Thread: Advice needed on this Judge Henry Lummus, Wade & Butcher

If you're intent on doing something to it, try removing the scales, soaking them in hot water (not boiling) on the stove for a period until they are slightly pliable, and figure out a wood jig to hold them in place the way you want them to be. Then put the whole setup in the oven on 110 degrees for a few hours. When removed, the scales will be in the shape you made them. This method is used for bending wood. I'd only try this if the lettering you are trying to save is engraved, not painted on. Then, you can buff them with a dremel

I have unpinned it and am currently polishing the blade, I will try your method of straightening the scales and put it all back together.

Thanks for the tips.

the code is similar to a recent string of crop circles. proceed cautiously.

My personal Henry Lummus Rodgers in horn with "crop circles" arrived yesterday...

Originally Posted by AntiqueHoosier

My personal Henry Lummus Rodgers in horn with "crop circles" arrived yesterday...

If he used Braille that would be a letter "p" on the left and depending on whehter the pin is counted or not, it might be an "e" a "5" or a "ch".

Well I took my time with this one and there was alot more work in this than meets the eye.

I put around 4-5 hours of handsanding into the blade, couldnt get all the pitting out but I am satisfied with results.

The scales were first straightened by soaking in near boiling water and then taped to a slightly curved former and left to cool.
Next I got some enamal paint in red and white and went over the dots and writing to accentuate the 'code'
The scales were cracked at the pivot and this has been fixed and strengthened with superglue.
When I was re pinning I also cracked the scales in another location so had to fix that too (tip: bone is very brittle, go easy with the peening hammer!)

I then lightly sanded the scales and applied a coat of Tru Oil which was then buffed.

I think this has turned out to be a fine investment!

Oh by the way...it shaves lovely!!
(phone cam pics, I cant find my decent camera?)

Nice work. It is amazing what one can do with hard work an patience.

Everything I can find out about Henry P. Lummus is about the razor articles, but a He ry Lummus was a member of the Massachussetts Supreme Court sometime after 1827. So are some about a Henry T(for Tilton) Lummus, 1876-1960.

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Henry T is the only one who appears in a BookFinder.com: Search for New & Used Books, Textbooks, Out-of-Print and Rare Books search, for legal texts.

I don't know whether this is someone's typo being perpetuated by others, or whether there were two Lummuses. But both point pretty squarely at a legal family in Massachussetts. I once worked in Saudi Arabia with an English language teacher, a worthless ne'er-do-well who soon departed on a semi-voluntary basis. But his name, which was distinctive, matched that of someone struck off the Oklahoma bar for possession of prohibited substances many years before. It is a small world.

I have a razor very much like Jaycey's, but bought minus scales. It was described on the spine as the "Superior Concave" (for that curious, longitudinal, large-wheel substitute for hollow grinding), and "India Fine Steel". Mine is now bright polished and in bone scales. It must have been a pretty effective lightweight razor. I have an almost identical blade on its way to me from Wade and Butcher Wedge Straight Razor, No Handle | eBay . This one is marked as the Celebrated Anglo-Saxon Concave razor, which I find rather charming despite being pretty well pure Celt as far as I know.

Wonder what Lummus had against Frederick Reynolds razors... In the article he wrote they they are worthless?