Thread: Help Identifying before I spend money to restore

Originally Posted by Michael70

Not sure from your description but seems like I have seen mainly some Japanese razors with a designation of Barbers Razor or Standard and were used by barbers in business as a meat and potato razor or what I mean by that as a daily user for customers. Hence the name designation. Now this is only an assumption on my part from peruzzing the I-net!

This is good information with me to begin with! thank you! if this is the case then I would definitely like to have it restored because of the consideration that It may have been an actual in use blade that was made to hold up well. I don't know about the Japanese razor part of this being that it says worcester, Mass. on the blade but it is good information to have regarding its possible use and manufacturing purpose of being an actual barber's every day user. I'll carry on with this lead and see if I can find any more information on it using this and any other posts with good information that may end up being posted.

Originally Posted by Srdjan

I cant tell you about the maker, but I'd say go for it, try restoring it yourself. Hard to tell without pictures.. I normally try not to go lower than 800 grit paper and work up to 3K from there (so 800, 1K, 2K, 3K). If you have access to some CrOx, or red jewelers rouge, even better, give it some polishing after the sandpaper. Dremel would be ideal for the paste, but hand polishing will work too, just slower.

Ok, cool good to know! I started with 800 on the razor that I restored I believe. I'd have to confirm but I worked up from it to 2k and then used a loose cotton wheel with some emery to clean it up for the most part and hand polished with mothers after words for about 30 minutes to get back the mirrored image. I restored it for a buddy of mine that wanted a straight razor

kgo, you've come to the friendliest, most welcoming forum there is. Anyone will help with anything they can. Opinions may differ and you may get some advice you weren't really banking on getting and aren't too keen to follow. There's more than one way to skin a cat (apologies if you're a cat lover!). Members here will help with all aspects of the restore (everything except a valuation). I can't emphasise enough the value of photos in an enquiry thread. It is said a picture is worth a thousand words. So, get several pictures posted. Priceless. Good luck.

Originally Posted by wayne394

kgo, you've come to the friendliest, most welcoming forum there is. Anyone will help with anything they can. Opinions may differ and you may get some advice you weren't really banking on getting and aren't too keen to follow. There's more than one way to skin a cat (apologies if you're a cat lover!). Members here will help with all aspects of the restore (everything except a valuation). I can't emphasise enough the value of photos in an enquiry thread. It is said a picture is worth a thousand words. So, get several pictures posted. Priceless. Good luck.

I definitely agree to this. pictures are very handy in a situation like this. I was expecting to be able to post some last night but was unfortunately unavailable all night due to spending time with my family and then having to get up early for work as most days I needed sleep. I will try to get some posted tonight and get some posted tonight to see what people think. When I was refering to value in my original post I was mainly attempting to get a basic idea of whether it is so kind of blade that is rare in the sense that there arent many around anymore to where i want to make sure I didnt try to do it myself and ruin something that is one of a kind or if it was merely a cheap blade. I dont believe that it is really THAT old due to the logoing on the blade but im not good at age estimations on these. I really need to take some pictures of it.

From Goins' Encyclopedia
Howard 1885-1905 A trademark used by C.B. Barker
Howard Germany 1885-1905 A trademark used by C.B. Barker
Howard Cutlery Co. Germany 1885-1905 A trademark used by C.B. Barker
E.W. Howard & Company. Germany 1913-1939 Knives with this marking are pictured in the 1913 E.C. Simmons Hardware catalog. Simmons was still using the trademark in 1939

People like me need pictures to be able to tell more. People like me are helpers. People like me actually do quite a bit to help folks, so that folks like you can have a nice day while I research through my books and the such to post detailed information that most likely doesn't apply to your razor WITHOUT A PICTURE. Once you learn a bit, you will be stating just the same as I have...post a pic and I can help you more. You are welcome.

Here are some photos of the razor. I unfortunately can't get my camera to focus without the flash being on and it slightly throws off the visibility of the razor. Do you guys think based off of the pictures that it would be worth it to me to have this razor restored professionally or should I just try to do it myself? I understand that it is basically just an estimated opinion. I'm not sure if this is even an older razor or just a newer one in bad shape but I like the look of the razor and hope for it to be older and possibly be a true gem in the rough

Originally Posted by kgo

Here are some photos of the razor. I unfortunately can't get my camera to focus without the flash being on and it slightly throws off the visibility of the razor. Do you guys think based off of the pictures that it would be worth it to me to have this razor restored professionally or should I just try to do it myself? I understand that it is basically just an estimated opinion. I'm not sure if this is even an older razor or just a newer one in bad shape but I like the look of the razor and hope for it to be older and possibly be a true gem in the rough

Most definitely I would restore it. I would seek some guidance and do myself if you feel up to it. Looks like it would make a decent razor.......it is not in the worse condition I have seen. Good luck.

Could this razor be associated with J.R. Torrey of Worcester, MA?

Originally Posted by Michael70

Could this razor be associated with J.R. Torrey of Worcester, MA?

as for it being in pretty decent condition I would think that it would be a good restore project as well but the last one didn't turn out so good because I am not very experienced with restoration of metal parts. especially not parts as small as a straight blade. In reference to it possibly being associated with J.R. Torrey, I have been wondering that myself. I am curious as to if it may be a blade from before torrey was started and torrey branched out or vise versa where howard's split from torrey. I have been really curious about this. if so it may be a unique razor that hardly anyone else if anyone else has. I have yet to see another one in a restorable condition. the other one that I managed to find anywhere was pure junk because it had deep rusting and cracks through the blade.

You could clean it up into a bit nicer of a state and then send it out for honing. Really all you need to do is remove the rust. You could do it with steel wool and wd-40, completely non invasive.