Thread: Hello, can I ask for some advice?

Originally Posted by Kazmcc74

Thank you Richard. How exciting! They've been sat in a draw for the last few weeks, I've been meaning to find out more about them. I look forward to more advice

Remember to check your Private Message box here above also.
Above the forum there is the word " Notifications;" by your sign in name.. It would show a number and will tell you which kind when clicked upon.
Enjoy!
~Richard

We have a member called celticcrusader (jamie) who does some nice restoration work. He is in south Wales, so a bit of a hike if you wanted to deliver them personally but still only a day trip.
I would shoot him a PM and start a conversation about what you can do immediately and what can be done for the razors.

In the mean time, you may keep them cool, dry, and in a dark place as heat, damp, and UV light would cause most common problems.

Do keep them dry, but do not go overboard such as packing in desiccant packs as, if the scales are vintage Ivory (and it does appear to be from the photos), a drastic change in humidity can cause the Ivory to crack.

The best thing you can do is get them to someone who has experience restoring Straight Razors and inspected for potential rust first, rust and moisture are your biggest potential dangers. They do appear to be stable, from the photos, but only a, hands on inspection can give you an accurate evaluation.

The most problem prone area of a razor is the pivot pin where the razor is pinned to the scales. There does appear to be some rusting stain on the inside of the scales, so do determine if active rust is present as soon as possible.

Originally Posted by Kazmcc74

Thank you! I will have a look there now and see what we can do. The kids are off school now so we may not have the money to get them done for a while, is there anything I can do in the mean time? Somewhere I should be keeping them?

An idea for storage, and only an idea... If you happen to have an old DRY cigar humidor. One that has not been used in many years and is totally dry. You could get a small desiccant (may find at a local hardware/drug store) and put the razors and desiccant in the humidor together. If you don't have an old humidor, anything that is air tight with the desiccant will do.

The humidor/air tight case will keep humidity from the metal and the desiccant will help with the rest.

Putting a SMALL amount/THIN layer of some kind of pure mineral oil on the blades would also help protect. I don't think that I can stress the words "SMALL" and "THIN" enough. Other members might have better ideas than this. There is a lot of knowledge and experience on this forum and most everyone is very generous with their knowledge.

Enjoy having such a beautiful display set as what you have and the family history only makes it exponentially more beautiful.

My above post was done while having technical issues... I had not seen other ideas already addressing this and a good point was made about the scales (not wanting them to get too dry). I did not mean to confuse the issue and I apologize for technical issues.

They are still beautiful razors. That is NOT reduced by computer issues

They are lovely. Tell your partner I said to restore them, then learn to use them. Once past the learning curve, there is no other shave like a straight.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

What kind of advice are you looking for?

When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.

Marquis de la Grange (1639 - 1692)