Thread: Thistle Cut Co New York?

Well, I asked about this off topic in my other thread when I was complaining about the temperature of my lather (which btw turned up my hot water heater and things are AWESOME) but didn't get many responses. Here's what's up...

I went to my dad's for Thanksgiving and took my new Henckels 5/8 to show off (I'm still trying to find out more info on that one too) and he said "Why didn't you tell me you wanted one of those?" and goes running down the hall to his bedroom where he retrieves something from the bottom of a drawer in his dresser. The little item turned out to be a 5/8, black scaled, two pin, spike point in pretty nice condition. He told me that the razor belonged either to his father or grandfather, but he was pretty sure it was his grandfathers, which BTW, would make it somewhere in the range of about 75-100 years old unless my guesstimates are disgustingly way off. Because my dad wasn't what I would call convicningly confident I'm not too sure on the age of the thing...but since I'm a rookie I don't know how to tell.

The razor is by Thistle Cut Co. out of New York U.S.A. and is stamped accordingly on one side of the shank with Thistle Cut Co. stamped above and New York U.S.A. underneath a logo resembling (logically) a thistle flanked on either side by a thistle leaf. There are no other markings on the razor, but the underside of the shank is uniformly (I think the term is gimped?) cut across the width to provide better grip I assume, and the monkey tail is considerably more dramatic than on my Henckel. The blade appears to be a natural 5/8 but is actually thicker in the spine than my Henckel, which confuses me as it would lead to a steeper angle and therefore a less sharp edge and a more difficult shave. So far my pitifull attempts to get an edge on it have yielded only a case of razor burn like I have NEVER experienced, even with a Mach3 blade a month old.

The scales appear to my young experience to be a plastic, although my guess is celluloid is very similar to a plastic but pre-dates the production of ACTUAL plastic by enough years that this may still be old enough to be my great-grandfathers razor. Please correct me if I'm wrong here. The pins are peened into washer-like but rounded pieces and ground down flush with a line showing the transition between pin and washer-thingy for a nice accent.

I've been unable to dig up any info on the razor, despite helpful linkage in my other thread, and since I've not heard this brand mentioned here I thought I'd ask and see if anyone can shed a little light on things. I'm probably going to be shipping both my razors to Lynn soon to have them honed better than I can accomplish, and because I can't even get a shave with this puppy. I'm hoping he can get it sharp because I'd kinda like to keep this old heirloom in rotation rather than let it rot in a drawer/box/whatever.

ok holy crap...

I don't generally like bumping my own threads but I would have thought someone might know something about the razor. Is this some off brand hunk of crap that isn't worth even having and nobody wants to tell me because it means something special to me? I'd be happy enough to know it's a junker, it's a family piece to me not a collectors piece

I have seen a few Thistle's on ebay and probably owned one at sometime over the years. I don't recall it though. It's probably a Bakelite handle if not plastic. If you find Celluloid, it is usually very thin. There were a bunch of folks who made razors up in the NE during the period you describe. I couldn't find much information on this one. I originally thought I had a Thistle made for a NY Cutlerer out of Germany, but couldn't find it. I'll keep checking and maybe someone else knows. Lynn