W.R.Case and sons Bradford Razor

P

Pipeman

Joined
Dec 2, 2004
Messages
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Went to an antiques show today looking for pocket knives and found this for $5.00. I haven't seen this celluloid pattern before. The blade has obvious patina and specs but no pitting, there's a tiny bit of active rust under the handle at the pivot pin. I just put a light coat of mineral oil on it to stop the active rust. Would you guys clean a razor like this or leave it. I never touch early knives but not sure what you razor guys do.

Best regards

Robin

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That's a nice looking razor! There are two schools of thought with the straight razor crowd, restor and preserve. The restore guys will sand and buff every last pit, un pin and replace or restore th scales and the preserve guys will usually just clean it and hone it. You have to decide which fits your style best. For the serious collectors, preserve is normally the choice. The interesting thing about that is it has value to multiple markets, Case brand collectors, razor collectors, and barber shop memorabilia collectors.

Myself, I would start with unpinning the blade and giving a thorough cleaning and buff to the scales, and clean and polish the blade, but only use white rouge on a loose wheel. Remove all active rust and the white rouge won't destroy any age marks. Easier to go further than to go back! Repin, and enjoy! It will need to be honed if you want to use it, but I don't know any honemeisters in Canada.

Either way, very nice razor!


-Xander
 
Thanks Xander, I couldn't bring myself to buff it out. too much of a purist for that. It is a very pretty old Case and i was very happy with the price.

Best regards

Robin
 
Either way, it is a fine example! I sure wouldn't do to that one what I did to the Case I fixed up! One thing i noticed on mine is it had a raised number 82 moulded into the inside of the scales. I wonder if it was a year of manufacture mark on mine, or a pattern. I would atleast go over it and remove any deterioration to prevent further damage. MAAS or Simichrome would be about perfect for that and wouldn't take away from the blade while bringing life back to it.

Just my two cents, of course!


-Xander
 
Thanks again Xander, I'll pick up some Simichrome and see how it works.

Best regards

Robin
 
fast14riot said:
If you use the simichrome, use a very small amount on a cotton cloth. Start with very light pressure and decide how far you want to take it.

I thought you might like this article about celluloid preservation...

http://cool.conservation-us.org/jaic/articles/jaic30-02-003.html


-Xander
Click to expand...

Thanks Xander, I saw your thread on Bernards forum, very interesting. I have a few slip joints with celluloid scales and so far so good. I find that the cell paper wraps go first and show signs of browning then they just go south. The solid cell scales seem to be ok other than the Novelty clear scales with photos or advertizing. The clear scales go cloudy then get crazed then they just crumble. I don't recall seeing any razor scales going south. I'll tell you one thing, it's not fun when it bursts into flames ;-(( Yikes.

Best regards

Robin
 
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