W. Greaves Pressed Horn - Restore Suggestions?

I just received this W. Greaves and am thinking about what to do with it. I want to proceed carefully. I understand its around 200 years old (1816 or earlier). I don’t know yet if I am going to shave with it or not. I’d appreciate any thoughts.

The blade is about 11/16ths. The scales are pressed horn with an equestrian scene on one side, and the pivot end on that side is missing.

One thought is to clean and polish it a bit, replace the scales, then mount the razor and original pressed scale in a picture frame.

Another idea is to send the scales off to be repaired, probably with a liner and attached new piece of horn.

Thought I should start with a soak in neatsfoot oil and a q-tip cleaning - in case scales are brittle and to see what I’ve got to work with.

What would you do?
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Id say it is repairable. A few folks here are good at doing this work. Someone should chime in soon and give you some ideas. Shave with it or hang it on the wall. Either way, you have a nice piece of history.

It's doable. No soak in neetfoot just yet... Here;
https://straightrazorpalace.com/cust...d-marsden.html

Scales like that I think are definitely worth the effort.
Blade looks like it has some meat to work with.
:)
Nice project!

Edit: I wonder if it would be better for this particular cross break to put some kind of liner. Is the epoxy alone strong enough being that the break is across and not as close to the pivot. If so what liner?

The first thought that comes to mind is cut ou the scene, a a piece of bone and mount it all on a silver liner. Of course there are many things you could do. That was the first one I could think of.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

The first thought that comes to mind is cut ou the scene, a a piece of bone and mount it all on a silver liner. Of course there are many things you could do. That was the first one I could think of.

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I like that idea. In the past I made the mistake of cutting it out and mounting it only on one side.. this in time caused the uneven flex of the scales as they were uneven strength.
... so do it on both sides...?

There you guys go......Over-complicating things again..........

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Well, I really enjoy the simplicity of traditional Japanese sushi, yet find myself often ordering over-complicated American origin sushi rolls with often delightful flavor combinations..
";"

Edit: I'm mostly curious as to whether or not a simple splice/extension in the spot it's in does not warrant some extra support.. but I don't have the experience to say.

Well. It could come-out looking like a Lancet Phrank bought.
Did not suit him one bit......Nor would it suit myself.

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That is sort of the concept but not the execution I was thinking about.
More along the lines of the piece recently posted by Thaeris
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I agree. Not very apealing.

If you had the broken piece it could be repaired and lined and look nice in the end.

But what Rez posted looks good.

Indeed, I have found an ancient piece of horn is easy to match-up with another ancient piece.
Just have to look at several ancient pieces! ;)

I’m sure there are several ways to skin this cat. Matching in some old horn works well, I think Zac has posted a few of those.
Mike has done some cool work with structural epoxy and horn and bog oak dust.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

That is sort of the concept but not the execution I was thinking about.
More along the lines of the piece recently posted by Thaeris
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True, but look at the back scale....Perfect.
The pressing takes-up most of the front scale.
In addition, these oldies don't have much, if any taper to the tang.
The scales don't get stressed!

If it were mine, I reckon I know what I would do.
Something like this needs to be kept proper.

Liners, surgery, etc will destroy it's historical significance.
Not to mention collector value.
JMO

Carry-on! :)

Gentlemen, thank you for all your thoughts. It’s very helpful.

Like @rezdog my first thought was to do something with just the illustration part.

Thank you @sharptonn for the link. I think that should be my goal. Although I’ll likely unpin it to work on the blade.

So, step 1 will be diluted simple green cleaning of blade and scales. Also steel wool and Flitz on the blade. I’ll post some pics when its cleaner.

By the way, It appears to be translucent brown when held to the light.

It's really very nice. A rare thing.

Good to not go too far and restore too much.


I hope you understand what a soak in neetsfoot does for them.
Granted, after repairs are made.
Hard to get things to adhere to oily surfaces?

Looking forward to see where you go with it!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

I hope you understand what a soak in neetsfoot does for them.

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No, I really don’t have any first hand experience with it. I’ve read it conditions/hydrate them. Maybe loosens any gook on them.

Yet repairs should be made first? Important.
'Hard to get things to adhere to oily surfaces? '

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

Just have to look at several ancient pieces! ;)

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What have my old girlfriends got to do with this? ;)

Bob

As Rez mentioned, I would look into Outbacks work using bog oak dust and structural epoxy to make a scale 'bondo' to fill in a missing piece. He has had some incredible results with this technique.

Be old razor by the way.

Ok. I’ve done a 1st cleaning.

I used diluted Simple Grean and q-tips on the scales. Then some flitz. They almost looked black, but they are brown:

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The blade has some heavy pitting, esp in 2nd pic. Also, some diagonal sanding marks in pic 2 - is it possible that this is original grinding marks?

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I haven’t gotten to do anymore work on my razor. But, I did find some information about it dating it to 1810.

This razor is pictured on the Henry T. Lummus article on old Sheffiled razors. The description for razor F: date 1810. Maker, William Greaves, Sheffield 1780-1816. Inscription, "W.GREAVES, WARRANTED" handle, black horn, pressed to show fox hunt.

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I've repaired horn scales like that.
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No liner..!!

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Originally Posted by outback

I've repaired horn scales like that.
...snip...

No liner..!!

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Mike did you use some kind of stabilizer bars of some kind inside? I always worry it's gonna snap off on fixes of cross breaks like that..

Nope...just structural epoxy n Big oak, dust.

I gave it quite a bit of bending, and didn't break. And gets even stronger over time. Blends real well with black horn, and will take hair dye, if its needed. Those scales were polished, so I had to put a top coat of CA over the repair.
Epoxy doesn't polish up.....

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I still haven’t picked back up on this project. But I did find a pre-Sheafworks Greaves & Sons razor to go with it.

This one looks like it’s in good shape. The scales are dry and maybe delaminated. Based on the earlier thread posts, I am going to soak it in neatsfoot oil before doing anything else.

Before pictures:

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I polished the razor blade and scales and Renwaxed them. I didn’t sand the scales, beause I like the grain in the horn. It seems to adds to the vintage look.

Honed up for tomorrow morning.

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I like the grain when it looks like that too. A little with the grain with 0000 steel wool and oil is all they ever get.

I fixed a savage double thumb notch I had with a missing wedge end on the pressed side. No way was I losing pressed savage scales as they are like hen's teeth so I took a wrecked piece of scale from an 1830s razor that was almost visually identical, shaped the join to maximize contact, fused it with devcon 2 ton epoxy reshaped it, lubed the horn, drilled it out and it has been fine ever since. It came out very well for having no machines to help. Attachment 294443Attachment 294444Attachment 294445Attachment 294446Attachment 294447Attachment 294448

KCB, that looks really great.

I got a good shave in this morning. This was the oldest blade I've ever shaved with. At least 195 years old - based on the following:

Manufacturer: William Greaves
Other Names: William Greaves & Sons, W. Greaves & Sons, B.J. Eyre & Company (1850)
Dates in Production: 1780-1858
1780-1816 - Willliam Greaves
1816-1823 - William Greaves & Sons
1823-1826 - Sheaf Works