Thread: New guy poking around

Hello all!
I'm new here on the forum, lurker since a bit after christmas though. I've become interested in learning to shave with a straight due to recieving a vintage razor as a christmas gift by my father. He has never used it himself, but it supposedly belonged to one of his grandfathers, so it has a fair few years under its belt.

Before giving it to me he had it sharpened, but I doubt it was properly honed, given that I think he left it to someone who regularly sharpen knives... I am however getting in contact with the guy, because from the website it looks like there's a bit of razor-tradition in the company, being situated in Eskilstuna and all

I did decide that it would be a damn waste to send it away for a honing without actually knowing if it was honed enough or not, so after "stroping" as best I could on an old leather belt, I gave it a try.
I have to say, it wasn't as disastrous as I half expected! I can't call it a shave, per se, but it did remove hair at least, and the only cut I sustained was due to my own clumsiness >.<


I don't quite dare to blame it on the honing, though, as I might very well have dulled the blade with my highly inexperienced stroping, and of course my non-existant shaving tecnique.

I'm planning on getting a strop from Mr Miller, despite me living in europe, partly because the high praise he recieves here, but mostly as that's the only place so far I have been able to find synthetic strops! Being a vegetarian, I highly value the fact that I can concievably get a non-leather strop. However, my current economic situation sets a firm stop to any such purchases for several month yet, so I'll either make do with the old belt I have, or simply stick to my cartridge razor until then.

Either way, I figured this community would enjoy another razor to look at, aswell as possibly shed some light on just what kind of razor I have here, so here goes:

This is the box, as I got it. As you can see it's looking distinctly worse for the wear, but then it's not been taken care of in far too long...


Once opened, it is a travelling box with the outside being a paddle strop (useless as the leather is dried out and even worn through at some places, but still cool to have)


Looking at the razor itself, as far as I can see, it looks to be in a decent condition. It would have been fun to see it when Dad found it! (probably a lot more of it looking like the tang does)


So now for some details: The only marking I could find to suggest maker, is this:

You can also see that the tang (I think it's called that, right?) is very short.

From what I can make of it, it's a 6/8", square point, and from what I've read, you'd probably call it "smiling", right?. I'm not sure on the grind though, I was almost tempted to say wedge when I first looked at it, but I think there's some hollowing... I'll leave that to you guys though!


So, it would be fun to see what you guys think of it!

/Johan

Very Very cool razor, and great that it has a long history in your family. I am not knowledgeable enough to offer a guess on age, other than "OLD." That short tang is indicative of quite a bit of age. ANd yes, it looks very wedgy. I can't tell if there is any hollowing, but it would be quite slight.
I'd love to hear more about its hsitory, if you know it.

Oh, and WELCOME!

Kewl!! Nice wedge. yeah, send it out to have it professionally honed. Your face will thank you immensely.

Welcome!

That shave with the razor that wasn't nearly sharp enough must have been brutal....But that razor, it's so nice, I would be a little reluctant to actually use it. It looks so old and is in excellent condition!! It's definitely a family heirloom, so take good care of that one. I don't know anything about the make or age, sorry, but from the style of the blade it is definitely very old. There's very little rust or discolouring on it at all, it was taken great care of. I can see the attraction to using a razor that has been passed down in the family, very nostalgic. Thanks for the pics!

What a find! I've seen Smith brand single edge blades before but until now I didn't know anyone by that name made straights.

From my (very limited) research I found three suspects who might have made that razor. George Smith & Sons, J Smith & Son, and Smith Brothers.

If you ever find who made it please post.

Oh wow, that's a real tresure to come from your great grandfathers
The razor was made in early 1800s, perhaps even late 1700s
The scales are horn,

Looks like it may have gotten some restoration, but since you say there's hollowing left the knife guy did a very nice job on it.
Hard for me to see the bevel, but I think it's not very unlikely they've done a good honing job.

You should definitely talk to them.

If I were you I'd see if that leather can actually work. Some saddle soap and neatsfeat or mink oil may bring it back. If it's rotten why not replace it with a new good piece and have a functional strop.

I'd consider it a wedge anything that's less than half hollowed is wedge to me. I've only had one that's trully wedge shape i.e. all bevel from edge to spine.
These old wedges are a lot of fun to shave with.

That wedge is pure awesome. I would love to have one of those, especially if it was from a family man like my great grandfather. I am sure anyone on here (lynn) would bring that back to an excellent shaver.


Very special indeed!

Well, being situated in sweden, I think I'm going to look into any scandinavian honemeisters willing to give it a go first

Thanks -a lot- for all the praise of the razor! I couldn't imagine it would be considered such a treasure

I have been debating with myself about restoring the leather and such, but I feel I'd like to minimize the aquisition of new animal products, and in a way, I kind of like the worn look of the box. I might see if I still have any stuff to get the leather off it's deathbed maybe...

@Dave, well, I barely call what I did that first time a "shave", as while it did remove hair, it gave about as close a shave as I would have gotten from my regular hair trimmer, it effectively just shortened my stubble a lot I was however fully prepared for a similar result, as I expected it to not be properly honed.
I'm still not absolutely sure it's the honing that's at fault, as I may very well have dulled the blade stropping, and most of all, I attempted to shave using a regular shaving foam in a spray can. I felt the blade "stick" to my skin a lot, was I keeping the blade at too low an angle, or was it just an effect of insufficent lather?

I am planning on having it honed by someone who knows what they're doing before giving it another go, to eliminate that from the list of things that could be wrong

Again, thanks all for the warm welcome!
/Johan