13/16 Vintage Thos Charlton Silver Steel Straight Razor, Sheffield

FOR SALE TO OVER-18s ONLY - by buying you confirm that you are 18 yrs old or older

This is an excellent vintage razor made in Sheffield, England. I am not sure whether the person named on the tang - Thomas Charlton - was the maker or an agent.  I have not been able to find a razor-maker of this name, but there is a Thomas Charlton named in White's Directory of Sheffield dated 1852 as a merchant with premises in Norfolk Lane, Sheffield.  This sort of date is about right for this type of razor.  Celebrated 'natural philosopher' (=chemist, physicist) Michael Faraday began research on alloying steel with various metals in the 1820s, and one of those alloying agents was silver.  Some billets of silver steel were made and handed out to interested parties, among which were a firm in Sheffield who used it to make fenders.  Various other razor-makers used it, too.  John Pearce used it to make razors in the 1830s.   Messrs Rhodes of The Wicker, Sheffield, wrote a small pamphlet about the razors they made using Faradays silver steel in 1834.  Towards the end of his life Faraday would hand out razors made from his special steel to friends.  Although the silver content was dropped, the name remained - it is still in use today, but there is no silver in modern 'silver steel' razors.  I cannot be certain that this razor actually has a silver content, but it is a possibility!

The blade is in extremely good condition - just some small, very light marks - these have been polished out until just the light pitting remains on the back of the razor, but I have let the small dark pits and specks remain on the front in order to preserve the thin acid etched design.  It has a good high polish throughout.  There are no splits, cracks, nibbles or dings to the edge of the blade!

It is a carbon steel blade (with a tiny percentage of silver perhaps) - with a very shallow hollow grind (close to a wedge) with a hollow point.  The cutting part of the blade measures about 2.75 inches long, the overall blade length is about 5.5 inches and the width is a full 13/16th inches, running out a bit towards the heel.  The edge has been highly polished and is very sharp indeed - it passes the so-called Hanging Hair Test and is shave-ready.

The scales are the originals, made of horn with a lead wedge and in excellent condition with just some light signs of age.  The blade has been professionally repinned at the pivot point using hand-formed bullseye washers.  Everything had been thoroughly cleaned and sterilised.

The pinning is nice and firm and the blade stays where it is left and does not flop around. 

The blade sits between the scales without fouling them.

This razor comes without a box.