What's that you say? Peter Derringer Thomas?

Nope, it's his brother Fill.

I got a very nice package today.


http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...-pict0008.html
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...-pict0011.html
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...-pict0010.html
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...-pict0009.html

Stupid camera, focusing on the platform instead of the razor in all but the last pic.

In the box beside it came its friend, Sir Swaty.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...-pict0012.html


Condition if you can't tell.

Fill is damn near mint. Clearly not NOS as there is some minor hone wear and some buffing scratches on the sides... but hone wear is very minor and he's nice and shiny. Scales are clearly not original, but are absolutely gorgeous, very unique, and fitted quite well.

Swaty has a perfect front except for minor chips at each corner that I doubt are noticeable in use. Back has a larger chip at a bottom corner.

I got each of them for half a song.

Also snagged a quite nice Rex brush with a very full and good-textured knot and a handsome, but somewhat cheap-looking handle. It came with a 6/8" union cutlery with a big chip on blade (will be a 5/8 once I remove chip) that is literally coated in rust (Or else rust-colored and textured as a feature :P). The scale is interesting. It's undamaged, but one side is smooth/waxy (like most cellulose), but the other side, I swear feels like someone intentionally attached emery particles to it. It's got the texture of 50grit sandpaper evenly adhered about 80% of the length. And it's not sandpaper wear, it actually feels like sandpaper itself. The only thing I can figure is some kind of self-adhering grit got spilled on it or Maybe the owner wanted to be able to grip it better so did it intentionally? It is a puzzling question. Those two also came with a rusty old accordion mirror, with a number of scuffs on the surface (but still good enough to use). I may fix the metal up enough that it's actually usable eventually, but it's a BIG job. There is a lot of rust pretty much everywhere.

Wow Ian! Who did the scales and how do they handle?

No idea. It's a gift from the Bay.

I haven't shaved yet. Opened it about an hr ago and haven't even checked the edge yet... because if I do, I KNOW I wont be able to resist bringing it shave ready and shaving with it tonight... and I have way too much homework to get distracted with that. I plan to get it done this Sunday.

Just speaking from opening and closing it. I LOVE them. The extra wide spacer (actually it's a SINGLE piece of wood, but cut extra wide) allows the blade to stay snug but not tight for the full rotation (~330 degree's I'd guess). There is almost no variance in resistance as you slide it open and closed. It's really impressive. I don't really touch the scales all that much while I shave (I just pass 1-2 fingers over them), but I do notice that little downward curve just before the pin fits my fingers second knuckle just perfectly, perhaps adding a touch more stability. It feels nice. I'll ask the seller if he knows where the scales came from, as they are really impressing me. I bought it figuring, "Oh well, not original scales, but at this price, worth it," but now I'm glad it has these scales. They really are that nice.

Well, I checked it. It was pretty close to a shave ready edge, so I swiped it on swaty about 10 times, chrox, stropped and shaved. Kind of a Meh shave. Turned out the tip and center were sharp but heel needs a little work, so I'm gonna hit it a few laps on my king 4k and then back to the swaty.

The scales and the fact that it's a tiny 4/8 make it very easy to handle, and I was able to left hand shave pretty much anywhere I wanted (which I can't do with most razors).


edit: 30strokes on 4k, 10 on swaty, 10 strops on chrox, 20 on leather and it passes HHT with a chuckle and a snort.

In the end it turned out that Honing did nothing due to inappropriate bevel angle. Reset it, honed and polished on my new Karasu for the best shave mankind has ever known. That Karasu makes me understand why people pay thousands of dollars for the right Jnat. If it gets better than that, I'm afraid I would risk standing in front of my mirror in slack-jawed catatonia.

Here's an image of the razor (blade only) as it now stands.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...-resetting.jpg


I was going to add it to the database, as there's no 4/8 Doble in there that I could find, but needs original scales... bah.