The Marshian has landed!

A long time back I had purchased a venerable old Marshes & Shepard Pond Works razor.

It had a tremendous amount of hone wear on the toe....so I took off the scales (now on my LeGrelot, nice horn with ivory inlay...) and the razor went into the drawer to corrode for yet another century...



Yet times are tough....

I got no dough to buy a new razor....


I'm desperate!


I get a little kooky reading shaving forums all day, and I slip into a deranged state of mind....


And then I take out the ol' Marshes razor and head for the shop....


The result?

I call it the Marshian, because it looks like it came from outer space!

It tapers from about 13/16 at the heel to a tidy 4/8 at the toe. It's a razor for all styles!

Like a big honker? Work the heel.

Need some precision for the coup de maitre? Slip that dainty tip under your nose and have at it!

I actually originally purchased the razor as I was inspired by Joel's Bill Ellis Ramapo restore that had a similar severe toe wear taper.

I didn't bother trying to give it a very fine finish, just some rough hand sanding to add some texture and alliviate some old corrosion.

Did I mention I also tried for a worked back "vines" type effect? It came out a bit strange with the rounded spine that is on there.

Yes, it's a freakshow, folks....I know, but it now counts as yet another razor in my rotation! SCORE!

Has taken a keen edge, we'll see how it shaves this weekend...

Do let us know how it shaves. That is all that really matters!

professorchaos said:

Do let us know how it shaves. That is all that really matters!

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No it isn't! It looks freakin' awesome (with the emphasis on 'freakin') - that's what matters. It looks like something one ought not to shave with until it has been used to decapitate every orc, troll, and Venusian in your immediate area.

But do let us know how it shaves, ..... and decapitates.

Nice Restoration work. I just know because of work like yours, this is the next step for me. I just putting it off for as long as I can.

That's one awesome looking spine. What's that style of point called?

wild looking blade indeed.... very nice!

That's a beautiful looking razor.

Best Regards

Graham

Artytheparty90 said:

That's one awesome looking spine. What's that style of point called?

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I like to call it the Neptune point.


It used to be a simple barber's notch, but add a hundred years of over-honing and violla! Neptune point!

Actually, it looks alot liek what I'd call a Spanish point, but that seems too terrestrial for this razor...

I normally don’t like those razors where past generations of gorilla honers were unable to keep away from the toes of a blade. For some reason it really works esthetically on your project. If it actually shaves as nice as it looks, you got a real winner.

While I like the look of your project, I'll have to throw a few carpet tacks in your driveway. The Ramapo that I worked on was not damaged from using too much pressure and thereby causing undue wear at the tip of the blade on the hone. There was nothing but even hone wear along the spine on both sides. What I removed was some serious pitting to the very thick blade.

The profile of the blade was symmetrical from both an aesthetic and an engineering point of view. It was not only tapered on its vertical axis, the thickness of the blade was also tapered from the pivot pin heading off in both directions. I have no doubt that the razor was actually manufactured with the profile it has now.

The style probably didn't catch on because most users were locked in to a set pattern of straight razor. Old timers really fought change of any kind. It was also a bit different to hone... not difficult at all, just different.

Hmmm, well thanks for the kind words about my err-"project"

I still stand by my assumption that the taper for both razors was caused by hone wear over many, many years, albiet that it was evenly done. Of course there's no way to prove it, since either when a razor is created by grinding, or honed over time, the same thing is happening, metal is being removed, right?

Here's one I found that looks like the Ramapo you did, but without the taper:


And another one:

What do you think?

I'm not quite sure why you roll your eyes at the word "project", however, I can assure you that my comment was not intended as a slight or an insult. I refer to my own work as projects as often as not. Sorry if you took it the wrong way.

You are also free to have your own opinion for maintaining that the profile of the blade got there because of improper honing. I am saying that I think that is inaccurate based on over 50 years of collecting blades and 17 years of making them and the dynamics of doing the work.

