish looks. I wonder if a hard wheel (maybe Sisal?) that has been pasted or 'rubbed with' lead... similar to a lead pasted strop... would work like a lead lapping plate? I think I might give it a try to see what happens...

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Smaller parts, such as the tang and jimps, were often polished using small diameter wheels and wheels that were very thin. Longer flat surfaces were often dressed using plain hardwood wheels with 'deadened' (ie well used or pulverised) 'crocus' (hard iron oxide that accumulated against the bottom and sides of the baking pots - the softer type in the middle was sold to colourmen and jewellers) mixed with suet and beeswax, and small serrated surfaces like jimps were polished (mostly on the top) with a small wooden wheel dressed with very thick leather - this got into all the crevices, unlike the lead-lapped wheel which would be injured if brought up against a serrated surface.

Traditionally, walrus leather was used. It was/is so thick, that it was ideally suited for buffing wheels. Back in the day seal hide was substituted for walrus as it had the same sort of thickness and 'give' to it.

As more of a 'glaze' finish was required, the speed of the buffing wheel would go up from2,500 sfpm to over 7,000 sfpm and the wheel would change from soft walrus hide, to hard leather and then to plain hardwood.

Regards,
Neil

The terms used were 'black polishing' for the main part of the blade and 'glazing' for the shanks, tail, etc.

The work was carried out by women and small boys usually.

Originally Posted by Wolfpack34

Great post Neil! I've been experimenting with a 'soft' satin look using 800 grit Crocus cloth and I really like the way the finish looks. I wonder if a hard wheel (maybe Sisal?) that has been pasted or 'rubbed with' lead... similar to a lead pasted strop... would work like a lead lapping plate? I think I might give it a try to see what happens...

Using a serious respirator!

beautiful scales!

I have had the pleasure of holding this razor and it looks better live that's for sure. Not that your photography is bad Zak :<0).... I have to admit I closed my eyes and held my hands over my ears when he tightened the pivot pin. My pin anvil is very sturdy but still ....