Hello there, SRP!!

Hey Everyone!

My name is Tom, and I've been hanging around here for the better part of a two months as I've considered revolutionizing my shaving experience. Well, I finally caved and decided to jump in head first; even if that meant pulling a big no-no... Yep. I went and bought two (non-shave ready) razors from my local antique store. :D

Could this have been a mistake? Probably. Was the $45 spent (yep, $22.50 each) worth it even if this plan falls flat on its face? Absolutely!!!

Now comes the big question... I've got some razors, and I know I need to get them honed and ready to shave. I guess I'll need someone to hone it, but I'm kind of in a "What do I do now?" phase. I know I need to get a strop, a brush and some good soap. Like I said, I've been hanging around this forum for about two months, absorbing as much information I can on strops, brushes, etc. so I kind of know what I'm getting into, but does anyone have some good advice to help steer me in the right direction for getting set up? Also, some advice on a person to hone these bad boys would be appreciated as well.

Oh! I almost forgot! Allow me to share my acquisitions with you all! The first one is a full hollow Revisor with yellow scales and a FROMM logo on the scales. Very interesting, as I am unable to find anything on the internet that looks like it. My bet is that it's been re-scaled to make it look like something else, but I don't know nearly enough about Revisors to stand by that call. Only a few little dark spots (tarnish?) near the spine, and a slightly dinged blade edge. Otherwise, this thing's in pretty dang good shape.

The second is a Boker wedge with plain black scales which I believe to be non-original. The spine has some hone wear, which in my opinion appears to be uneven (uh oh...). The etching on this one is really cool; I'm not sure if you all can tell, but it depicts an old fashioned steam ship with Boker's tree logos surrounding the company name. I really like it. This one has seen quite a bit more action compared to the Revisor, and it shows. There's some pitting from rust on the back side, and a tiny bit on the front side in front of the ship.

Can anyone verify the authenticity/tell me more about these razors? I'm not sure how old they are, or anything. I kind of just pulled the trigger on these because the price seemed pretty low compared to everything else I had run into. I realize the quality isn't stunning. I just took them with my phone on my kitchen counter.

Whew! Sorry, so much for a brief introduction. I'm just excited to be on the threads! Thanks for having me, and I look forward to some great conversations!

Sincerely,
Tom

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Greetings Tom. Both look ok quite ok. The Revisor may be a rebranded Fromm or not. They sell/sold a number of different makers razors, CF Schmidt is one that springs to mind. I wouldn't worry too much. Scales are the least of your problems right now.
For honing help look here: Member Services - Straight Razor Place Classifieds
OR click on the "Community" tab at top left of this page & select "Find Local Help"

Welcome, Tom. As Oz said, those look like some very nice acquisitions to get you started. Where are you located? That will help identify where there may be someone to help you get them in shaving condition and/or give you some mentorship...

They look to be 2 nice razors... i would suggest polishing them up before you decide how much restoration work you want done to them, yes you will need to get them honed. as for the strops and brushes there are quite a number of fine vendors on the site that will help you out for both. or you could start with a brush on the cheap from a drug store, target, bed bath and beyond, walmart or such they usually have boar brushes and Williams, van der hueven or poraso shaving soaps or creams, you might even find some palmolive... then you will just need a strop.
since you will have a little wait before the strop and the razors are in your hands you could be practicing the lathering techniques with your current razor... your shave with that most likely will improve.

enjoy,
jim

Thanks for the replies, guys!

A little more about me: I'm 22 years old, and I live in Santa Barbara, California. I've been looking for a better way to shave for a while, and my interest was spurred on when I received a small "Art of Shaving" starter kit with its own badger brush. I'm still using that brush, and it's not a bad little bunch of hair... As for strops, I've heard a lot about the "poor man's strop" from Whippeddog, and I think that's a good start for me.

Jim, what type of gear do I need to get my hands on in order to polish these babies up? Also, why start with polishing? Just to get a better idea of what they really look like?

Tom

welcome to srp tom :)
Sounds like you know where you need to go with all this. As far as a strop goes...don't bother with the poor man...I reccomend this to every newbie not onlly for its great price but it is very easy to use....Black English Bridal Leather Stropping Board strop boards can take the hassle out of stropping for newbies. later on down the road you could always pick up a hanging storop. good lluck :)

to start the cleaning and polishing all you need is a cloth and a good polish like maas, flitz, simichrome, mothers mag polish. mainly they remove the surface crud and give you a better idea of the blade condition as well as leaving a little rust inhibitor on the blade. because of the etching i would probably just polish. then hone and use. i like my vintage blades to show their years as long as there is no active rust.
and there is a very good chance the scales on the boker are original. manufacturers regularly used a wide variety of scale patterns form the slick black to ornate with and without logos.

Welcome to SRP, NewB to NewB ;)

Welcome, young whippersnapper! It's great to see how many younger guys are discovering str8s. I have nothing to add; all the advice you've gotten is good. Just chiming in with another welcome.

Oh, one bit I could add--practice stropping with a butter knife before you do a razor. That'll lay in a little muscle memory for you before you put your strop and edges at risk. Also, when you get the honed blades back, resist using them both, and keep one back as a "reference edge," use it once every other week or so, to remind yourself of how a properly sharp blade should feel.

Those look like a couple of very nice finds.

Best wishes to you.

Welcome to SRP. Nice blades. I think that almost everything is covered, so I'll leave it at that for now.

Thanks for the responses and welcomes everyone! Looking forward to learning more on the forum!

Hi Tom, and welcome to SRP from a fellow rookie! You won't find a better bunch of cutthroat aficionados anywhere on the web. So far, you've gotten some pretty good replies. See you in the trenches!