Thread: Bought a razor, any idea on what it is?

So I lucked out and found 2 nice razors today, one is an Arthur Allan "Magnetic" razor and the one i am having difficulty ID'ing is this one:


On the tang you can see A & N.C.S.L, which i understand to be the Army & Navy Cooperative Stores Limited, not the maker's mark. The original box is very difficult to read and I can't get a picture to show the markings. What i can read says "F Stuart Apps, Cutler, 5 Sandgate RD, Folkestone (it could be Polkestone, tough to read...)



In the middle of the spine, there is "Thursday" engraved, very neatly. Too neat and fine to have been done by someone at home without some major know-how and some very nice tools, which makes me think that it was done at the factory. Could this have been part of a set with a razor for every day of the week?

Tomorrow I'll be polishing up the blade with sandpaper to get rid of the rust spots, 400 to 3000 grit, and I'll post up the results.

Thanks in advance for the help.

As far as info on the maker I can't help, but the Tuesday etching indicates this did come from a set. Most are 7 day sets but I have seen a few 5 day ones.

I just googled the address, 5 Sandgate RD, Folkestone, United Kingdom. Can't go to street view down that street but i could stand at the corner and try to see where it was. as I figured, F Stuart Apps is no longer a cutler at that address...

I would start with a slightly higher grit than 400 as the blade looks pretty clean as it sits in your pictures.

The pictures hide a lot and that picture was taken after using polish to remove as much oxidization as possible to see where I would have to start grit-wise. The toe on the other side has a bad spot that will need 400 to start.

I use half of a mouse pad, rolled up into a cylinder and light pressure. The other half of the pad is under the blade providing some cushion.

F Stuart Apps had the shop at 5 Sandgate Road during WW1. His advert appears on page three of the 49er Magazine:



It was a Canadian Forces magazine - there were a lot of canadians in Folkestone at that time, awaiting postings overseas. This particular issue was out 4 weeks before the camp was sent of to France as part of the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force / British Expeditionary Force. That explains the Army & Navy Stores connection.

Regards,
Neil

Neil, thanks for the info. I think it's kind of cool that I spent 12 years in the Canadian Forces and this particular razor potentially has ties to the CF all the way back to WW1. I know it would be quite tough to find its exact lineage as the only markings on the razor are the A & N.C.S.L. and Thursday on the spine but I'll take what i can get.

On a sidenote, here are the results of bringing it back to life, before honing. The spine will be taped prior to honing to protect it.




No more corrosion and shiny, I'm happy.

Nice work, and it looks like a pretty decent razor.

In that edition of the 49er, there is a bit about Sheffield's Master Cutler addressing the town. I would expect that F. Stuart App was just a dealer, and that the razor was Sheffield made. The spine work looks a bit like a Solingen product though - now that would be ironic in that era!

Regards,
Neil

If anyone else runs across an F Stuart blade, you will not be disappointed in how it shaves.