Just made my first purchase: New in Minneapolis

Hello! Very excited to become a member of the site!

After wanting to try entry into the world of straight razors for some time but being daunted by prices of quality blades, I finally made my first purchase today. It's a "vintage" razor, stamped "American Razor Co New York NY" and though obviously old, appears to be in good shape. I'm hopeful that after a good cleaning and honing, it will be serviceable for me to get a start! It definitely has a slight "frown" to it, but I'm thinking that could be worked out.

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Attachment 165582

I'm not sure if anyone knows anything about it, but if so, what can you tell me? Anybody think it's worth looking into getting honed?

Also, wondering if anyone knows anything about places to get blades honed in the Twin Cities?

Wellcome to SRP,That blade needs alot of work,have a pro do it.

There are a bunch of us here in the Twin Cities that could help you out.

Sadly that blade looks to have issues and will not be an easy hone, it looks to have a fairly bad frown edge, it can be fixed but it will take more than average work

I agree with the above posts. SR shaving has enough of a learning curve as it is. Honing is an art all by itself. best to learn one thing at a time.

And welcome to SRP

Hi and welcome. I agree with the above. Can definitely be honed but best done by a professional. Good luck and any questions feel free to ask.

Thanks for all the welcomes!

I'm certainly not under the impression that it's something I could handle myself. I suppose I was more wondering whether it was worth having a professional work on. I decided to "bite the bullet" on this one (as much as you can bite the bullet for $15) as it was one of the few that I was able to find without gouges out of the blade, severe pitting, or obvious signs of exposure to flame. It was the only one I've come across that fit that criteria and appeared to be of quality steel (I'm assuming American given "American Razor Co").

From responses, it sounds like it's at least worth having a pro work on. Thanks, gents!

Welcome to SRP Drew ! The search box up on the right can be a real nice tool to get used to. The American razors were made with some hard steel. That razor could definitely be brought back to life and I am sure you will enjoy learning on it once it's fixed up. The big secret is that you can build a nice collection of American razors and still make your house payment :<0)

A belated Welcome to SRP :)

If your ever in the St. Paul area then come on over and we can talk razors, honing, stropping restoration etc.
RodB and I have mentored many a new guy in the past years, I will send you my contact info via PM.

Hope to hear from you soon. :)