What's new

Old Sheffield wedge at the WW1 front

honed

honed

I got this razor from gugi a while ago.
Its a John C. Cockhill 6/8 wedge.
Yes, it shaves like a dream.
attachment.php

attachment.php

(Pics by gugi)

But it also has an interesting story.

gugi estimated the blade to be ~150 yo, which I can totally agree on.
But the scales are newer, infact, they are from WW1 & it was the British Army that did the rescale!

Here is a document that was sent out:
proxy.php


In short there was a shortage of steel & razors, cutlers & others were encouraged to collect old & discarded razors & send them in.
Then the Army rescaled them in various types of scales, mostly exactly like the ones on mine, stamped with the
ID of the particular unit that should have it, honed them & sent away to the front.
Here is a picture of a confirmed WW1 Army razor, more or less the exact same horn scales.

proxy.php


Ofcourse the US Army didn't have bother with this, they had King Gillettes new invetion on (in) hands...
 
Last edited:
Luc

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
On your last picture, are those chips in the blade?

Good story!
 
honed

honed

Luc said:
On your last picture, are those chips in the blade?

Good story!
Click to expand...

I believe so, but it's not my razor, that is a razor currently at a WW1 museum, got the pic of the web, just as a reference on the type of scales & stamps used.

The one I own is a tad smoother then that.
Infact its gugi-finishing-with-an-Escher smooth :thumbup1:
 
Luc

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
honed said:
I believe so, but it's not my razor, that is a razor currently at a WW1 museum, got the pic of the web, just as a reference on the type of scales & stamps used.

The one I own is a tad smoother then that.
Infact its gugi-finishing-with-an-Escher smooth :thumbup1:
Click to expand...

That's good!

I wouldn't think that Ivan's edge would be like that! Ever!
 
gugi

gugi

That's a pretty cool find. Actually the edge of the Cockhill looked almost like the museum piece before I spent few quality hours with it.
And as you can see from the wear along the spine I decided to do quite a bit of work without taping it so that I can establish proper geometry. After that almost everybody can make it shave well.
I'm quite happy it's appreciated at the new home :)
 
drifwood

drifwood

That's a great bit of history. A "thank you" from Lord Kitchener would have been a real honour for the cutlers of Sheffield.

Now, can B&B make a patriotic appeal to the general population to search their attics and trunks and make their old razors available to sufferers of RAD? ;)

I'll offer my address as the collection point for eastern Canada.:innocent:

Really, no sacrifice is too great :biggrin1:
 
Bayamontate

Bayamontate

I recently got this one from Antique Hoosier, I haven't used it yet until my part of the trade arrives to him. I have four days of beard growth in anticipation, I'm looking forward to shaving with it. Ken at RupRazor did the restoration.

attachment.php
 
G

grump

Some very interesting information.

I wonder if you could track the use of the razor by that serial or stamping.
 
honed

honed

Hair apparent said:
Yours faithfully W.E. Ellis Master Cutler. Coincidence? ( look at bottom of the letter.)
Click to expand...
Oh my! Bill Ellis wrote the letter, no wonder he's so good at making razors, if he was all ready a Master in the 1910's :w00t:

grump said:
Some very interesting information.

I wonder if you could track the use of the razor by that serial or stamping.
Click to expand...
Allegedly you could. I found some WW1 hobby historians online that said those stamps were traceable. They never got back to me & things just ran out in the sand unfortunately...

Bayamontate said:
I recently got this one from Antique Hoosier, I haven't used it yet until my part of the trade arrives to him. I have four days of beard growth in anticipation, I'm looking forward to shaving with it. Ken at RupRazor did the restoration.
attachment.php
Click to expand...

Exactly the same scales:thumbup1:
Surely they have the same background as mine!
Nice find!


Here is my other one together with the one in this thread
proxy.php

proxy.php
 
mdunn

mdunn

This is awesome, the history of the razors i shave with is one of the best bits of using a straight, IMHO.
 
TheMist

TheMist

The address in the letter is next to my work.
So I could go there and check if somebody still sending them razors :biggrin1:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

TheVez2
Weck Sextoblade Pass: The Reviews
2
Replies
23
Views
23K
TheVez2
TheVez2
honed
Two old warriors united again (John C. Cockhill military scaled x 2)
Replies
13
Views
5K
DogHair
DogHair
Top Bottom