Aussie Wostenholm

This is another razor I hand sanded while I was away from home last year.
An 11/16 Wosty with the blade etched "Made Expressly for John McKinney Toowoomba". Apparently the company is still in business, unfortunately Toowoomba has been devastated by floods this week (as has most of the state of Queensland Australia).
The blade had some active rust, but cleaned up pretty well eventually. still a little pitting, but I didnt want to loose the etch. The original Bakelite scales were given a light sand and buffed. It got a new Ivory acrylic wedge and Nickel Silver pins and s/steel washers.
I'm looking forward to getting this one honed and in the rotation, my first Wostenholm.

All I can say is...WOW
Nice job I really like it.
Steve

Most Excellent!
Beautiful job:tu

Great Job, Baldy. It looks beautiful. And well done for resurrecting some aussie shave history. Did you look up the company, and what can we get from them now/when the waters drop?

Very nice! :rock:

excellant restore grant...razor looks brand new. A+++

Our thoughts and prayers are with our friends battling high water. On the news it looks quite devestating

Fantastic save baldy! Enjoy it :)

Nice Job and Excellent pictures!!!

Great looking work you did on the John McKinney Toowoomba razor. Hand sanding makes the blade great looking. Thanks for posting the pictures, I enjoy seeing other craftsmen's work.

Magnificent Job baldy, that's one fine razor you pulled from its demise !
Etching and everything turned out great ! Beautiful Razor, Beautiful Job !

Awesome restore. Only blades I have been able to find in Oz have been bengals so far :(

WOW Grant you do amazing work. Congrats! Hey ill trade you a Wapi for her!:hmmm: JK

Now....THAT is a transformation. Holy smokes. I love the look of that finished razor. Fantastic.

Holy cow Grant...Is that the same razor :dropjaw:? I can't believe the transformation. Exquisite job :tu.

PS: Hope you guys are OK with the floods...Those floods have devastated QL. What a mess. Stay dry and safe

Beautiful job Grant. What a great save.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Frankenstein

Great Job, Baldy. It looks beautiful. And well done for resurrecting some aussie shave history. Did you look up the company, and what can we get from them now/when the waters drop?

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I looked up the company for Grant a while back as Toowoomba used to be my old stomping grounds in my high-school years. McKinney's now sell Jewellery in Brisbane...A far cry from the Tobacconist/Hairdresser shop wedged between a Chinese garden and a gun shop at the top end of Ruthven street started in 1884. Then in the 40's on it sold everything from fine china to Winchester rifles, Parker pens, hair clippers etc. In 1970 they expanded to Brisbane with a shop at Indooroopilly selling furniture and electrical goods. This was to be a bad move for the company as they were locked into a lease that was based on the CPI which ended up being the cause of paying a crippling amount of rent. A quick re-think on what to stock saved them. They dropped the furniture and electrical goods in favour of their tried, true and trusted fine china, gift lines and Jewellery. It was during this time that it was seen that jewellery was a good seller as on some days the company would make $500,000 in a half day sale.
For a while there in the '80's the company had bought into a chain of stores (Hardy Brothers) bought cheaply enough off the failing Christopher Skase empire, but eventually these were sold as the head of the McKinney family, John McKinney, grandson of the original John McKinney, 'ran out of family members to run them all'. His daughters had all married and moved away.
McKinney's in Toowoomba closed it's doors in 2004. On it's 120th anniversary. The store wasn't sold! Quite literally they just closed the doors. One staff member had been there for 60 years. She was 80 years old when the store closed for the last time.
They had kept a shop in Brisbane and this is what is still running to this day. John McKinney, Grandson of the original John McKinney will be 81 this year.
Diamonds never go out of fashion.


Mick

P.S If you ever find another like that Grant, and you don't want it for yourself, give me a yell. If I can afford it I will buy it for myself. A beautiful 'resto' job mate and something your son will be proud of in years to come, I'm sure.

Great job Grant! It brings a smile to my face to see you wielding your craft again, enjoy it!

Glenn

Darn classy.
Hard to believe the before/after pics. Time well spent

Thanks guys, and thanks Mick, thats a LOT more than I knew about them.
Grant

Excellent!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by baldy

Thanks guys, and thanks Mick, thats a LOT more than I knew about them.
Grant

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There is more information there, but that's the more interesting stuff that I've found. Incidentally the original location of the Toowoomba store would not have been affected by the recent floods. It would have been a close thing though.


Mick

Reallllly nice save Grant & well done on the research Mick :tu

Quote:

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Originally Posted by baldy

This is another razor I hand sanded while I was away from home last year.
An 11/16 Wosty with the blade etched "Made Expressly for John McKinney Toowoomba". Apparently the company is still in business, unfortunately Toowoomba has been devastated by floods this week (as has most of the state of Queensland Australia).
The blade had some active rust, but cleaned up pretty well eventually. still a little pitting, but I didnt want to loose the etch. The original Bakelite scales were given a light sand and buffed. It got a new Ivory acrylic wedge and Nickel Silver pins and s/steel washers.
I'm looking forward to getting this one honed and in the rotation, my first Wostenholm.

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greAT job on the restoration baldy! i like how you left the minor pitting on the blade, it looks cool! what did you grade of sandpaper did you use on the scales? i think overall, your project turned out great!

I'm impressed with your work! Everything just fits the way it is supposed to from the blade finish to the pinning to the wedge. Fantastic!

Great job man, you nailed this one good.:gwh:

Exquisite Grant. Another razor saved too :)

I had a chat to John McKinney today, the grandson of the John McKinney on the razor.

The original John McKinney arrived from the boat from Ireland and hopped on a train to look for work on the railways in Stanthorpe. Whilst on a stopover in Toowoomba John had a look around town and saw an empty shopfront and enquired about the lease and decided to set up shop as a barber.

The family are pretty certain that the first head of hair he ever cut was the first person who walked into the shop. Pretty soon he was successful and had 5 chairs working.

In those days Toowoomba was a gateway town providing services to isolated communities in the hinterland so John McKinney started stocking razors, pocketknives, shears and scissors and selling them to the countryfolk who'd only come in once every few months. What John did was a but cunning though, he got his name engraved on the stock he sold.

As time went by John McKinney started stocking fine cutlery and this slid into jewellery and other homewares.

The present John McKinney remembers his father was a cut throat shaver all his life. Not so much for shaving with the razor but the black leather strop that usually hung off the towel rack in the bathroom and only came off the towel rack if he played up too much.

McKinneys bought Hardy Brothers off Christopher Skase when Skasey was having his firesale. They saw the writing on the wall with young people not wanting to pay the price for good quality silverware so sold out and are now a very good jewellery store.

John said he has had a number of the old John McKinney razors, but I don't think any would be in any where near the condition of Baldy's.

Wow, thats cool. Thank you for finding all that out, and for sharing with us.
I just had my first shave with it 15 minutes ago. A SWEET shaver it is too.
Grant

Whoa!!! Great save. That's a lot of sanding by hand. It looks amazing.
~S