Help Identifying before I spend money to restore

Hello all, I am new to the site and as my first post I want to see if everyone here is really as helpful as people say all over the internet. I am currently trying to track down some information on a straight razor that I have recently gotten from an antique store. on the blade under some tarnish I see that it is stamped "Barber's Standard" and on the tang I see that it says "Howard's Razor Company Worcester (or worcestor. im not looking at it currently just going off of memory.) It is a nice find in my opinion but I cant decide if I want to do the work on the restore myself or if I want to have it professionally done to make sure that it holds its true beauty and is some what of a conversation starter. Please give me any information you can as I can't find any on "howard's razor company" the only thing i've seen about it is that someone else recently has sold one that was in rough condition for like $22 but I'd like to believe its more valuable than this. I havent taken measurements on the actual razor yet but it feels like a good quality antique razor and has the look too. It has yellowish scales with a wooden spacer in between them towards the bottom and the scales look to be good in condition. Only thing I really see wrong with the razor is some minor rusting at the pivot and a few very small chips at the edge of the blade that can only be seen if using a jewelers loupe. I would be very happy to see some information on these such as what time frame they were in and whether it is worth having done professionally or me just doing a somewhat ok job on it for extra practice of restoring blades myself (i'm extremely new to restoring and have only one that I have done so far.) Thanks in advance. I would post pictures but don't have any on my computer at this time.

We do not discuss value here on SRP. If you are "handy", then attempt to restore it. If not, contact one of the persons in the classified's via pm and discuss having it restored professionally.

Lastly, without pics...we really can't assist you at all.

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Originally Posted by shooter74743

We do not discuss value here on SRP. If you are "handy", then attempt to restore it. If not, contact one of the persons in the classified's via pm and discuss having it restored professionally.

Lastly, without pics...we really can't assist you at all.

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None of which doesn't mean we're not curious -- it would be great if we could see some pictures, maybe you have a diamond in the rough.

Some pictures would help us help you figure out what to do. The money thing is a taboo subject but talking about the condition of the razor and whether or not it is a good restore candidate is ok. There are also varying level of restore. It can be a thorough cleaning or new scales or a complete refinish of the blade and all new scales, so you need to also try to figure out how far you would like to go.

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Originally Posted by shooter74743

We do not discuss value here on SRP. If you are "handy", then attempt to restore it. If not, contact one of the persons in the classified's via pm and discuss having it restored professionally.

Lastly, without pics...we really can't assist you at all.

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Wasn't just asking for value. I was asking in relation to it being worth getting professionally done and was also asking for information someone may have on the company that made this razor. I understand that pictures make things easier but from a standpoint of seeing past ones of these if there are several out there that have been sold it should be easy to determine that yes if it's in a certain condition it may be worth professional restoration or no these were a cheap razor when they first started being produced. People like you really make it difficult for people to find joy in a forum site and put a bad face to them. If you have information on the company feel free to leave it here if not and you were just going to down the post you probably should have just pass by it rather than posting.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

Some pictures would help us help you figure out what to do. The money thing is a taboo subject but talking about the condition of the razor and whether or not it is a good restore candidate is ok. There are also varying level of restore. It can be a thorough cleaning or new scales or a complete refinish of the blade and all new scales, so you need to also try to figure out how far you would like to go.

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I will try to post some pictures when I get back to the house. I have only seen one other Howard razor and it was in bad Condition and didn't have the same scales that mine does so I'm just curious if it would be worth restoring or not.

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.

The people you just said "people like you" to are some of the nicest, politest people around anywhere. They're trying to help you, and they are knowledgeable but a) obviously don't recognize the maker of your razor, nor b) know your experience or skill level restoring razors. They were stating forum rules about valuation. If you post decent pictures, people will give you opinions.

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!

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Originally Posted by Haroldg48

The people you just said "people like you" to are some of the nicest, politest people around anywhere. They're trying to help you, and they are knowledgeable but a) obviously don't recognize the maker of your razor, nor b) know our experience or skill level restoring razors. They were stating forum rules about valuation. If you post decent pictures, people will give you opinions.

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I'm sorry if I took that the wrong way then. I just know that most of the time on other forums that you generally see people posting so bluntly about things like that without reading what I was actually asking and usually on other forums the guys that do that are the ones to be rude. I can understand his statement if I was asking directly for what its worth to be sold as but my main question was in relation to would it be worth having sent off to be professionally restored or is it just another generic blade that I'd be wasting my time and money to get redone and in turn if I want it restored I should just restore it myself. I was also wanting to know more about the company that made the blade if anyone had knowledge of them because I had never heard of Howards razor company. Thank you for clarifying in his defense so that I better understood why he was mentioning this rather than just trying to give a new person to the forum a hard time. It just seem like that is the norm anymore on internet forums. Glad we could clear this up.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 roughAttachment 213835Attachment 213836Attachment 213837Attachment 213838Attachment 213839Attachment 213841Attachment 213842Attachment 213843

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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 roughAttachment 213835Attachment 213836Attachment 213837Attachment 213838Attachment 213839Attachment 213841Attachment 213842Attachment 213843

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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?

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Originally Posted by Michael70

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

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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.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

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.