Maintaining this position you have on another site saying the same thing will go unchallenged because I don't play there anymore, but B&B is a different story. When my work is referred to with what I think are inaccuracies, I will say something about them. And... you can still disagree. That's ok. But I think my side of it needs to also be heard/read.

I'm not really sure why you think either of your examples look anything like the one I worked on other than the similar hallmarks denoting the manufacturer. Your first example is a shoulderless grind with barber notch and the second is also a completely different grind that includes a barber notch and lack of a pronounced hump. If the tip of the blade on my razor were improperly honed, I would definitely have been able to spot the wider flat spot on the spine. There was none. None. Here is a pic of mine, and the entire thread that Joel created about it is here. In it, you can clearly see the manufacturer's intended taper on the thickness of the blade.
There ya go... fair and balanced reporting.

Bill, I certainly didn't take anything as a slight at all! I was simply being self-depricating,as I went the "Oklahoma trailer park" route for doing my spine work, if you recall your admonition regarding that in your "filework" thread.


Very interesting that the bevels are/were even on the Ramapo... On my Marshian, the bevel really widens out on the barber notch toe, so it is clear in that example that hone wear has come into play.

The lines on your Ramapo are really clean and even, but I had assumed that was a result of your regrinding/restoration work, not the original condition.

As I said, one of the reasons I bought this Marshes originally was that it was the only razor I have seen with a similarly evenly tapered look to the blade, and I really dug the looks of your Ramapo.

After examining my blade up close in person, I saw that in my case at least it was due to hone wear. Not that it really matters in the end as long as the cutting edge is smooth and even.

Anyhow, just discussing it for the sake of discussion and edification. WHich is what the forum is all about Thanks as always for all your input

OK, so all I can speak to is this razor that I have here....

I know why this razor has been honed down so much......



It's a damn sweet shaver!


Really. True to its' heritage as a Sheffield wedge razor it is smooth and unstoppable.

The previuos owners over the past ~150 years must have got to the point where they were like

"Hmmm, methinks ye olde razor is looking a wee bit long in the tooth, I'm a wearin her down to a nub....perhaps it's time to retire her...

Well, let's just hone her up one more time for auld lang syne....."

"Damn! The ol' girl still has her stuff! Back in the rotation with ye, lassie!"

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Wow is all I can say about this razor that I callously tossed in the back of the drawer with the discarded scales and worn out razor boxes. It holds its' own against any of my other razors. Very very nice. They don't make em like that anymore!

In keeping with the transformationm from 19th century to 21st century razor, I put some shiny scales on the Marshian.

I also pretty much polished up the blade to mirror finish. It's not perfect, there's some remaining pitting and some higher grit scratches left over, but it's about 85% shiny Sheffield steel.

One of the reasons for polishing it, was stropping the razor with the 600 grit finish on the spine bevel felt horrible. There was very little feedback, it felt very "gritty" and it didn't seem like it was doing my strop any favors either. Hopefully the shine will help with all that....

I also made a slight modification to the very toe of the forked tip, as previously it had a very sharp radius up there, and that made using the tip very imprecise when going under the nose, or over by the ears.


This whole project was pretty much a seat of the pants affair, without a whole lot of time put into it, as I didn't expect much out of the razor. I hacked away at the spine with the dremel as I would not have shed any tears if that had ruined the blade.

Turns out this is now, quite surprisingly, a top performer in my stable! It looks wierd as all get-out, but shaves super-smooth and sharp.

Seraphim said:

In keeping with the transformationm from 19th century to 21st century razor, I put some shiny scales on the Marshian.

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Awesome!

I'd say 24th and half century at least. I expect to see Riddick shaving that cue ball of his with it in the next film (gods forbid).

Nice work. What did you use for scale material?

6061 aluminum scales.

It was the quickest and easiest scale material I had available.

Well, it lasted from the 19th century until the 21st century, it may well make it to the 24th.....