Thread: Trying an American straight

This is my only one, a Burrell Top Flight, which shaves like a champ. It is in my 7 day rotation and I had a great shave with it yesterday!

2 of my faves are my red imps. 1x Case 5/8 and 1x Ludo big 5/8, more like a 6/8.
For some reason I've found that I prefer the American point to a round point.

Originally Posted by Pringr

Sheffield, US or Soligen, can anyone tell the difference in a blind test do you suppose?

Not so much the shave when well honed...

Some (me included) believe that older US steel and modern Thiers-Issard
blades are tempered a bit harder. This difference is a do not care once the edge
is correctly honed. Modern water stones have no trouble with either.
Some older hones did better with the softer steel. The better Belgian water
stones (Coticules) do well with either. Carborundum Company, Niagara Falls NY
hones also have no problem with hardness which may account for the
move to a slightly harder temper of US blades.

The very very hard tempered steel is brittle. In the old days tempering
was an art so variability gives overlap in old blades. So what you have
is what you have...

A honemaster might tell A from B with ease.

I told my dad about starting SR shaving. He gave me his father's SR. It says Dixie Blue Steel on one side of the tang. Dixie MFG Union City GA on the other. Does anyone have any info on this razor?

,[QUOTE=sharptonn;1441085]That is an oldie made by HMC from 1889-1916 in Brockton. The company was then sold and moved to New Bedford.


I would love to find something like this. My step-father grew up in Brockton. I would love to be able to give him something like that. He would shrug it off when he opened it but I think he would love to see his home town immortalized like that. I will have to keep my eyes open here. Thank you for sharing!

Originally Posted by tom475

I would love to find something like this. My step-father grew up in Brockton. I would love to be able to give him something like that. He would shrug it off when he opened it but I think he would love to see his home town immortalized like that. I will have to keep my eyes open here. Thank you for sharing!

I think they can still be found with enough patience. The one in my pic was bought from an SRP member and I was able to snag another one in even better shape from a restorer.

I like my modern razors, but I'm loving vintage steel a bit more with every shave.