Greetings from sunny Florida!

Hello to everyone, I've been a straight razor fan for years but never as passionate as I am now! I recently was given my great grandfather's razor but never knew much about razors. After some research I came to realize that this razor had been so protected and cared for for over 120 years or more. It's a Marsh Brothers Pond Works Sheffield "ROXO" etched on the blade, does not have "England" stamped anywhere on it. I thought that the razor was probably 40-50 yrs old because of it's pristine condition. So now I have a family heirloom that I will treasure. I will post some pics when I get it re-scaled. I have since bought some oldies, I have a soft spot for the heavy choppers with the barber notch on them. I have found a GREAT new hobby. Since I'm new, especially to restoring, I look forward to soaking up the knowledge that everyone has. Thank you for reading this and I welcome any advice, tips and wisdom that you would share with me. Happy stropping!
ROXOJAX

Welcome to SRP. I'm down south FL myself. Plenty of sun but no rain. I'll probably regret saying that soon enough, about the no rain I mean . Why the rescale on great grandpa's razor ? Unless they are trashed wouldn't you prefer to keep it original ?

Welcome to SRP. I've got a marsh brothers roxo myself, but mine is a little younger (has sheffield england stamped on tang, in stead of just sheffield). I just finished honing it up the other day, it is a beautiful razor and shaves like a dream. I kept mine in the original scales, with the lead wedge and everything. Not the most interesting scales in the world, but I'm with JimmyHAD, I like original when possible.
Looking forward to seeing pics when it is restored.

I would have kept it all original but the original scales had basically been cracked so badly that there was no hope of salvage which was surprising considering how well the blade was maintained. It will be a beauty when its done. Thanks for the welcome!

Thanks for the welcome. I wish I could hve kept the originals but they were so badly cracked & broken that the razor was just unusable the way it was which is surprising considering how well maintained the blade was kept. It will be all honed up and shave ready when it comes back. By the way, I'll need a good but not expensive strop. Any suggestions? What do you use and are the dressings neccesary or is that all hype?

I've accumulated a number of strops but the one I use the most is the Straight Razor Designs Premium 1. Different strops have different draw (resistance) and that one seems to agree with me most. It is one of those things you won't know until you feel it yourself. If dressing or pastes, sprays are used I prefer to use them on strops dedicated to that purpose and leave my daily driver untreated. I only go to a pasted or sprayed strop once in awhile when I feel like the razor could benefit from that treatment. Good to have when you need it though.