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Thiers-Issard UK

Looking for TI straight razors and accessories?

Look no further!

www.thiers-issard.co.uk

We’re pleased to be able to now offer a custom re-scaling and refurbishment service for vintage straight razors - or even new razors if you’d like some fancy scales fitted!

The only service we don’t offer is a full re-grind facility but we can however refurbish blades to a high standard, including corrosion removal, hand-sanding and high-gloss finish polishing.

Blades can also of course be restored to shave-readiness - provided there are no chunks out of the edge or splits, cracks etc. - at the same time as general refurbishment is undertaken. This goes beyond the service offered on our sister site Razor Sharpening UK, where the bulk of work is much more straightforward and aimed at maintenance rather than renovation.

Scales are custom-made for each razor, fitted to that piece alone and all work is done by hand apart from the initial rough-cutting of the scale profile. Scale materials include -

Camel bone - a dense, heavy material with very fine graining and a beautifully lustrous finish.

Ebony - close grained, heavy and midnight-black - an enduring favourite

Pink Ivorywood - beautifully-grained dense pink hardwood - not stained!

Buffalo horn - another timeless favourite and rightly so - just see the example below!

Ebony-backed Holly - a stunning combination

Lignum Vitae - hard, dark wood with a very close grain, takes a superb finish.

Cocobolo wood - superb graining in this light brown wood with dark striations.

Many other exotic hardwoods are available and we’re willing to look at almost any material that is (legally!) usable. Some examples of our own ‘One Of A Kind’ rescaled razors are given below, but do please use the form at the foot of this page as a first point of contact. Thanks!

Frederick Fenney full-wedge razor, C. 1840, fitted with figured buffalo horn scales. In everyday use!, my own pride & joy!

Please use the form below if you’re interested in having work done on one of you razors. Let us know the kind of things you’re thinking of and we’ll get back to you for further information..

NB - due to problems with customs & excise charging import duties etc on incoming goods from non-EU states, we can only offer this service to EU countries. Sorry!

NEW!

We have just started our ‘before & after’ section, which will feature photos of razors either restored from stock or sent in on commission by customers. Click here to pay a visit!

‘Before & After’ gallery - we do hope you enjoy the photos!

Some photos show the original condition of the razor when it arrived, prior to any work being carried out. To see the ‘after’ photo, just roll the mouse pointer over the photo!

This Wade & Butcher ‘American Razor’ was in fairly good condition, but the blade was discoloured and dull and the scales very tired indeed. The two photos immediately below show it in its ‘before’ state - we think it looks better in the after shots!

Reproduced by kind permission of the owner.

The photos below are all ‘after’ shots, of course! Note the absence of the word ‘England’ on the tang (below left) - this indicates the blade was made prior to 1895, when it was required that the country of origin appeared. Note how the razor tang can be clearly seen through the translucent horn scales (bottom left) and how well the blade sits in the scales (below). Nice!

More coming soon!

The photos below are reproduced by kind permission of the owner. This was quite a big razor - a full 8/8 hollow ground from Holler of Solingen. Time had taken its toll on the blade, which was quite heavily marked on the pile side. Some TLC, plenty of elbow grease and a superb new set of scales in camel bone with layered spacer and smooth bullseye pins and the results are, I’m sure you will agree, very noticeable!

The photos you see are ‘before’ shots - just roll the mouse pointer over them to see how they looked after finishing!

Blade by Joseph Elliott, C. 1880, rescaled into dark buffalo horn scales to match the original broken ones.

Another Elliott blade, this time rescaled in figured boxwood.

Another example of figured Buffalo Horn, this time on a Joseph Rodgers ‘Royal Razor’.

Beautifully understated solid Ebony scales on this fully-swept Wade & Butcher wedge razor.

This stunning large oblique wedge blade by Rudolf Schmidt really does deserve the equally handsome camel bone scales with French Briar spacer and bullseye pins!

A medium-size wedge blade from George Wostenholm, theis ‘pipe’ brand razor has been fitted with Cocobolo wood scales complemented with smooth bullseye pins. Great!

This John S. Holler ‘Tower Brand’ razor has been treated to new Lignum Vitae scales with embossed pins - beautiful!

The heavy wedge blade of this C. 1880’s Wade & Butcher sits particularly well with its new bone scales. Bullseye pins finish it off nicely!

To the left my own 8/8 Kropp, now rescaled in camel bone, continues to provide excellent shaving. The old horn scales were just about falling apart but I think this looks great. The blade was made by Kropp C. 1890 for Whiteaway Laidlaw & Co., Rangoon. A well-travelled piece!

To enlarge the thumbnail images below, just roll the mouse pointer over them.

Just arrived back from my scalemaker is this new addition to my collection, an 1800-ish cast steel blade by a maker whose name appears to be Faroh or Farom - it’s a bit indistinct. The blade was given to me by a fellow razor enthusiast. Thanks Tony!

To enlarge the thumbnail images below, just roll the mouse pointer over them.

An excellent example here of one of Wade & Butcher’s medium size heavy-grind near wedge blades. The owner - by whose kind permission the photos below are reproduced - wanted to stay very much in the spirit of the original look of the razor. A ground-up clean and polish, followed by new dark horn scales and smooth bullseye pins, then final honing, took care of things and we think it came out rather well!

The photos you see are ‘before’ shots - just roll the mouse pointer over them to see how they looked after finishing!

2010 holiday closures -

Click here for details!