SRs as Family Heirlooms? Share your Stories!

Hello All,

One of the reasons I began to develop an interest into SR shaving is my intention to share my interest with my loved ones and one of the first things that came to my mind would be for me to pass down one of if not my first SR to my children, possibly even sharing with my brothers and their children. I love the idea of starting a family heirloom and teaching my children how to shave, unfortunately I have no memory of my father teaching me to shave so I just picked up a cartridge and started scraping away.

I figured that I would start by seeing if there were any SRs already in my family. Unfortunately according to my mother, my maternal grandmother no longer has much of my grandfathers things so doubts that she would have it if he had one as he passed away over 20 years ago. My father also has no recollection of my paternal grandfather having a SR or even a DE (oddly). So in my interest of heirlooms, Have any other members found old SRs from family members, or have been directly passed down from family members? Share Your Stories!

You bet. When I was 14 I liberated my great grandfathers straight razor and barber hone from my father. The the razor is a great Henckels. I use itfor special occasion shaves, and when I am feeling nostalgic.

Wish I had some of those heirlooms. My grandfathers on both sides if the family had straight razors but the kids, my aunts & uncles, got rid of them sometime after the passing of the grandfathers. I did end up with the Norton Queer Creek hone the one grandfather used to hone his razors and the same hone he taught me the correct way to sharpen a pocket knife when I was 16 - 18 years old.....it does bring back some treasured memories.

A lot of razors and hones have undoubtedly been lost, but I was fortunate to inherit one of my great grandfather's and his father's razors and his stone and strop.

Both razors are stamped with the logo of a 'Chinese' man, stamped by a store located in a town nearby.
After some research it seems to be a Mandarin brand razor that was made by Goedecke in Solingen.

The stone is a natural combo Coticule.

The strop says horsehide.

That's about it for my own family.


I inherited 3 Solingen razors from a friend of my grandparents.
And 1 Henckels was sold to me by a lovely woman which belonged to her grandfather.


Of course, most ebay or other second hand bought razors have belonged to someone, so they should all be treasured.

Too bad plenty have been lost throughout time, I know other parts of the family have thrown out a lot of things that belonged to ancestors, unquestionable straight razors were among those things.

I never kknew my mother's dad, he passed away six years before my birth. Born in 1900, I guess he shaved with a straight when he was young, Mr Gilette was not famed in Europe between the two WW.
My father's dad, born in 1906, began with SR, I have seen one, shame on me. He also used a three pieces Gilette DE that stands now in my bathroom.
Halas he became blind in the 70's and used then a Philips.
I said shame on me because ... when I was 14, I made technicals drawings in school, with chinese ink. In order to correct some faults, the technique was to peel the drawing with a razor blade. I tried to do it with the bompa's SR ... Guess what happened ... cling hooops!

I'm very fortunate to have my great grandfather's razor. He passed away back in '34. It was in rough shape due to improper care and storage but Glen brought it back to life for me.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...ered-horn.html

However the first straight I shaved with was my uncle's 5/8 Genco Grant which was and still is in like new condition right down to the storage box.

While not really an heirloom I was given an old friend's grandfather's Griffon and a woman I worked with gave me her father's Gillettee DE in the plastic box it was sold in. I believe the DE was made back in '59.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cudarunner

I'm very fortunate to have my great grandfather's razor. He passed away back in '34. It was in rough shape due to improper care and storage but Glen brought it back to life for me.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...ered-horn.html

However the first straight I shaved with was my uncle's 5/8 Genco Grant which was and still is in like new condition right down to the storage box.

While not really an heirloom I was given an old friend's grandfather's Griffon and a woman I worked with gave me her father's Gillettee DE in the plastic box it was sold in. I believe the DE was made back in '69.

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Great restore, did it justice, kudos! Great looking blade!

Attachment 277220
This is my grandfather's razor. It was given to me when my aunt (my grandfather's caretaker for his last years) passed away. It had been on his bench in her basement for about 10 years, possibly longer.
It is a Checker Wedge from a local distributor and it began my collection of local razors and supplies.
My boys will have lots of heirlooms :D

I don't have any heirloom razors myself. A man I bought some razors from (that he had bought himself) before said his father was a barber and had a Dubl Duck and a few other things he left him. I'd like to see if he would show them to me next time I see him as I would like to see what a working barber was using at the time. The man has a viking beard so I guess SR shaving isn't really his thing! REALLY nice guy.

Lakeside Cutlery 6/8---Grampa.
Wade and Butcher 5/8---Great-Uncle Herman.
Shumate 5/8---Great-Uncle Noah.
Henry Sears 3/8---Great-Uncle Noah.
John Doe No Name 13/16---Great-Uncle Noah.
Coticule hone---Great-Uncle Herman.
Shuredge barber hone---Grampa.
Ever-Ready brush---Great-Uncle Noah.
Illinois 6454 strop--Great-Grampa Anton.

Enough? :)

This is great stuff. I definitely hope one day my future grandkids will be talking about their crazy grandfathers razors and hones that they were taught to use.