Thread: Heirloom Joseph Allen 5/8 restored in Olivewood..

These Heirlooms are always some of my favorites to do, when Brad contacted me with his Grandfathers razor, I was hoping I could get it back up and running...
The razor is a Joseph Allen & sons Medium Hollow Ground Razor 5/8 Barbers Notch.. The old scales were trashed, and the razor had some of it's age showing... After buffing out the steel, Brad decided on Olivewood scales, which have to be one of my favorites to work on, super tight grain, and almost waterproof before you even seal them.. These have 8 coats of hand rubbed Tru-Oil on them and have a real satin sheen to them...
The wedge is Senegal Ebony and the hardware is pure brass...
I hope you like it Brad she will be heading home in the morning after a test shave....

Very nice.

woohoo, heirloom and olive wood = perfect combo!

Love the finish too!

Nice work glen, looks great

Very nice.Love that Olivewood.

Very nice glen, I love the look

On a side note, when you do your tru-oil finishes, do you routinely do anything different than the directions on the bottle? Maybe Dan can help with this too, but how high of a sanding grit can you go for pre-finish prep with tru-oil (ie. does it require a mechanical bond)? I was reading some stuff on it where it was considered a varnish.

All that aside, great work as always.

Originally Posted by Del1r1um

Very nice glen, I love the look

On a side note, when you do your tru-oil finishes, do you routinely do anything different than the directions on the bottle? Maybe Dan can help with this too, but how high of a sanding grit can you go for pre-finish prep with tru-oil (ie. does it require a mechanical bond)? I was reading some stuff on it where it was considered a varnish.

All that aside, great work as always.

Two "tricks" one is that Tru-oil seems to always be a little thick, I add some Mineral Spirits to the bottle when I get it...

Two, is your fingers, I do not use a cloth or foam or anything else I actually rub it into the wood using my finger... I also use just my fingertips to smooth it between coats then a fast rub with either 000 steel wool or the synthetic steel wool from 3M the white stuff "fine" Other then that pretty much just wipe it on...

Purrty timber & great finish

Fantastic job Glen! Olive wood is my all time favorite! I have a few big hunks of it laying around here that will probably wind up in your hands soon. You did a great job on that one Sir.!

Thats beautiful work! Anyone would be proud to call that razor their own.

Lovely job, and the scales look great!