Thread: Hello from SC and a few questions.

Hi Gents and ladies.

I am from midlands / upstate SC, I've been looking at the use of a straight for a few years, and finally went for it I am waiting on my first razor. a buddy that has been using a straight for about 15 years has been kind and is sending me one of his that is ready to go. so in a few days ill be visiting the ER for stiches
since I like sharp things and old things and I hang out at lots of auctions I dropped a bit of cash on a small lot of razors some need to be sharpened and some need to be restored. I have the following razors that need to be sharpened or restored, I have 12 razors in this lot and I want to resale some of them but I want to do it after there shave ready. here are my question(s) 1. can y'all give me some recommendations on who to send them too? 2. what is the average cost of a good sharpening? Also I am going to list the 12 razors here and feel free to comment on them as to any history, quality, shaveability, and personal experience with them and advice on the ones I might should consider keeping.
1 H Boker &Co square tip, extra hollow ground, blk plastic scales, 1924-1935 by the tree logo per the Boker web site condition in great, some discoloration, but no rust and only light ware, great condition.
2 Wade & Butcher, Sheffield England, KEEN SHAVER on blade in gold color, prof mark( can’t make it out)+ arrow + and iron cross on shank. Yellow / white plastic scales, Round point, no nicks or cracks some discoloration, no rust. Good to great condition. X hollow ground.
3 Original Ragina Italia on scales, “trade mark” on shank CENTURY in a diamond, other side of shank has TELL over SOLINGEN GERMANY, yellow plastic scales, some discoloration on blade, no rust but some dum A#$ took 150-200 across the hollow of the blade once or twice, only cosmetic damage. X hollow ground no nicks or cracks. Good condition
4 CLAUSS over FREMONT U.S.A on shank, on blade there are crossed flags one Japanese one USA over JAPANESE-AMERICAN. Blade is in great shape no ware, square point, black plastic scales. No nicks or cracks
5. CHARLESCRAFT PRODUCTS over made in GERMANY on shank SOLINGEN 5?1 on other side of shank, blade is square point, double hollow ground, it was gold colored / plated with SOLINGEN and a coat of arms on the blade at one time this is mostly wore off now. Blade is going to loss 64 to a 32 to restore due to nicks, scales are yellow / clear with a silver buck, doe, fawn and trees on ¾ of the one side.
6. On one side of shank BARRE SUPPLY CO. over WILKES-BARRE.PA. and BARRE on the other side. Blade has no nicks, rust or discoloration, but has been over honed on the end, square point, it is savable, double hollow ground. Scales are yellow / plastic. No cracks
7 On side of shank CAMILLUS CO over U S A, blade is double hollow ground, no rust, some patina, edge is LIGHTLY nicked I think a good heavy sharpening will take care of the nicks. Scales are white, plastic bamboo looking. No cracks.
8. CLIM with a tomahawk transecting the word on the side of the shank, on the other side, EUGENE BERNINGHAUS MADE IN GERMANY. Blade is square point, double hollow ground. Little ware. No nicks or cracks, no rust, nice patina, scales are yellow plastic with fancy metal end caps.
9. On shank COSTRANOVA over SPECIAL NO 1. Other side CASTRANOVA BARBER SUP over TRENTON. N.J DISTER. Blade is a round point, double hollow ground, with some light rust spots, scales are white / yellow plastic with fancy caps / pins, edge is in decent shape but needs a heavy sharpening.
10. On Shank FR (sideways) FREDRICK REYNOLDS over SHEFFIELD on blade is THE CELEBRATED over WHISKER RAZOR the blade has a different look to it, the heel is rounded in where the thumb sets. Also it looks like it may have seen heavy use or be old as the blade looks to have been a round point but now looks more like a French point. It is nice and straight but only a half inch or so wide no nicks in the blade. A few spots of light rust. Scales are black horn with a few small chips.
11. On Shank, is J. WOSTENHOLMS? over EBRO SHEFFIELD with two iron cross one on each end of EBRO. Blade is a wedge square point, with a round heel and no shoulder, scales are Bone, pins are brass with no washers on inside or outside end spacer appears to be horn, there is a small hairline crack in the end of the one scale, there is no rust on the blade some discoloration or patina a small nick at the heel I think will come out with a good sharpening. I have to say love the feel and look of this one the only thing I worry about is my thumb slipping up on to the blade and resulting in a cut thumb due to no shoulder/ heel.
12. On Blade is J CURLEY BRO, This one is a bit of an enigma to me it’s like a mini straight razor, it seems to be half sized, overall length of about 5-6 in with a blade (cutting edge ) of 2-2.5 in. round heel and what I would consider a normal (for a knife) point. Like a pocket knife. Handle / scales are a black (one piece not two with a pin in both ends) plastic no cracks in scale blade has some surface rust and has some small nicks at the tip, and has been over honed on the center of the edge giving it a slight reverse smile.
thanks for the great web page and I look forward to learning a lot from y'all about the use of a SR and different types of razors.
Rod

