Thread: Family Jewels

Originally Posted by ats200

This was given to me recently by my Grandfather. He purchased the razor and just never stuck with using straights so it is in great condition. We live in Pennsylvania so it is only right that the family jewel is a Case.

Wow! What a gorgeous razor. You are truly lucky to have been entrusted with an almost NOS razor to shave with. Thanks for sharing!

Peace,

I just discovered this thread. I'll use a couple of my Shave Of The Day photos to show off my Heirlooms. About a year ago my Dad found the Long Life Straight in the garage, I believe it belonged to my Grandfather on my mothers side. It was in fantastic condition, I just gave it a little cleaning and a hone and its a fantastic shaver in my regular rotation.
Also in the first picture is a paddle strop that belonged to my Grandfather on my Dad's side (Pa). The travel strop as well as 2 of Pa's DE's and a Gem SE were recently discovered in my Dad's garage and I have shaved with all of them. The DE's are not in mint condition, but thats how Pa left them and thats what makes them irreplaceable. (Both my Grandfathers passes away in the 1980's)

Thanks
Grant

Very nice. Can I go dig around in your Dad's garage...sounds like there's all kinds of great stuff in there!

This is a strop that belonged to my grandfather and father. It is hands down my most treasured item in my shaving arsenal.

I have created a thread with a story behind the strop. Hope you enjoy.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...andfather.html

I have a great stable...

This brings both pride and sorrow, but here we go:

Extreme left: Vintage 1960 (3rd quarter) Fat Boy (in original case) used by Dad for 25+ years... pretty much worn... but holds a new blade with one shave on it - I use it occasionally.

Top Left: Vintage Correl Ware Coffee Cup (LOL). Puck of Williams still wet from tonight's shave.

Top Right: A Brush. I have no idea. Might be Boar. Well worn. I watched Dad pump copious amounts of canned goo into this brush and rub it onto his face. Sadly, by the time I got it and found out a guy could actually apply a good soap to his face.. Dad was gone. I miss you, Buddy. I would have loved to have given you a shave with Paw-paw's Larkin.

Right: Grand-Dad's Vintage 1962 Adjustable (in original case with original blade packet). It's very likely this razor was used for 9 blades. Blade 10 is still in the box, very rusty. Paw-Paw died in early '63. This DE razor is like NEW!

Bottom: Grand-Dad's Larkin. From what I can find out this razor is circa 1920-1930. As many of you know it was a 'gift' for ordering via mail from somewhere. When I got it, it went on the hone briefly, then to the wool, then to the leather, then to my face.

Yesterday I put it in a vise and briefly polished the spine, the tang and the logo below the jimps. I would like to restore this razor, but unpinning it at this point would be madness.

The scales are almost perfect with only a tiny boo-boo halfway along... they are tight... the blade stands happily where placed. The wedge is good. The blade is only discolored by time. There is no rust. It smiles and when I put it on my face it wipes away my whiskers like they're not even there. Basically... it's my 'go to' razor when I want to check razors. It's probably a 4/8 hollow.

I miss you guys...

Arb, that's a great story...thanks for sharing. The thumb prints are awesome.

Tony, I have that exact same coffee cup...an entire set of dishes in fact! They were given to me by my grandmother when I first moved out on my own. When I started wet shaving I used one of the cups for my soap and one for lather until I bought a vintage Old Spice mug.

I'm hoping to get a chance to look through my grandmother's place this fall and see if any of my granddad's safety razors are still around. I shave with a fatboy when I use a DE (on the road for instance), and I've used a slim like you have on the right as well, then gave it to my wife. I have no attachment to my safety razors and would much rather use a DE that was my Pah-pah's if I could find one still around.

Thanks for sharing!

If you check my very first post on SRP (http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...here-goes.html) you'll see that I was confused about the ownership of this mug. As a kid I just remembered seeing a cool old shaving mug high in a linen closet of my maternal grandparents' home. Through a totally innocent conversation with one my aunts this past Christmas, I mentioned my disappointment that my oldest male cousin had the cool old mug, especially since I'm the only wet/straight shaving male in my extended family. A few days later, my aunt asked me to come to her house because she wanted to give me something. As it turns out, my aunt had the mug, and she gave it to me! Since she has two daughters, she felt it was most appropriate that I keep the mug. So here's the real history of the mug:

The shaving mug actually belonged to my great great grandfather, Alexander M. Struble. He was born in 1863 in Illinois (I think), but lived most of his life in Thayer, Missouri. He was married in 1884. These dates, coupled with the numerous examples of similarly shaped "occupational mugs" on the internet place this mug in the later years of the 1800's, but possibly in the early 1900's.


As you can tell from the close-up, before the years of wear, his name was surrounded by flourishes in gold monochrome paint.


This is a hand-written note on A. M.'s train dispatcher stationary. As you can see, the form has a space for 190___. I don't know if this is his handwriting or if it was written by someone else in later years on his old stationary.

I never knew the man but have learned so much about him through family members. Now I have the one tool that he likely used more often than any other to link us. I was very lucky to receive this razor from my mother. It belonged to my great grandfather on her side (her dad's dad). I have had it for a while and it has just sat in the corner of my shop waiting on me to get to it. I wanted to try to keep it all original but obviously the scales had to be replaced. I have been scouring the classifieds, ebay, and antique stores for a set of scales that match. There are plenty out there but unfortunately most people think that they should cost a fortune due to the figure of a woman with long, flowing hair (they are just cheap celluloid). Anyway, I finally found a set from a chipped J.R. Torrey blade from the same era, albeit in a butterscotch swirl not the original off white color. Once I got the scales I was able to go to work on the old girl. Here are the specs:

5/8 Germania Cutlery Oxford Razor
Full Hollow
Original pivot washers w/ brass pin
Wedge end is pinless bonded celluloid (which I like better with these particular scales)

I'll tell you what, it is so rewarding and admittedly a bit moving to work on a piece that belonged to family. Every step in the process had me reflecting on the man. The one razor in my collection that has no price tag.
Thanks for allowing me to share.

Shon

Very nice. Thanks for sharing!

Peace,

Big Jim

I just got my grandfather's razor back from the restorer and couldn't wait to share an "after" photo. Apologies for the poor photo quality...it looks much better in person!

My grandfather ("Charlie the Barber") came to America from Italy in the early 1900's after attending barber school in Palermo. He immediately set up shop in New York City and raised 4 kids - two boys and two girls, one of whom is my mother. He also did most of the cooking, and I am told he was something of a master chef.

This razor was used by both my grandfather, although I'm not sure if he used it professionally in his shop or just personally, and my uncle/godfather before it came to me. I'm pretty sure there are other of his straight razors floating around the family...the hunt continues. I also have my father looking for the butterfly DEs that he used in the 1960's (when I was a kid).

In the end we, (that is, the restorer, Bob Keyes from the great state of Tennessee, and I) decided to keep it as original as possible, hence the small cracks at the pivot pin which were there originally. Instead of swapping out the old scales for new ones, Bob trued the original scales which had been warped, polished the blade, taking care to leave the "black" of the tail and the red diamond, both of which I think give it character, did a general cleaning, and then honed it to shave readiness. I'm sure you'll agree that Bob did a magnificent job with it. It shaves beautifully by the way. There may be other stuff out there that's fancier, but I bet none are more special to their owner. I hope to pass this on to my son someday.