A few days ago I picked up this Wostenholm Frameback. The frame is marked "G. Wostenholm & Son's Doubly Carbonized I - XL Razor", and the tang is marked "Registered 10 Sep 1850 No 2434" around "I - XL". The scales are horn with a pewter wedge. There is some deterioration of the scales, but not enough to warrant a rescale. The blade + frame varies from 7/8" at its widest to just under 13/16" at its narrowest (heel). The best part of the blade as far as I'm concerned is the nice smile it has. I love smiley blades! I was made aware of another one just like it on SRP, but I haven't seen many of these. The blade was in good shape, apart from one deep pit on the edge. The bevel wasn't set. Honing smiley blades like this one is an adventure at best, and the pit on the edge made it harder. I didn't want to use circular strokes as I didn't want the smile to flatten, so this was done by complete strokes. However, having a DMT D6E helped, so I used that to set the bevel and hone out the pit. Then I went through my regular progression of D8EE, Spyderco Fine and Ultra Fine followed by a C12K. A few strokes on a CrO2 pasted strop completed the honing. I've had a couple of shaves with this blade so far, and it easily is one of my better shavers. I don't yet know how well the edge will hold; only time will tell. I didn't do too much shining up of the blade as I don't like my vintage blades to look like new. Shave like new - yes! Look like new - not so important. Here are a few pics. Forgive my substandard photography skills. Closed: Open: How can you resist that smile? The smile is more pronounced than what you see in the pic. It seems flatter in the pic because of the angle the shot was taken at. There is a bit of separation of the blade from the frame at the toe. That seems to be part of the design. The blade is firmly in place in the frame. The tang markings:
These are GREAT blades. I managed to get a hold of one a while back and put new lacewood scales on it. I use it regularly, and it keeps a great edge. I too love the smiling blades. That's a nice find!
Thanks for the kind words, all. I really love this razor, not just because of the 'new broom' effect. It is such a great shaver that I wish I could use it every day; but that would mean ignoring my other straights. Part of the reason I keep culling my collection is because I feel that the razors should be used, and if I can't do it, somebody else should get the chance. I shaved recently with a nice John Holler blade. It was one of the first straight razors I bought and it shaves brilliantly. The poor thing doesn't get used much these days. I love collecting the razors but I'm going to stop at about 20 razors, so I can use each of them frequently.
