Thread: Tapered blades.

One must really wonder about these Tapered blade razors...

Originally Posted by Phrank

Wolfpack, do you think you could grind this one down to look like your's?

Go with me here, just spit ballin'.....

I suppose anything is possible Andrew....although I wouldn't attempt it. That is a very similar blade except for the barbers notch and the thickness of the spine at the toe. Trying to make a tapered blade out of that razor would mean grinding right into the notch. I like it the way it is.

Originally Posted by karlej;

... Fantastic contrasting finishes on that blade. Excellent restoration.

Thanks Karl!

Yeah, boy-oh-boy, that razor is a beauty wolfpack! Made my day to see that on here. So very nice!

Originally Posted by Martin103

One must really wonder about these Tapered blade razors...

Some of them can be ambiguous. The ones with original finish are definitely not, and Wade & Butcher did have some as-made tapered blades (judging by ones with undisturbed finish). For ones like the one in that picture, yeah it's a tough call.

Originally Posted by ScienceGuy

Some of them can be ambiguous. The ones with original finish are definitely not, and Wade & Butcher did have some as-made tapered blades (judging by ones with undisturbed finish). For ones like the one in that picture, yeah it's a tough call.

Not really a tough call at all. This blade (W&B) was pristine as far the blade profile. Never been reground or re-shaped. I just got rid of the rust etc. that is still evidenced in your example.

Originally Posted by Wolfpack34

Not really a tough call at all. This blade (W&B) was pristine as far the blade profile. Never been reground or re-shaped. I just got rid of the rust etc. that is still evidenced in your example.

Thanks. I couldn't tell much from the resolution of the photos.

I recently landed this great tapered Joseph Elliot Silver Steel from the razor wilds and am adding the info that follows as an additional reference to this thread.

Since the razor has not had any restoration work and doesn't have much blade wear (other than time), I think it's a nice tapered-blade example.

I didn't need to use calipers for verification…a good machinist’s ruler was sufficient.

The quill-back spine goes from 3/8 at the toe to 1/4 at the heel.

It's hitting between 1/2 - 17/32 near the toe and ranging about 11/16 near the heel (the measurement variability is from the blade’s smile).

I believe what looks like hone wear along the lower edges of the spine isn't wear but rather was intentional. Those flats run consistently on along both sides of the blade, are darn near the same width down the entire blade length, and are the same width on each side of the blade.

Also, the bevel lines are thin and uniformly tight on both sides of the blade. There is no bevel creep or etc. whatsoever up the blade…one would expect to see some evidence of bevel creep or at least some wavy unevenness along the bevel line on either side of the blade if those flats are the result of excessive hone wear.

My conclusions are the flats were perhaps honing aids, that the razor didn't see much action over the years, or whoever did do all that honing to cause the flats was one helluva honer to have maintained such a tight and even bevel on both sides of the blade.

In terms of restoration…am going to leave the razor basically as is. I'll do some work on the scales to rejuvenate them, give the blade a go over with some hand polish (no mechanical buffing or etc.), and then take it to the stones so it's shave ready.

Nice score! Usually when I see flat spots on the spine that might indicate hone wear can be proven if there are some slightly uneven marks on the sides of the spine right around the heel. Aside from that, your nice example there doesn't appear to have any of this uneveness which would be a sightly different angle from honing. Did that make sense? I hope I was able to get my point across. In other words, I agree with you Jay. Not only that but there isn't hardly any bevel. I seem to find the Marshes & Shepherd's which I have 2-3 of plus I do believe I have a F. Fenney tapered blade.

Thanks! Yep, what you shared totally makes sense. Yeah, none of the tell-tell signs of excessive hone wear are on the blade. It really was a nice find and a great tapered blade example!

Sweet find.!