My neighbor just gave me this straight razor. He said it has been in his family for a while. I feel like I need to bring it back to life.
On the blade it reads:
Frederick's
Celebrated Razor
Sheffield
Any of you gents know what this is?
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My neighbor just gave me this straight razor. He said it has been in his family for a while. I feel like I need to bring it back to life.
On the blade it reads:
Frederick's
Celebrated Razor
Sheffield
Any of you gents know what this is?
Attachment 201274This is a better picture of the blade.
It is in terrible shape, I have an emotional attachment to this razor for some reason. I need some advice. :)
It's a very good razor! Hard to tell on my cell phone here, but it looks like its in pretty good shape. If the scales are good and the blade centers between them, it may only need some metal polish and a hone.
You giving it back after the clean up or keeping it?
If there's no rust and hardly any hone wear, it's what I would say, in good shape. Everything else can be takin care of.
I am going to keep it. I want to shave with this razor but it is not in good shape. I was really surprised when my neighbor gave it to me. I asked him twice if he was serious about giving me this razor.
There is some rust and the blade has not been taken care of. There are nicks and chips and the pin is loose. There is also hone wear. This poor guy has been through some things. I want to bring him back!
You're going to have to take better pictures if you want specific advice. Right now all we can see is the black shape of a razor. Try some daylight and brace the camera against something.
maybe this picture? Ralf Aust 5/8 sitting beside the razor in questionAttachment 201275
That razor has been mistreated. I am going to order some honing stones from SRD. Maybe by Christmas I can have it shave ready.
Should I start with a 3,000 grit stone? The blade has been rolled over and has a really bad Knurl on one side. I am just going to take my time with this razor, I am open to advice. I thought about sending it to Lynn or Don at SRD but I really want to hone and strop it and then shave with it.
you should be able to sand that one down to good steel quite quickly if that is what you are into. Steel wool and WD-40 is a good way to kill the rust but leave the steel as is, and then go to steel wool and polish. Any rust will leave pitting behind, many like them showing their age.
Thanks RezDog. I have steel wool and WD-40.
Attachment 201280I did not have WD-40 but I just happened so have some razor oil. Great advice RezDog.
I would start with something more course then 3K. Especially if the chips are large. They dont seem to be from the pictures... so I think you can get away with a 1K to reset the bevel.
I think the preferred steel wool is some what finer that the dish scourer type you appear to be using
I would look at some form of metal polish Autosol, Frits, Mag Polish etc as a starting point
then to some 2000 grit Wet & Dry with WD-40 if you want to take more tarnish off
It is a dish scouring steel wool. I used the most aggressive product that I have in my inventory. I did manage to knock the rust off of the blade and it already seems to be better. I am going to use a less aggressive product next time. I just want to shave with that razor one day. I will take my time. I do appreciate all of the advice and I am listening. Just excited about the shave!!
Attachment 201292This is the best picture I can take of this razor right now. I have cleaned it a little so that it can be read. Good? No good? I am trying to date this razor and have read many threads and done google searches. It says nothing under Sheffield.
A thorough cleaning and a good honing will do wonders for this razor. Just needs some TLC to bring it back to life. Hopefully a member will chime in with a date for it.
The maker is Frederick. The "model" is celebrated razor. It was made in Sheffield.
Since it doesn't say Sheffield England, we can assume it was made before 1890.
I haven't seen Frederick before.
And take him a bottle of wine. :)
I have a couple of those. They are a good sheffield razor, although I have not found any information on them. They have been talked about a bit here and there but nobody has come up with much for who they were. I have always suspected that they are 1850ish. It will take an nice edge the same as most of the razors from that era and area. I recently had a chance to finish a similar razor on Raol's extra extra fine coticule and the result was quite pleasant. They are one of the blades that shave well at the 8 to 10 K level and are a good razor. However you need to understand that honing a newly restored wedge is going to take a lot of effort to set the bevel as you will be cutting one from scratch. Once you have honed it you will mess up the edge if you do further polishing and cleaning so take it as far as you are going to before you put and edge on her.
She found me out of nowhere. It is going to take some time to get her back to shave ready. 1890 or before is the best date I can put on her. She doesn't have a name yet. She just needs some love and attention. I scrubbed the rust off and have her oiled, that is the best i can do for now. She found me!!
I agree with Shaun. I also have a couple of those but they don't come up in my Sheffield book. I have Frderick Reynolds come up but even when I tried to look up the 2-3 I have of these, they aren't listed but they are excellent shavers & very good quality steel & quality made. It's too bad you don't have any sandpaper like I do. I have a box full of 240, 260, 320, 360, 400, 500, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500 & 3000 grit wet or dry sandpaper that will last me a lifetime. If you had some of those, you could start out with something like 320 grit & work your way up to 3000 grit. You would be surprised at how nice it will look after that but you might not even have to use all those. You might be able to go to a paint store, hardware store or an auto parts & buy a variety pack. once you sand it all out, it will look beautiful! Then you get your hones & hone 'er up & strop it & go to town! Your neighbor gave you a damn good razor! I wish I had a neighbor to give me something like that! It most likely dates between 1870-1880. Here's one I scored on eBay awhile back & it came in a strop box. The guy wanted $299 bin. I waited because I didn't think it would sell. He then put it up for under $100 in an auction & I paid I think $93 for it! It's got such a beautiful smile too!!!!
Yeah very few have that smile to them. I got lucky on that one! It also came in an old strop box. It apparently came from an old estate!
I will have sand paper soon. It is 4:30 am here in NC. I like to wake up early. Going to use Edwin Jagger Sandalwood soap and my RA 5/8 backed up by my DE.
Yeah just check your local hardware or auto parts. They should have a variety pack. I bought boxes of each grit when I had the money to do so. I have enough to last me a long time! I gotta hit the bed soon myself. I have some things to do in the morning if I can get up in time. It's 3:37 am here but I'm in Texas.
Gentlemen,
I have learned a lot from this thread. Just to update the progress on this razor:
I oiled it and left it alone for two days
I went to the hardware store and got a finer steel wool (grade 0)
I got sand paper (220, 320, 600)
I have spent about 3 hours with the steel wool and the 220 sand paper.
Here is today's picture beside my RA. I tried to take this picture at the same time of day, in the same place, with the same two razors as last week to show the improvements.
I have also watched around 5 hours Lynn's advice (from the DVD to anything I could find on youtube)Attachment 201881
Thank You Gents For The Advice!
I am listening and Learning
John
The finest grade steel wool is 0000. You might have that one & meant to put that!
Looking good. Quite surprised there isn't much info on the Frederick's, I have one with England stamp so must have been around for quite a while.
The scales are not wood. Some type of cheap plastic from maybe the 1970's. I might be wasting my time with this razor. Maybe it was re scaled poorly? and the blade is good or would someone go to the trouble to make a forgery of a straight razor? It is cleaning up nicely and might be able to carry an edge one day. ANY IDEAS?
Look at these pics for reference of size and markings.
Attachment 201891
Attachment 201892
Definitely not a forgery, quite surprising how many people ask that. It could have been re scaled, but they could also be horn, which would fit with the age of the razor, can't tell from photos. Either way, well worth restoring. The old Sheffield razors are a treat to shave with. Like others have said, take your time on cleaning it up. When you are happy with it, send it out for honing. They can be tricky to hone, not one to learn on.
The scales are very brittle and seem to be laminated. That is why my guess was aged plastic, now that you mention horn.. could be. I have to take care of this gift.