Thread: Photos of my Dads Razors, help with history?

Attachment 155900Attachment 155898Attachment 155899When we lost my dad in 77 I inherited a box of his pried items that he specified were mine. The box included his colection from his WWII years of his zippos, his Ronson unit lighter, (that I need to fix), and his razors. Of those I have 2 which have the boxes, both "Simmons Hardware Co. St. Louis Mo. Fully warrented". One is an "Empire, A.F. Shapleigh Hardware CO. Made in Germany. #2 is a LEES WarrentedLee Mfg. Co. Chicago, Both of these apear to have Ivory Scales. The last is a Made in the U.S.A. Case Temperite Trade Mark 20. Its scales are missing and I am making new ones from either Mesquite Burl or Osage Orange Burl. Any information on any of them would be appriciated.

Anyone having information on my razors, posible values and histories, pos. dates, I would greatly enjoy hearing from you.

Think I have tied up your time enough, look forward to visiting when I can, and if any would like to chat off forum, drop me a note at jimi at hdc-nm dito com or PM me.

Case is a well known blade maker. They made really good razors and knives. The other two would have been made in a German factory and branded with the name of the US retailer. None of the scales are ivory. Ivory has a very distinctive look. They will be a form of early plastic. As for date, if it has the country of origin stamped on the razor then it's after 1891, if it doesn't then it's before.

I have a book with pretty much all of Case's history and products at home. Only caveat is that you'll have to wait for Friday as I am working out of town until then.

As a sidenote, value won't be discussed as it's one of the rules of the forum. If someone said that your razor wasn't worth anything and you were to take offence to it then it escalates from there and so on.

They never give valuations here, But as everyone will tell you an heirloom is priceless. These were probably your dads pride and joy at some point.

The razors look a little neglected.

The Simmons Hardware looks to just have a heavy patina and a bit of rust on the tang and monkey tail. You should be able to pull that back with 1200 grit wet and dry paper, then buff it with chrome oxide powder on a drill powered mop.

The Empire looks to have a gold wash and a blade etch. So you can't use wet and dry paper on it. Your only option it very fine steel wool, And crome oxide powder on a cloth. If your not attentive and gentle your going to loose that gold wash. The spine and edge look pretty good so it should shave after a honing. The scales are also nice, they just have a small chip that should be polished a little. Again Crome oxide and a soft cloth should be perfect here don't use the mop unless you have a test area.

The last one looks to have blade damage caused by the original scales degrading. Cellrot (celluloid rot), you need to have a look at the edge by the heel. If that corrosion has gone deep into the face of the blade and eaten the edge then this razor is probably not worth restoring if you plan to use it. If the blade is fine then wet and dry it and crome oxide on the mop. The blade has a frown at the heel but a honemaster can remove that and work around the wear on the spine at the toe.

All 3 look to have or have had celluloid scales. That dates them after 1880, And they all have modern style grinds. Interestingly 2 of the companies are based in St Louis Missouri. So you might want to have a look and see if your Father/Grandfather lived or worked in that region. These razors might have been special because they were his fathers.

That pine cone cell is a rare pattern. I know what I would do with it!

Found my Case book and the Temperite is from between 1920-1955. It would have had either clear yellow or smoke coloured three pinned scales. They were also made with yellow swirl scales but the tang stamp is different from the one you have.