Oh man, not another George Brittain thread!

[Voidmonster]

Yeah, sorry. Another George Brittain thread.

Though, not just George Brittain, and not one of those artless bristle cleavers remarkable only for being huge.


Their listed trademarks circa 1787

This is a Brittain, Wilkinson & Brownell razor. My best guess on date is between 1800 and 1810. The firm goes back to 1774 or so and it hosted an incredible number of early luminaries. Broomhead and Ibberson were both associated, if only briefly.

But that's boring. Here's the razor.



I got it in the original paddle-strop box. At this point, all the leather is gone and most of the cloth interior too. Thankfully, the razor is in quite good shape. It did have a thin orange glaze of rust which I scrubbed off before taking pictures (which is why it looks sanded -- I sanded it a little).



Wait, is it Brittain or France!? To which I say 'yes'. And while I have no doubt that any number of jokes were made from the very beginning about Brittain having the France mark, in this case it probably refers to Jonathan France, a file-cutter and one of the founding members of the company. Not, apparently, so important that he got into the byline though.



The scales are clearly the product of a beetle feast, but I shouldn't have much trouble fixing them up.



It's a somewhat unusual blade shape. The entire body of the blade has a quill profile, even the tang. There's that hint of a thumb hollow and most intriguingly, an etched line at the end of the cutting edge, just before the slight hollowing of the blade. That's not a crack.



There you can see how the slope of the spine comes to a point, and how the tang tapers down to be very thin at the tail.

It feels wonderful in hand, with superb balance and just the right weight for its size. Generally, it is far better made than almost all the razors I've handled from the era.

This just makes those huge GB stamped razors even sadder to me, like looking at American cars built in the 1980's. It would seem that Verdon Brittain did not inherit -- along with the company -- a sense of aesthetics.

[Hirlau]

I'd clean her up & shave with her tonight.
Thanks for sharing her.

[Voidmonster]

I'd clean her up & shave with her tonight.
Thanks for sharing her.

There's enough accumulated crud in the pivot that it doesn't fully open, so I need to take it out of the scales first, unfortunately. Otherwise I'd be at the hone right now.

[JimmyHAD]

Gorgeous !

[Hirlau]

Just my thoughts;
I would not remove those scales, maybe they get broken, what a shame. I would try the Scrubbing Bubbles, maybe? I cannot decide unless I saw them in person. If it's just "crud" , try to desolve the crud before un-pinning it.
Un-pinning to me would be the last option.

[Voidmonster]

Just my thoughts;
I would not remove those scales, maybe they get broken, what a shame. I would try the Scrubbing Bubbles, maybe? I cannot decide unless I saw them in person. If it's just "crud" , try to desolve the crud before un-pinning it.
Un-pinning to me would be the last option.

Eh. I'm pretty cavalier about un-pinning. With this one, I'm about %90 certain I can get it out of the scales without even losing the original collars.

[Hirlau]

I'm sure you are very good with your pinning, I just have a rule , "Clean it if you can, un-pin it as a last resort."
Either way, let us see the results, they should look good either way.

[Voidmonster]

I'm sure you are very good with your pinning, I just have a rule , "Clean it if you can, un-pin it as a last resort."
Either way, let us see the results, they should look good either way.

I've been gently working it open and closed and I think I can get it usable without taking it apart. I don't currently have the time to really devote to doing any kind of fix up, so it might well just get honed and used.

I shaved with my 1820's Lord & Harvey today, in honor of the new old guy.

And I was thinking, "man, this is like the 3rd or 4th razor I've got from the era, I should put them all together for a class reunion photo!"

Er, I was wrong about how many Sheffield razors I've got from before 1820.

I think this is most of them. I think.



Edited to add: duh! I forgot to name them. Counterclockwise:

1. Brittain, Wilkinson & Brownell
2. Wilson & Co.
3. Clark & Hall
4. Thomas Scargill (those are dyed horn scales, not shell)
5. Robert Wade (stamped just WADE, with a very worn E)
6. Robert Wade (stamped R. Wade / Warranted)
7. Rhodes & Champion, with an artificial heel filed onto the bottom and repinned into ugly modern(ish) celluloid -- I need to give this razor some tender loving.
8. Rhodes & Champion

[chay2K]

That is definitely the most gracefully shaped stubtail blade that I've seen, I love it! Congrats, that is a once in a a lifetime find.

[gooser]

beautiful razor !!!!!!!!! then you have to make me even more envious with the pics od all those other beauties !!!