Thread: New Guy Looking for Some Knowledge

I just filled in my intro in the FNG thread, so I thought I'd drop a line in here too.

I bought a F.A. Koch & Co Faultless blade off eBay last week. It looks nice, seems to be in good shape. Of course it will need sharpening. But I'm trying to find out more about the company, and the style of blade this is. As you can see, it's not a straight or rounded point. I've seen a few of these style, but can't find a name.

About all I CAN figure out is that this company went out of business sometime around 1933. If it really is an 80 year old blade, it's in fantastic shape! The scales are plastic, which was not unexpected. There is no significant pitting and there are no chips on the edge. For $20, I think I got a good deal.

So anything you guys can tell me would be greatly appreciated.

Hello Aaron - Looks like a real good deal! F.A. Koch was in business from about 1880 in New York City. Apparently they were importers and not manufacturers. According to Goins' they had some of their knives made for them in America, but I don't know about their razors. Is there a country of origin stamped on the side of the tang that you didn't photograph?

Regards - Walt

The straight razor - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Welcome.

Originally Posted by Walt

Hello Aaron - Looks like a real good deal! F.A. Koch was in business from about 1880 in New York City. Apparently they were importers and not manufacturers. According to Goins' they had some of their knives made for them in America, but I don't know about their razors. Is there a country of origin stamped on the side of the tang that you didn't photograph?

Regards - Walt

One of the things that stands out to me is how little information there is on the blade. There is "F.A. Koch & Co" on one side, and "Faultless" on the other. I suspect this was one of their lower end models.

A couple of things that I've determined from 10pups' post below is that its most likely a Spanish tipped Smiler. There are no jimps on the shoulder.

Since I haven't invested much in the foundation, I am considering disassembling it and bead blasting the blade. I want to polish it back to a mirror finish and replace the scales with something a little more attractive. Is this overly ambitious?

I would forego the bead blasting as there are much better, and safer for the razor, ways to clean this. A true expert should come along shortly and provide more meaningful advise, but if it were my razor I would start with Flitz or MAAS polish and see what happened.

For depinning, see this link,
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...lm-member.html
which is a project I am in the middle of.
If you have never pinned, I would be not depin then repin this blade. It is too nice. Yes, you only pd $20, but that blade has a few things going for it that will be hard to find again.
Clean it up with Metal polish first, if that doesn't make it shiny enough for you then try some 2000 grit sandpaper, then back to the polish.

Originally Posted by souschefdude

For depinning, see this link,
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...lm-member.html
which is a project I am in the middle of.
If you have never pinned, I would be not depin then repin this blade. It is too nice. Yes, you only pd $20, but that blade has a few things going for it that will be hard to find again.
Clean it up with Metal polish first, if that doesn't make it shiny enough for you then try some 2000 grit sandpaper, then back to the polish.

I agree. The blade has a beautiful profile to it. The only nitpicky thing that I really want to fix is some rust on the tang between the scales. It's going to be difficult to reach and practically impossible to polish. That's really my biggest reason for unpinning it. I honestly don't like the scales, but that's a secondary concern.

If I can find my other blade, it will probably make a more reasonable test piece. The blade is in much worse shape.

BTW, for anyone still reading, the Koch is a 6/8.

I would have to agree with the others that the blade is n nice enough condition a light polishing should do the trick. I would live with the rust on the tang between the scales without unpinning the blade. Get at that the best you can with dental floss. Give the scales a light polish while you are at it, you might be surprised. Get her honed up after that and you will have a very serviceable razor for minimal outlay. That is one of my favourite blade styles you have there. Nice catch.

Bob

Since, I am a fan of this type of razor, let me be the first to point out that it's a Spanish point, shoulderless razor. Great find.

Originally Posted by ChopperStyle

Since, I am a fan of this type of razor, let me be the first to point out that it's a Spanish point, shoulderless razor. Great find.

Actually, I beat you to the Spanish Point reference, but I was not clear on the shoulder. Thanks for the information! I am very pleased with this find!