:gaah: A beauty, Jimbo! Brings a tear, it does! Too bad staff is ineligible. You would be a shoe-in!:roflmao
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:gaah: A beauty, Jimbo! Brings a tear, it does! Too bad staff is ineligible. You would be a shoe-in!:roflmao
Seem legit Jimbo
It's 5 am and I'm sitting in a tent at a Scout camp on top of a deflated air mattress waiting out a thunderstorm. I have Scouting on the mind so if I may take a few liberties with the Scout Law...
A Torrey is:
TRUSTWORTHY - I trust the Torrey to give me a consistent and smooth shave every time
LOYAL - He will never shave anyone behind my back
HELPFUL - Whatever I ask him to do he does, including nicks
FRIENDLY - He may not have a smiling blade but he always brings a smile to my face when I see him
COURTEOUS - The Torrey apologizes for every nick and weeper - even if it isn't his fault!
KIND - He removes my whiskers and makes my face super smooth. What could be more kind than that?
OBEDIENT - He does whatever is asked even if he disagrees with an ATG pass on the upper lip
CHEERFUL - The Torrey happily mows down my beard and never complains
THRIFTY - The Torrey is the perfect symbol of living within your means. Nothing extravagant about him!
BRAVE - He stares down my coarse unforgiving whiskers without flinching
CLEAN - The Torrey loves a good polishing followed by a healthy honing and stropping. Keeps him looking like new.
REVERENT - He knows and reveres his legacy of providing countless no-nonsense shaves to thousands of Americans for decades
:roflmao
Sorry, I just had to..................
I pledge allegiance
To the razor
Of the United States of America
And to the whiskers
For which they stand
One nation
Under SRP
Indivisible
With Liberty and Justice
For all.
Ohhhhhkydokey! A few day left, Gents! We have pledged everything and gotten downright poetic, but we might have some last minute entries to get in! Check the contest requirements and give it a go! Countdown is on! :D
Steve?...........................:popcorn:........ ....??
Yeah! the 'Pledge razor' ! ;)
Should I bump my post to a more recent position? This week long contest has me thinking I am in the movie Ground Hog Day or The First Date. :<0)
I would like to post a short report on Northfield Cutlery or Northfield Knife Co. Conn. They were in business from 1858-1919. They began making pocket knives in 1858. The factory was a building on a hillside & obtained it's power from the Northfield Brook. They rapidly gained a reputation of manufacturing pocket knives. In 1870 a large reservoir was then built to ensure a steady flow from the brook. In 1876 the trademark "UN-X-LD" was adapted. Northfield adapted the markings Excelsior Cutlery Company, "E*XL" & Excelsior Knife company until around 1905. The cutlery produced by Northfield which was of the best quality, was exhibited & won prizes at several Worlds Fairs & they sold razors & scissors marked "Northfield Cutlery Co". Since there isn't an abundance of them like other razors, they seem to be very hard to come across. The Northfield Knife Company was a very large manufacturer of pocket knives & their display at the 1901 Pan- American Exposition contained over 1000 different styles. Northfield razors are harder to come by than many other American made razors & are more highly sought after bringing higher prices in many cases. Out of all the American razors I own, my Northfield Rattler is the best & holds an edge like you wouldn't believe. I think that is because it was manufactured by the very high quality maker. It is also my favorite of all my Northfield razors.
When I first got this one, one of the scales were broken on it, so I changed out the scales to some other old scales I had that looked identical to them. It also had those "flower pedal" looking collars on it but was missing two of them so I put some on there that were as close to the originals I could find. It came out looking good, old like I wanted it to as original as when I got it. It has some hone wear but which ones that old aren't going to? The Northfields are much harder to find & are more rare. They aren't as common as the other American made razors so when they turn up they bring in more money because they are worth more. The Northfield razor is in a league of its own & is a legend of its time!
This writeup came from my resources & were put into my own words.
