Thread: The Butchered Blade

Never underestimate the cleaning power of steel wool. You can get a lot done with 000 and WD-40 and then go to 0000 and WD-40 and then 0000 and polish and then just polish. It will not remove any healthy steel but when combine with a healthy quality of elbow grease it will get rid of just the rust and corrosion. I think that is a prime candidate for very little work and keeping the old girl looking her age but much much healthier, the scale just need to be cleaned and soaked in neatsfoot oil by the looks of things.

Originally Posted by tonybee

I don't know if this is the right thread but I need some help here.
This John Barber & son I got in the mail today has probably been re ground as can be seen in the photos.

Hey Tonybee,
Im MikeT, havent been around for a while so Im jumping back in here Good to meet you.

I believe you are right, this John Barber & Son is a re-grind from the looks of things. When rattler and concave grinds became popular soon after introduced, many blades with enough meat still left or simply unused in stock were re-ground to meet this demand instead of making new blades from scratch. This was quicker and hey if the older grind wasnt selling...
Anyway the telltale marks to look for are stamps that terminate with the new grind.. They would grind the blade and often the new grind would not allow room for the whole tang stamp.
This is seen on various re-grinds though I think Ive seen it most on the rattler and concave grinds as this one you have was often called. Some people mistakenly call it a faux frameback. Much information is probably incomplete concerning this topic but this is how I understand it..
Anyway, now that I look over your post I dont think you were looking for that info, but just thought Id put my 2cents in since the other suggestions given by the other guys is good info.
I do love the rattler and concave grinds! Easy to work on (unless deep pitting on thin grind), and great shavers! Have fun

Thank you MikeT,
Your info clearifies a lot about the background of this razor. Much appreciated.

I am with Karl on it. Lots of razors were reground, but I don't think in the fashion of a factory rattler grind.
Looks original to me. Tang stamps are sometimes light, skewed, and missing a bit as they were done by hand.
Indeed, it seems that some models of razors produced did not lend themselves to the current stamp being used at the time, I think?
Stamped as best possible?

Anyhoo, everyone go see Shaun's (Rezdog's) birthday shave on SOTD! Quite good, I think!

Welcome aboard the thread tonybee. It might be my eyes or I see a slight frown on it but it's still a nice piece. This thread was pretty active for some time & then a lot of us ran out of butchered blades but I have acquired a few lately. I have too many irons in the fire right now but better than none. I also have some I've started on & haven't finished so we will be getting busy again I hope! Gotta deal with the rest of the world too.............
Love your SOTD's!

Nice looking rattler and I did not know that the blade had a heel to toe grind stroke, interesting bit, thanks Karl.
MikeT, see you in a month, when you get all caught up on the posts you missed...

Originally Posted by MikeB52

Nice looking rattler and I did not know that the blade had a heel to toe grind stroke, interesting bit, thanks Karl.
MikeT, see you in a month, when you get all caught up on the posts you missed...

B52, I always figured that's the way they ground those because there is no other way I can think of.
Yeah, MikeT has some catching up to do. Then we all kinda moved to "What Are You Working On" & back & forth some................
What's in the mail............& so on along with all the other things.

Oh Ive been doing some reading, hard to know where to start though. Figured the butchered blade and what are you working on... Im a slow reader so it will take a while!
Im assuming there was a good thread resolving this regrind topic while I was away?

Originally Posted by MikeTT

Im assuming there was a good thread resolving this regrind topic while I was away?

Not really, MikeTTTTttttttt! Everyone just assumed you were WRONG!
(Aren't you happy to be back?)

On the topic of the grind. It is a rattler. If it is a regrind it was done forever ago and isn't really relevant from my perspective. The only real point is that it is a pretty kicking razor from a really old name. MikeT has a lot of homework to do. Steve has been really quiet and Shaun has not really been doing much productive in the razor department. But soon...