Thread: Found my great grandfather's vintage razors

Hi everyone,

My name is Joe, I'm from Brisbane Australia and I recently found my great grandfather's straight razors. Please forgive me if I am posting in the wrong section but I have a few questions about them because no one in my local area has many answers for me.



This on says "The Sceptre Razor, Solingen Germany"




This one says "Fredrick Reynolds Gell St Sheffield, England"



And this one says "Bengall" on one side and "T.R. Cadman & Sons, Sheffield, England" on the other.


1. Are the brands any good?
2. What size are they?
3. Are they worth restoring and using?
4. Are new razors superior (I don't want to pay the money for restoration if I could just buy one brand new)?
5. As I don't have anyone in my local area to do restorations, I was considering sending it to the USA and getting these guys (ASR - Straight Razor Shaving, Honing, Sharpening, & Restoration) to do it for me, are they any good?

I'm really excited to get started and to join in, in your community!

Joe, you have a very talented guy down there - Onimaru55. 'Does beautiful work.

Hi Joe, Welcome to SRP. The first razor, the Solingen is too far gone IMO. The other two are 'name' brands from away back and are worth cleaning up and honing to shave ready. As pinklather already said, Onimaru55 , Oz, is quite capable of fixing you up. He is in Australia but I don't know where relative to Brisbane. Check out the SRP library here for the beginner's guide and all things related to straight razor shaving.

Hey thanks so much for your fast replies! I have emailed Onimaru55 so hopefully we can sort something out! Are the two usable ones suitable sizes for a beginner? I've read that 5/8 or 6/8 is best...Do either of these fit that?

I'm not sure if you'll ever know the original size of #1, but the other 2 look like 6/8 of an inch to me, but I could be wrong, as pictures never do complete justice. Measure the width from the spine to the shaving edge.

Originally Posted by JoeC

Hey thanks so much for your fast replies! I have emailed Onimaru55 so hopefully we can sort something out! Are the two usable ones suitable sizes for a beginner? I've read that 5/8 or 6/8 is best...Do either of these fit that?

Hard to tell from a photo what size they are. Look like 6/8 or so to me. You measure from the top of the spine to the bottom of the cutting edge to get the size. I would think they would be a fine size to begin and continue with.