Thread: Stuff my barber gave me

My barber gave me some stuff free. I'm especially interested in the strop which is near new dorko strop, is this for daily use? And what kind of hone is it? Is it worth trying to flatten? I'm a beginner with no honing experience.
And what do you think of the razors?

Three of the razors look very salvageable with a bit of light work. The one razor with the eaten up blade is a lost cause including saving the scales as it looks like cell rot from the scales ate the blade. Keep that razor in a ziplock plastic bag away from the others.

No idea on the hone.

The strop looks like it is serviceable also and of good quality.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

Three of the razors look very salvageable with a bit of light work. The one razor with the eaten up blade is a lost cause including saving the scales as it looks like cell rot from the scales ate the blade. Keep that razor in a ziplock plastic bag away from the others.

No idea on the hone.

The strop looks like it is serviceable also and of good quality.

Bob

Thanks Bob. I was going to keep the eaten razor incase I wanted to practice re pinning or something. Though celluliod rot makes me want to throw it out now. The strop is nearly new condition, the barber said the stone is an oil stone and put some oil on it and did a few strokes with a razor then went ahead and put it on the strop, that's what the marks are.
Any can I clean it with soap and warm water? And is it a daily strop?

Bob is spot-on (as usual!). Chuck that one or practice saving collars first. Wipe the strop with a damp towel. Should be a dandy daily strop. The hone looks like an old India from here. Good for knives and tools. Notsomuch for razors. The other three look pretty good.
Good luck!

2nd to the left says "the venture reg" on the blade and "venture slater brothers sheffield"
3Rd to the left says on the tang Taylor and sheffield, I cannot make out what else it says but there is an eye logo too.
On the right the blade says "extra german gong razor hollow ground" and gong razor on the tang,on the reverse, the tang says wald made in 2633 soligen germany, looks like a half hollow to me, but I'm probably wrong.
The middle 2 have not much rust, the right has quite a bit.

Take some pics of that stone outside in full day light. I have a feeling you might have a winner there. If your barber was using it, it may be a nice rock. Great score you have here!

For the strop I would get some saddle soap and follow the instructions on the container to give it a light cleaning. With any luck you should be good to go after that for use as a daily strop.

If the scales have cell rot they will affect other blades stored with them. Keep suspect scales well separate in a ziplock bag. Can't see why you can't try unpinning and repinning on them so long as it is done well away from your other blades and then restored in a ziplock bag or thrown out after.

Bob

How do I spot cell rot? The scales actually look in good condition to me. Going in the bin then, bye bye.

Originally Posted by HARRYWALLY

Take some pics of that stone outside in full day light. I have a feeling you might have a winner there. If your barber was using it, it may be a nice rock. Great score you have here!

I believe my barber and his father have been using that stone for years. I'll try to post a better picture tomorrow, it's midnight here. Though it looks like it's never been flattened.

Originally Posted by BobH

For the strop I would get some saddle soap and follow the instructions on the container to give it a light cleaning. With any luck you should be good to go after that for use as a daily strop.

If the scales have cell rot they will affect other blades stored with them. Keep suspect scales well separate in a ziplock bag. Can't see why you can't try unpinning and repinning on them so long as it is done well away from your other blades and then restored in a ziplock bag or thrown out after.

Bob

There are no instructions on the strop. I intend to give this away to a friend to get him started. I have a SRD modular paddle on the way.

I'll throw it out, I have accumlated 8 razors this month so I can practice with others.