So, when I first showed an interest in learning to shave wit a straight, my uncle gave me an old antique that he had in one of his big display cases. He likes antiques a lot, and he actually had several straights in his collection. Anyway, he offered one to me, so I took it. I knew it would need a good cleaning and honing before I could even attempt to shave with it, so I figured I would use it as a practice blade to get my honing technique down. Well, I got to thinking the blade may actually be decent and I would hate to ruin it by practicing on it. So I figured I would see if I could get some info from you guys. I snapped some pictures which you can see below. The shank has Novelty Cutlery Co. Canton Ohio on it. I have never heard of this brand at all. The word novelty is what made me think the blade probably wasn't all that good to begin with. But after reading some posts about older blades, most people said that most older American blades were pretty decent. Anyway check out the pictures and let me know what you guys think. Should I learn on it or send it to one of you guys to clean and hone up for me?
Matt
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