Thread: 1820's John Barber restoration.

Originally Posted by ScienceGuy

Lookin great, buddy. Much more than I would have done with it.

And to think, you gave up the opportunity to track down 2.06mm diameter brass rod! Just imagine all the razors you could've put together with it.

Originally Posted by johnmrson

Great job. I really like the fact that you were able to keep the original scales. It adds greatly to the historical aspect of the razor I think.

I'm all about keeping the original scales. Partly because I love working with horn (everybody's weird in one way or another, this is one of the many ways I'm weird), partly because I like to maintain as much continuity as possible with the original.

Originally Posted by HARRYWALLY

I have the exact same blade. Out of the 22 razors I own, its for sure my favorite!!! Yours ls also in superb condition for its age. Congratulations on this blade and what an awesome job you did on it. I'm sure it will treat you well!!

John Barber was among the earliest cutlers to have his razors advertised by name in the United States (the first was Savigny, in an 1801 ad from Charleston, SC). In 1822, Barber's razors were being sold along side Rodgers as quality goods. He seems to have originated the 'Old English' mark. In fact, Barber was so successful he (like Rogers) had imitators. Isaac Barber (razors stamped I. Barber at a time when using a capital I in place of a J was still done in marketing) made razors in almost exactly the same style as John Barber and even started stamping them 'Old English'.

Voidmonster, that is history given new life. A glorious life, I might add. What a handsome and dashing razor. Well done, especially since you preserved everything.

Interesting read, and a wonderful original restoration, came out really nice, Enjoy!

Nice restore! Keeping the original scales makes it that much better! Enjoy it

You deserve a good shave after all that resto work. Nice job..

Jerry
____

What a nice blade. Your patience paid off.

Nice save. Should be good for at least another hundred!

I LIKE the look of the blade.
NICE job on the restore. She is a LOOKER!
Hope it shaves as good as it looks!

Just beautiful work... and a fascinating post! I have an "I.Barber" stubtail (7/8")-- the name stamped in the same place, same blade design, with "Silver Steel" on the front of the tang, and no maker's mark. What's really interesting is that after reading some posts by gssixgun about his satin finish method, I decided to refinish my blade with the spine and tang polished to a mirror finish, but the blade in satin. And now I've run across this one of yours! Great minds, eh?

Anyway, my new shipment of wet/dry sandpaper arrived in today's mail, so I'll be starting on it this weekend. You weren't my inspiration, but I value "proof of concept" even more!!

Photos will be taken... and, eventually, posted.

The first two are of the blade as-is/was



The second two are after "fooling around" with 1500-grit sandpaper (was the lowest grit I had, at the time)
The scratches came with the blade, and will be dealt-with.

Originally Posted by JBHoren

Just beautiful work... and a fascinating post! I have an "I.Barber" stubtail (7/8")-- the name stamped in the same place, same blade design, with "Silver Steel" on the front of the tang, and no maker's mark. What's really interesting is that after reading some posts by gssixgun about his satin finish method, I decided to refinish my blade with the spine and tang polished to a mirror finish, but the blade in satin. And now I've run across this one of yours! Great minds, eh?

Anyway, my new shipment of wet/dry sandpaper arrived in today's mail, so I'll be starting on it this weekend. You weren't my inspiration, but I value "proof of concept" even more!!

Photos will be taken... and, eventually, posted.

The first two are of the blade as-is/was



The second two are after "fooling around" with 1500-grit sandpaper (was the lowest grit I had, at the time)
The scratches came with the blade, and will be dealt-with.

A lot of the older blades had a finishing treatment like that, or inversed (crocus blade face and glazed spine and tang). It's a really neat look and I'm surprised more people don't do it. The first time I noticed it was this Elliot razor, but knowing what to look for, I now see it pretty commonly on razors from the 1810-1840 range.

One of the tricks I use to get a blade finish with hand-sanding is to always make sure I move the paper in the same direction the grinding wheel or polishing wheel would've gone originally... Which can be a real pain sometimes (and a literally bloody pain when not careful), but I think the results are worth it.

Maybe I should diagram it sometime. But basically, it means no sanding lengthwise along the blade. Though, there are some styles of grind where they *did* run the wheel that direction (the 'faux-frameback' or 'rattler' grind).