New in Annapolis Maryland (USA)

I bought my first straight razor when I was about 20 (about 25 years ago), nicked the hell out of my face, put it in a drawer somewhere, have no idea where it is, and now interested in trying it out again. I was browsing in an antique store and saw some straight razors and walked out with two of them. One was made by Joseph Elliott (stopped making them in about 1854) and the other by August Kern (no idea when they stopped).

They are both two very different razors, the Joseph Elliott is much heftier, hollow ground, about 1/2" longer and 1/4" deeper. The August Kern is lighter and "extra" hollow ground. Which is better? I have no idea. As I really love "old" stuff, I would prefer to use one of these rather than buy something new; oh, and since I paid $17.50 and $10.00 for them is also nice.

I guess that my question is this: Are these viable razors for everyday use? They seem sharp (I foolishly cut myself on one of them), and neither have any nicks or other such apparent flaws. I have no idea whether either of them needs to be honed.

Is there someone in the Annapolis, MD area that could look these over and hone (and strop) them if necessary? I know that I will need to be able to strop them myself, but if I could at least get them shave ready that would be great.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks

At first welcome to SRP.
they will shave you great if you get them honed. check the classified member services option. choose one close to you or you may find someone lives in same location.
As long as you get them sharpened and you read preparation for straight razor shaving topics from wiki you should be fine.
In the other hand it takes time to your skin to get used to straight razor shaving.
I would say.
Remember pressure is Enemy of straight razor shaving.
GL and have a lot fun.
Don't be shy to ask questions.

Welcome to SRP Spinsheet. Hi_Bud is giving good advice. Find someone in the classifieds under member's services for someone to hone for you. Read the WIKI for beginners to understand the technique of straight shaving that will move you along w/ the least amount of problems. You will need a strop to go with your razor. The strop should be used before each shave. You can check the classifieds here for a strop or look to the vendors advertising on SRP for a good cheap strop to start with. Most newbies cut their first strops. If money isn't an issue get what you like. Be careful on eBay and other vendor sites. The strop you may get may not be usable for razors. You may also search SRP for stropping on newspaper, which will get you going a little cheaper until you decide if straight shaving is for you.

Good luck

Welcome to SRP. +1 with the above. If you could post photos of them with the blades open we could better tell you if it is worth the $ to have them honed up. IOW, if they are in good enough condition with full blades and like that.

Here is the SRP Wiki that Joe mentioned with the beginner's guide and SRP founder' Lynn Abrams advice on the first straight razor shave. :gl:

Thanks for all of the great advice. I attempted to shave with the Joseph Elliot razor (after a poor attempt at stropping) and don't believe that I cut a single hair. I was a bit surprised as the blade sure seems sharp enough, I even have yesterday's slash across my thumb to attest to that.

I'll try and find someone local in Annapolis that can hone them. I have a pretty old school barber (he's about 80) and I'm sure he can direct me toward someone, I think that he might even do that sort of thing.

Thanks again!

Welcome to the SRP . I live in Baltimore , which is kind of close to Annapolis . Nice weather we're having , isn't it :D ? Unfortunetly , I have some not so good news for you . Your first razor will need some serious edge restoration , which is beyond the scope of a simple honing . The second razor IMHO is toast . The good news is , that you can find a good , relatively inexpensive , shave ready razor in the SRP classifieds . Or if you chose you can PM me and I can hook you up with an excellent vintage razor (shave ready , of course) .

You can mail one to me if you'd like. They both are pretty worn out. I'm not too far.

I actually took the razors to my barber (of 20 years). He feels that the larger one (the Elliot) is usable after he does his magic. The other, he's not so sure, he'll have to look it over closer.

It's funny, he looked at the blade and started explaining to me how the previous owner honed it, I have no idea how he could tell all that. But hey, he's been a barber for 60 years, guess that he's learned a thing or two in that time.

Anyway, I'm going to swing by a local antique shop here, they have a $5.00 straight blade and I'll buy that just to practice honing. Even if it's not something salvageable I can at least practice honing and in the end I'll increase my skills and still have an attractive piece of history.

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Originally Posted by spinsheet

I bought my first straight razor when I was about 20 (about 25 years ago), nicked the hell out of my face, put it in a drawer somewhere, have no idea where it is, and now interested in trying it out again. I was browsing in an antique store and saw some straight razors and walked out with two of them. One was made by Joseph Elliott (stopped making them in about 1854) and the other by August Kern (no idea when they stopped).

They are both two very different razors, the Joseph Elliott is much heftier, hollow ground, about 1/2" longer and 1/4" deeper. The August Kern is lighter and "extra" hollow ground. Which is better? I have no idea. As I really love "old" stuff, I would prefer to use one of these rather than buy something new; oh, and since I paid $17.50 and $10.00 for them is also nice.


I guess that my question is this: Are these viable razors for everyday use? They seem sharp (I foolishly cut myself on one of them), and neither have any nicks or other such apparent flaws. I have no idea whether either of them needs to be honed.

Is there someone in the Annapolis, MD area that could look these over and hone (and strop) them if necessary? I know that I will need to be able to strop them myself, but if I could at least get them shave ready that would be great.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks

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spinsheet,

++1 on the previous advice...Get both of your vintage razors professionally honed before venturing to shave with either of them. There is most likely an SRP member nearby or at least on the east Coast or the Southern U. S. who will be willing to give the blades an inspection and hone both of them for you. In giving a quick look at the pics of the razor you posted, it does not quite appear to be shave ready to me. Nicking your thumb is a far cry from cutting the whiskers off of your face.

You can also check the SRP wiki to find out about your razors as well as the basic equipment you'll need to get optimum shaving performance from both when you do begin to shave with them. I am no expert, but both sound like quality razors, esp. the Joseph Elliott which I have seen in the SRP "Classifieds." The other brand is unfamiliar to me, but as I said before--I am no expert on the history of str8 razor manufacturers. However, an extra hollow ground is supposedly sharper than a hollow ground. The former is commonly referred to as a "singing razor" because it allegedly makes a slight musical sound when being properly stropped.

Let us know how things turn out. BTW...We'd love to see some photos of your antique store str8 razor discoveries in the SRP "Show and Tell" forum.

Take care and happy shaving.

I have no comments on the subject. Just wanted to say I was born and raised in DC and love the Annapolis area.

Welcome to the group.

I did the same thing as yourself. I was about 22 years old when I bought a str8 and tried to shave with it. OUCH! All it did was pull at ever whisker on my face. I had no idea that even a brand new razor still needed to be honed. It was put into a drawer and stayed there for 20 years. When the economy started tanking so bad, I figured I would pull it out and learn up on using a str8. That's how I came to find SRP and within minutes I found where it still needed to be honed. I used a Smith's tri stone (Highly not recomended to use) and got enough of an edge where I saw a huge difference. I wound up buying a set of Norton's and ordered a shave ready razor from by barber. I've been shaving with a str8 for about 7 months now and love it! Once you get your razor honed, you'll find a huge difference and most likely get addicted.

Good luck and happy shaving!

By the way, I started buying vintage razors and probably have about 20 of them. ADDICTING I TELL YOU! LOL!

It's very easy to see how a razor was honed. There are "tells" all over the blade.

I think he is right about that one being pretty much unusable. The other will be easy to hone up.