View attachment 235975
SOTD TUESDAY MORNING, September 29, 2002
Talk about serendipity! I stopped at an antique furniture dealer to pick up a bench SWMBO purchased. When I entered I saw a bunch of old barbering supplies and tools on the cashier’s table. Chatted up the owner and discovered my old barber had passed and this guy had bought his old shop chair. In the pocket were two razors. One was an old Pearl Duck with a cracked blade and the other was a Frederick Reynolds with what looked like a black blade. I mentioned that my son was a bladesmith and could use the black blade.
I gave the guy $10 for it. Got it home, cleaned up the blade with some ultra fine steel wool. Discovered that the black material on the blade was old dried oil. Did some research and discovered it was a Victorian era razor from the stamp ‘R’ overlaying a ‘V’ standing for Regina Victoria. So I know it was made between 1837 and 1901. Further research revealed it had bovine horn scales, a little worse for the wear, but still usable. The blade edge was chipped along its entire length. Worked off the chips on a coarse DMT plate. The blade was crazy wavy! Spent close to 3 1/2 hrs setting the bevel and finishing the edge, and decided to shave with it next day morning.
Spoke to Glen Mercurio who is restoring another vintage straight for me, and mentioned this razor. When he heard I’d restored the edge without taping the spine he was horrified, telling me how I probably devalued the razor by doing so. Oh well, I don’t really give a hoot! I’ll let my son worry about my straight razors after I’m pushing up daisies. All I know is that I had probably one of the best straight razor shaves ever. The blade was lighter than I’m used to, but the Barber’s notch made two handed use on my neck very easy! Great mug shave followed by an excellent dome shave.
RAZOR: Frederick Reynolds Sheffield (Mug), Colonial General V2 w/ Silversmith Handle (Dome)
BLADE: Feather Super AC
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: JR Rosewood Silvertip Badger #378
CREAM: Lush Prince
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with Glyce Glycerin Soap followed by Pre de Provence Balm.
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