Hi and welcome. I don't know about all of them but boker, Clauss, Wade and Butcher, Fredrick Reynolds and Wostenholms Im sure are good quality razors. Most USA and German razors tend to be of decent quality. If you check the member services are you will find a list of people doing the work you need. Good luck

Welcome! I'm in Columbia and there are a couple more guys from SC here too. 12 razors... It looks like you have a nice "start" to a pretty nice collection going. I'm waiting on a few of mine to come back from one of our honemeisters myself.

Have fun!!! SRP is a great resource and a great bunch of gentlemanly guys...

Check out the classifieds for SRP's resident honemeisters/resto guys and look down through the galleries in the custom/restore section to see their work. I haven't seen a bad restore yet so find someone whom you like and send them an email or PM.

Jonathan

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you are well on your way with nice batch of great razors. Good luck, ask many questions, read post, watch videos, and your learning curve should not be too bad.

Welcome to SRP. I live in Spartanburg myself. You will find a treasure trove of info. here. Pics would help on those razors, but it sounds like you've got some nice ones to play with!

Sharpness and Smoothness of the edge, width of the blade*, shape of the blade tip/grind, condition of the rest of the blade, condition of the scales, soundness of the pivot, where/by whom it was made, current popularity.

There's the order of importance of blade characteristics as I generally assign them. Popularity can move up the scale where the blade will surely be re-sold. I noticed you didn't specify widths. You'll learn.

We tend to shy away from pricing discussions here as it's too easy for names to get named and then it's NO SOUP FOR YOU! I'd recommend any number of the guys who do full razor restorations around here. They're fairly easy to find. All I'll add is that one should never ever have a razor honed by one who doesn't shave-test your razor as a matter of course.

If you're the least bit handy you'll wind up with hones and that's what i did. Learned to hone and shave at the same time. Worked out pretty good.

If you go down that path, i suggest seeing every video gssixgun made and Lynn Abram's vids too. Learn what they do differently, try both ways. You might mix and match, but know what works for you. Start with the least hone-worn razors (they will have the narrowest bevels). Enjoy.

*expressed only ever in 8ths of inches, sometimes 16ths (not any other fraction, decimal, or whole number).

A dozen is a good start.

You'll also need a brush or two and a couple-three strops. Plus all those rocks...

slope

very

slip

pery

!

thanks for the welcome I am having a great time here, and learning a lot. great people, great articles and videos. wadepatton I hope I do learn I am feeling a bit lost. I have most of the hones / stones that I need to sharpen already, I dabble in wood carving I took one look at a SR and had no idea how to hone that sucker so I will be sending them out for now. also I will be posting each razor (with pics) over the next few weeks. I believe I saw a place on here just for that kind of post. It is a slippery slop and I am falling fast. I picked up a wade and butcher making it a bakers dozen, after watching me shave the first time the wife doubled my life insurance pay out.