Scottish razor Burns' Razor Thos. Limond Ironmonger AYR

[ebonysw45]

Hello,

Just picked up a a straight from ebay Marked Burns' Razor Thos. Limond Ironmonger AYR. I have not come across another one and was wondering if anyone knows anything about it? I did find the ironmonger in AYR which seemed to have been a well established business. I still need to clean it up and think it will still leave a little pitting as I don't want to remove the etching.




Thanks

[Doc226]

Not sure of the blade, but are the scales ivory, its hard to tell form the pics.

[ebonysw45]

The pics provided are from the seller. I thought they might have been Ivory as well but having received the razor I'm sure they are not ivory, either celluloid or most likely a plastic. I will post some pics in a couple of days when I have cleaned up the blade. I grabbed it because it seemd so unusual. That and I already had a Keen Shakespeare. If anyone has a W&B Byron I'd be interested.

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

I would bet it is not "AYR" that we can see. The placement of the letters almost confirms there must another letter that comes in front of the "A." The tarnish makes it hard to tell but look how even the "R" is smaller - it would just seem there would be another letter at the beginning. Burns, he was a poet - Irish, Scottish? Maybe plug in different letters and google them to see if anything comes up. I would try the letter "T" first.

[ebonysw45]

Definetely AYR. I also found a reference to the maker a Thomas Limond, Ironmonger, Ayr, from the early 1900s. He was still in business at least until 1954.

[ebonysw45]

It also appears to be Robert Burns. Having looked up some some paintings, drawings etc and they seem to be a match.

[hig789]

Very cool. I have never seen a Scottish straight. I wonder if it as made there or just rebranded. And I would bet $100 that the scales are ivory.

[Doc226]

Very cool. I have never seen a Scottish straight. I wonder if it as made there or just rebranded. And I would bet $100 that the scales are ivory.

I though ivory from the pinning, but he said he received them and they are platic.

[johnmrson]

I'd guess that the ironmonger was just the retailer and the blade was made somewhere else. An ironmonger is just an old UK name for a hardware store

[ebonysw45]

John maybe right its hard to say. I did find this which doesn't help.

This came home to me as a youngster, in 1954, when i left school, In the town of Ayr, was a very old ironmonger called Thomas Limond, He was at least the second generation in his family buisiness, Even at that period in time he was a gentleman of advanced years, old stout & waddled about his vast shop, which had extensive underground storerooms, These were a real cornucopia of all sorts of lovely things Two years later, one day, he was to say to me" Follow me boy" , & down i followed and he picked out the tools of my trade, which i have yet, He knew from long experience, what tools a budding apprentice would need for any of the diverse chosen vocations he wished to follow

Old Limond, as well as having his retail shop, Also, down the Fort Street area, had his workshop, Where he employed a couple of old fellows who were skilled as blacksmiths, general engineers, lawnmower sharpeners, & manufacturers of any metal/wood item from a sketch. His machine shop needless to say was an ancient belt driven set up , might have been old, but was most particular as to good order & cleanliness.

and this as well. Might be the same person or not?

In 1955 three Ayrshire men, 'Sandy' MacMillan, an English teacher at Ayr Academy, Thomas Limond, noted town Chamberlain of Ayr, and A.L. (Ross) Taylor, Rector of Cumnock Academy collaborated to write Bairnsangs (Child Songs),^[61] a collection of children's nursery rhymes and poems in Scots.

[LarryDarrell]

I would bet it is not "AYR" that we can see. The placement of the letters almost confirms there must another letter that comes in front of the "A." The tarnish makes it hard to tell but look how even the "R" is smaller - it would just seem there would be another letter at the beginning. Burns, he was a poet - Irish, Scottish? Maybe plug in different letters and google them to see if anything comes up. I would try the letter "T" first.

Definitely Ayr, the heart of 'Burns' Country'. Everything from that area is still marketed with a Burns connection. Interesting that they were doing it in the 1900's
Very nice piece, the etching on the blade is very nice indeed.

[ebonysw45]

A couple of extra pics from the seller.


Mine to come friday.

[ebonysw45]

A funny thing is that it the seller was from Canada. The only other example I could find was on tradme New Zealand, with no photos and apparently a damaged blade.

[Nova316]

Those scales definitely look like Ivory from how thin they are,
Might of said they were plastic if you haven't gotten them yet because Ivory has some restriction on import and export

[Seraphim]

Please send those plastic scales to me. I'll even send you a set of authentic acrylic scales as replacements.

[hig789]

Please send those plastic scales to me. I'll even send you a set of authentic acrylic scales as replacements.

Yeah those are defenitly ivory. You can clearly see the subtail grain in the second picture and like Alfredo said the washer less pins are a giveaway too.

[ebonysw45]

As promised a few more photos after I have done some cleaning up. The toe had a fair amount of pitting upto the B in Burns and someone had hit both sides with a rather abrasive grade of sandpaper. I used 600, 1200 and then some autosol on a dremel. I don't think I'll do anymore and can live with it as it is. From actual inspection the scales do appear to be ivory. So in that case I got a fair deal as I was more interested in the unusual nature of the BURNS/AYR blade. As with all reflective surfaces getting an actual representation is fairly hard but between the 1st and 2nd image is a fair representation.

[Doc226]

Looks good. I am new to this but I can spot ivory.

[DogHair]

Very nice blade. Cleaned up well.

I have a nice blade stamped J. Dobie Glasgow, Scotland on the front and Sheffield on the back. From what I can find J. Dobie was a higher end men's clothing store in the 1900"s.

[Wullie]

Very nice blade. Cleaned up well.

I have a nice blade stamped J. Dobie Glasgow, Scotland on the front and Sheffield on the back. From what I can find J. Dobie was a higher end men's clothing store in the 1900"s.

I too have a Dobie. It's a 4/8 and the rust worms got part of the edge. It shaves nicely in spite of the ugly.

As for the OP, I think those scales are ivory. I've yet to see plastic/celluloid/bone pinned in that manner. I too bid on that one and am glad it found a good home.