Thread: Joseph Rodgers 10/8 razor, possibly an earlier model?

Hey, I was the one to get this Joseph Rodgers from the 'bay recently and must say that I am just tickled pink with it. The seller had listed the razor as "1-7/32-inch wide" but as you can see in the photos below I found it to be a true 10/8 and even a shade more. Total weight is 3.55 ounces or 100g, compared to 4.35 ounces for my other 10/8 Rodgers.





The blade has more of what I consider to be the classic Sheffield style with the slight smile to the edge and swayback to the spine compared to my other Joseph Rodgers 10/8 razor (which I have seen other examples and know some of you have). I believe this razor must be an earlier production, evidenced by the lack of "England" on the tang stamp.





Also, note that the tang stamp has a weird curve to it; ScienceGuy had this to say about it, "What's most interesting to me is the distortion of the stamp - it looks as if the stamp was applied and the blade was given a last shaping before hardening." Compared to my other 10/8 Rodgers, this one has a smaller tang, more rounded spine, thinner lighter scales, and a thinner grind, more half hollow versus the quarter hollow of the other.



The scales are just top notch, no cracking or delamination caused by drying out. The horn is the deepest black with just a hint of brown translucency at the tips. Scales are perfectly straight with no warping and the blade closes dead center with good tension on the pivot throughout the arc.













The third razor in the photos is my largest Joseph Elliot which is just a hair under 19/16 and a more traditional near wedge grind.

I polished the razor up and honed it yesterday and took it for a test run today. I hadn't shaved since I won the auction so I had a good five day beard going, haha. The razor was quick to set a bevel (used one layer of 3M Super 88 tape along the spine) with a thin, even bevel along the entire length of the blade. Actually, near the round tip on the back side of the blade, the bevel didn't want to quite set. I tried some exaggerated J-strokes on my Chosera 1000, using a good bit of down force, but gave it up once it started cutting some arm hair (but not easily popping hairs like the rest of the edge).

I found it didn't matter as the shave went great; the blade is LOUD, very audible with that thin grind on the lower part of the blade. I will definitely be using this razor for the next week as I like to play a game where I see how much of my face I can shave before the lather falls off, pretty sure I can get half my face with this one!

Imgur album of the photos in slightly higher resolution

Imgur album of my first 10/8 Rodgers