Thread: B.J. Erye and Co.

Yep, Tang says:
B.J. Erye and Co.
Late W. Greaves and Sons
Sheffield

Well , you can see the first line and the "d sons"part of it Plus half the word Sheffield. Figuring on this one being my oldest yet razor. 1870's? Any opinions???

I got it off the bay with two others at a cost of 8 bucks each. The scales crumbled. I got to start soaking old scales before taking them apart. This might help save scales. It's a 6/8. I'm starting to find the bigger blades work better for me. I got a few 4/8 and 5/8 but 6/8+ seams to be the right thing for me. The rust way very minimal and just took a little cleaning up. Nothing deap at all. More patina! Went with African Black wood for scales (Given to me by Cudarunner) with a CA Finish. Hoping the oily wood isn't going to cause too much of an issue. Now the blade has a pretty good warp to it so to get it even close to lining up I had to add an extra washer inside on one side. It's good enough now to close without hitting ether side. Went with Glens directions on the CA. Thanks for that Glen! Turned out better than my first try with CA. Also used Lead for the wedge but I didn't get as much spread on the pivot end as I wanted. Oh well, It still works fine. Figured its old and is used to laying close to lead. Ha. The Black wood has a nice grain pattern to it but its hard to see unless in good lighting. I tried to capture it but failed in most the pics.

I still need to hone this one up and I know with the warp in the blade and having a slight smile its going to be a PITA but I'll give it hours of honing until its right. One of the pics shows a bit of a celebration I enjoyed when finished. Two 1.5 oz shots. You might notice that most of my pics from now on are going to have a Hot-wheels Fuel truck in it. I might try to find a different truck but I thought it would make a nice TELL. Ha.

So if you think I did well for a beginner let me know. I'm happy with the outcome. and will spend all damn day tomorrow if I have to honing this thing up. And if I fail I might have to send it out to one of you pros to hone for me but I don't give up easy!

73 and enjoy life!
The Gasman!

One more pic of the tang. I thing the happy juice and metalica playing in my ears is taking affect. Ha.

It's after 1890. Tc

The history of B.J. Eyre is convoluted and relatively long.

However, based on the marks on your razor it can be narrowed down to between 1857 (when his partnership was dissolved and he began operating as B.J. Eyre & Co.) and the early 1870's when Eyre died and the name changed again. In practice, the 'Late Wm. Greaves' mark pins the production as earlier rather than later, since it's advertising that he's the successor to Greaves & Sons, whose workshop he took over after that company folded.

Originally, the razor was a heavier grind but it's been hollowed by a professional at some point (many places around the turn of the century would take old razors and hollow-grind them, even places like Sears).

I had one of those back end of last year, I honed it up for a friend, it took a great edge, congrats on a very nice razor.

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

It's after 1890. Tc

Why do you say this TC?
Its not marked with "England", just Sheffield.

And thanks Voidmonster for the history lesson. So 1857 to 1875. Works for me. Whats 18 years when its 140+ years ago. ha.

Got it honed up. Not too big of a deal. I found a chart that shows what the thickness of the spine should be for a 6/8 blade and with the help of the micrometer I found two layers of tape got me to 16.5 to 17 degrees.
Didn't really have to much of an issue with it. Took me about 3 hours but that's because I'm slow as hell being new to this. Started with Norton 1K and about half way thru found a tiny chip. Went back to the 1K for a bit then bevel looked set. Then the 4k and 8k Nortons. At that time I went to the Botan Nagura. Not sure if I stepped backwards with that move but the scratches got finer so I think it was ok. Than Tenjyou, Mejiro and Tomo. After a good cleaning I took it to the cr0x .30 on a cloth strop. About 20 passes then clean up and 120 passes on leather. I found that the edge got thinner and then wider again so not a perfect grind. I think that is it. I know it wasn't me as I'm careful as can be and slow. Did I say slow already? I'm slow!

The shave was acceptable. Not perfectly sharp as I've gotten from other razors honed by other folks but it was a good shave. After the shave I had not irritation and no more sense of pulling than with other razors.

Here's a couple pics of the finished edge. One still shows some scratches so I might need to go back to the Nagura's again. Comments?

Not paying attention, thought it said England. My mistake. Tc

Jerry, I think that the scales look nice and that your pics do show some of the grain.

The clean up of the razor is also very nice. Not over done.

I'm unfamiliar with the Japanese Rocks however I would suggest that the next time to skip the CrOx and just strop the blade up and give it a full shave. While I Never use CrOx for my razors and I Rarely use CrOx on others (Non was used on your razors), all they get is about 6-7 laps. I'm thinking that you killed the edge a bit with the 20 laps.

If you want to just go back to the Jnat progression and then strop it shouldn't take long at all.

Also don't worry about seeing scratches under that magnification, remember it's just a tool a guide.

Lovely razor, and job on it.
I have one of his, and enjoy it quite a bit.