Thread: Two Recent Ebay Acquisitions

I won this Packwood. I am going to try and salvage the scales on both of them if at all possible.


Next is this sweet Frederich Reynolds 7/8" with barbers notch.

Gorgeous looking razors! Good luck on the project!

Thank you sir!
The show side of the Packwood blade has some etching on it and what I think it says is, 'Thomas Attwood'?

Cool old razors. That etching might be hard to save but I have resurrected one using gun bluing and then "sanding"with plain paper wrapped tightly on a dowel rod. I think I used newspaper. The etching is minutely lower than the rest of the face.

Thanks Paul. I didn't know about that. I will try it. How do you apply the gun bluing and what's the procedure?

Nice additions. I look forward to your progress reports.

Nice grab.!
U betcha those scales can be saved.

I used a q-tip and try to stay as much in the rectangle as possible. Let it stand for a few minutes to darken and dry. The lettering is raised so when you rub it with the paper it will buff it off the lettering and leave it in the etched part...if all works well at least. Try to keep the paper as tight around the dowel or metal or hard plastic tube as possible. The good news is even very light sanding will take the bluing off just as it will take the etching off so you can't really hurt anything. If it doesn't work out it doesn't work out and you're only out the cost of the bluing and your time. But if it works out it will hopefully be great. Good luck!

Thank you all! Here are a few more pics. Paul, I'm sorry I don't understand what you are describing to do.
The words are very faint and that is what I am trying to preserve if at all possible. I filed off the old pinning enough that I was able to salvage the old washers and they are reusable. They are star washers which surprises me somewhat. Lots of hone wear on the spine.
Thanks again guys.

The writing is an acid etch, or more precisely within an acid etch. It was done by putting a shield called a resist on the blade. It "resists" the etching of the acid on the metal. The part that is covered by the resist does not get eaten away (etched) by the acid and so is raised slightly above the part that was etched. The acid when applied eats away some of the metal but also darkens it giving it depth, relief and also shading. When you apply the bluing it darkens it also, the whole surface but doesn't really eat it away like.the acid did. Then, if you use a paper tightly wrapped around a dowel (to fit within the hollow of the grind) and rub it like sanding it will remove the bluing from the still raised lettering, leaving it more silver, without reaching down to the etched part, leaving it darkened like the original etch. This, if done right and carefully will make it look like it did originally with the lettering high and silver and the etched portion relieved and dark. If it is worn too much it may not be possible to polish the bluing off the high spots leaving the lettering visible but.you can't really mess the blade up trying because if it won't work you can easily remove.the.bluing with no harm to the blade. Acid etchings are rather delicate and even light sanding will remove them.

Hope that helped. Didn't mean to over 'splain but if there is enough left it would be nice to be able to resurrect it.