We could continue on and on about who was the best shaving but razors from the U.S had the best marketing and therefore they win.
I use Gillette as an example.
Yeah Jimbo's was short & to the point! I doubt mine will do any good but I waited as long as I could to post it until you couldn't let the popcorn get stale. I guess if I had waited any longer, I would have gotten sidetracked like I do & would have forgotten to enter it!!!
The funny part is Tom >> :popcorn: has been eating popcorn for 3 weeks.
I think Spendur is just going to have to throw a dart and use that number to pick a post :<0)
9/18/2014 07:15 Post # 48 I swore I heard popcorn popping right about here :<0)
I'm new to the forum and I am just a babe in the woods when it comes to straight razors. So my authority to judge the merits of one razor compared to another is unfounded.
But I do have a for my submission a commentary.
For those not in the USA, please forgive my American flag waving. I have spent the last 30 years of my life in Connecticut, just an hour drive from Worcester home of the Torrey razor. I have heard the stories of the rise of industrialism in New England. I have heard the tales.
I believe a dissertation could be written concerning the comparison of what made the American razor great and why The United States became a great country. The United States is the great melting pot, hopefuls came here to make a better life for themselves. They brought their heritage, knowledge and expertise with them. For example, Joseph Turner, the first President of the Torrey Razor company learned his trade as a small lad in none other than the Wade & Butcher factory. For many years he practiced his craft in Sheffield England. He came to America worked at his craft and joined his razor company with the Torrey Razor company which was a strop manufacturer. Through hard work the Torrey became one of the most popular razors in America. It was through his hard work, and improvements in the manufacturing process that brought him success.
Joseph Turner, just a small thread that made up a part of the every growing fabric of America. Like the steel of a razor those early Americans were tough and resilient. Great factories were built in New England that gave opportunity to those willing to make a life for themselves. In those days ingenuity made for success. So the success of the Torrey Razor Co. was due to an immigrant coming to America with a skill. With that skill, hard work and ingenuity, excellent razors were made. Multiply that thousands of times with thousands of immigrants and that is what built America to what it is today. One shoe at a time, one watch at a time, and yes, one razor at a time.
I'll get off my soap box and please enjoy a picture of my future projects.....Made in the USA
imgur: the simple image sharer
link to the photo....couldn't get it to load
Woo Hoo! The image: Attachment 180723
Nice entry! ;)
My great grandpa and grandma came here from Holland through the great country of Canada. London Canada to be exact. They busted their axes in Capitola and Santa Cruz.
Thanks for posting the picture, I kept coming up with an error when trying to load it! Thanks Again.
I can simplify all this down to one word "Great"
You see there is a very good reason why this land is called Great Britain, everything we 'used' to make was Great.
Now unfortunately Americans have missed out here by being far to humble and not giving yourselves a "Great America" and for that reason and that reason only I am afraid your razors fall into the Not Great category ;)
Obviously, by making the above statement I remove myself from the possibility of winning the prize as I don't really wish to own a Not Great razor :)
So being new to this my idea of why the US made razors are better is probly very wrong. With that said every razor I look at or touch is different in it's own way but the one thing that I have seen in all of them is the pure history that is put into the ones that are made in the US. Two people can both make an equaly high quality razor but when you add a piece of history to it it turns into something else all together. Like I said before I am new to this so I am going off of what I see and feel in the razors, but after being in the gun industry for over 30 years and seeing what a true craftsmen can do I am left speachless some times. For me it is all in how it is built what the persone went thru to go from raw materials to finished good is amazing. I have made, sold and fixed more guns and knives than I care to count but one thing is a constant. When some one brings me and old knife to restore like the one I am working on now I take pride in bringing it back to it's former glory and beauty and I try very hard not to change that to much. Straight razors for me are a new form of art and I am loveing it so far. So thanks for taking the time and helping us noobs out "thebigspendur" we need it.
Final call gents. Just hours to until midnight tonight GMT.