Thread: What a silly mistake!

　
This is certainly one of my favorite razors.


Manufactured by John Heiffor at Sheffield many decades ago.

6/8 and near wedge light smiling blade.



Shaves wonderful.

Too pity John made this horrible mistake.

The tang is too short!

Really!












I cannot hold it right and that is something that makes me mad every time I use it.



　




I was thinking if it would be possible to make a second hole in the shank and resclale the blade with the same scales which I love in order to make the tang a bit longer.
Would you find this possible?

It might be easy if the tang is not as hard as the rest of the blade, which with old razors like this is not uncommon. A solid carbide bit might get through it. If it proves too hard, you could try spot-annealing - run a scrap bit at high speed till it glows red, and let it cool in contact with the tang. I suppose you could wrap the blade with some heat resisting material and heat the tip of the tang carefully, or use a diamond coated reamer.

It might be easier than you think, though - you won't know until you try.

It would give you a little more clearance - more could be had by slightly reshaping the heel of the razor.

You could also re-contour the scales, but seeing as you like them as they are that's probably not a viable course of action.

Regards,
Neil

Thank you Neil!


Do you have in mind anyone that could do this job for me?
Of course he will be paid for this.

IMO, if thats the way it was orig made,would not mess with it.

One other thing - the whole blade will sit in the scales further along,towards the wedge, so the wedge would probably have to be shortened.

Drop me a PM if you like.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

IMO, if thats the way it was orig made,would not mess with it.

Cann't say you are wrong, but I have large fingers and I cannot control it easily. Some day, an accident will happen.

Originally Posted by Slur

Cann't say you are wrong, but I have large fingers and I cannot control it easily. Some day, an accident will happen.

Than get rid of the razor.Your dealing with historical artifacts. To modify these old blades is just wrong IMO.
Your blade tho,hope all works out.

By "tang" do you mean monkey tail?

Monkey tails shorter than we are used to today were common at the time your razor was made. It is no mistake by the cutler, it's just how they were made at the time.
The monkey tail evolved from nothing at all to the modern form over the course of more than a hundred years.

I'd also think hard before drilling holes in a 150+ year old piece of history.

Yes HNSB, it's the monkey tail.

And of course I understand it is not a mistake


Already feel remorse with your posts

If you really want the tail to be longer why not glue on a piece of horn on the underside of the tail and let it extend it, it could be made in a good style with the scales and it can be removed later.