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yeah I was thinking the same thing but I would like to get rid of the tarnish and get it back to a near mirror finish if possible. I talked to classic edge and they said they could do it for like $15-$20 additional fees over the cost of a standard honing/sharpening service which doesn't seem bad. Has anyone heard of howard specialties company? I found a small bit of information on this about a rotary strop that looked kind of like a cigarette roller but larger and was curious if this may be the company that made the razor but its kind of confusing as they were a company in new york and my razor says worcester, mass.

There were a lot of small cutlery companies and many many barber supply and hardware stores that had razors produced for them. There is a high likelihood that if it is a branded for Howard Specialties Company that it will be fantastic. You would be surprised at how much you can remove with steel wool and wd-40, you can use steel wool and polish too and get pretty deep.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

There were a lot of small cutlery companies and many many barber supply and hardware stores that had razors produced for them. There is a high likelihood that if it is a branded for Howard Specialties Company that it will be fantastic. You would be surprised at how much you can remove with steel wool and wd-40, you can use steel wool and polish too and get pretty deep.

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Looks like it's time to go get some steel wool and wd40 then and I'll attemp to polish it up with mothers afterward! Hope it works!

Steel wool comes in different "grits" the coarse stuff is 0 and the fine stuff is 0000. It is also crazy cheap.


I almost forgot it take squire a bit of elbow grease!

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Originally Posted by RezDog

Steel wool comes in different "grits" the coarse stuff is 0 and the fine stuff is 0000. It is also crazy cheap.


I almost forgot it take squire a bit of elbow grease!

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I'll see what I can do with it then and see if I can't it back to a nice shine then with that before going with a tougher type of restoration. Thanks!

Rez brings up a great point on removing that rust. Hopefully no real deep issues into the metal but on appearance from your pictures it does not appear to be. But that is looking at a pic online of course.

I think that may turn into a great shaver for sure. The scales looked okay too. But depending on what you like you could get a new set of scales made for that bad boy as well!

I voted self restore, especially since you have worked on one before.

If I had one that was special personally or rare/valuable then I would send out.

Follow Shaun's advice & clean it up. I personally like patina, so I would only chase the active rust...it's an old razor not a new one. Pick up a strop, shave soap, & a brush. Once you have those key three items, send it to me and I'll get it back to shaving as it should..just cover the return shipping of a USPS flat rate box. This is the only way I ship razors. The idea that Torrey made it could be right on & if it is...that razor has some great steel in it.

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Originally Posted by shooter74743

Follow Shaun's advice & clean it up. I personally like patina, so I would only chase the active rust...it's an old razor not a new one. Pick up a strop, shave soap, & a brush. Once you have those key three items, send it to me and I'll get it back to shaving as it should..just cover the return shipping of a USPS flat rate box. This is the only way I ship razors. The idea that Torrey made it could be right on & if it is...that razor has some great steel in it.

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Ok, I will get it cleaned up. I've shaved with the other straights, shavettes, and safety razors so all i need is a strop because i've got a nice silver tip badger brush and some taylor of old bonds street shave soap. I will try to get this rust off with the steel wool and wd40. if it works out well and doesnt remove a lot of patina I will just leave the patina and send it to you for hone and sharpening. Thanks shooter.

Get yourself a quality strop first, it doesn't have to be a high dollar one...just good leather. If you would like some advice so that you won't buy something that is junk (there is a LOT out there), please PM me. You won't need to strop before the shave as all I would want you to do is wipe the blade clear of oil, but after the shave stropping is absolutely essential. I strop after and before a shave.

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Originally Posted by shooter74743

Get yourself a quality strop first, it doesn't have to be a high dollar one...just good leather. If you would like some advice so that you won't buy something that is junk (there is a LOT out there), please PM me. You won't need to strop before the shave as all I would want you to do is wipe the blade clear of oil, but after the shave stropping is absolutely essential. I strop after and before a shave.

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I think my local shop carries some pretty good quality ones for a decent price. I will have to check and see. I will definitely PM you though to see what your recommendations are for a good strop. I'd love to be able to use this straight razor. Especially if it is in fact made by Torrey for another company. Sending over a PM.

Here I go trying to help someone out and find something I can't live without...

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Originally Posted by shooter74743

Here I go trying to help someone out and find something I can't live without...

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1 | "OVB" OUR VERY BEST LEATHER STROP 3 1/4", | $74.99 | $74.99
| Now With Linen
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At least its a really nice strop hahaha.

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Originally Posted by shooter74743

Here I go trying to help someone out and find something I can't live without...

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Qty | Description | Price Each | Total Price
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1 | "OVB" OUR VERY BEST LEATHER STROP 3 1/4", | $74.99 | $74.99
| Now With Linen
Leather colors: English Bridle Chestnut
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Beautiful [emoji1]

I'm on the borderline on # of strops I have...maybe the wife will not even notice.

I have been wanting a linen strop for some time. It is very tempting. I recently ordered some hemp to experiment with. I look forward to hearing how your new linen component work out.

I really like the price being stamped on the tang. That would make it worth restoring to me. Good luck whatever you decide.

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Originally Posted by Anthonyb

I really like the price being stamped on the tang. That would make it worth restoring to me. Good luck whatever you decide.

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That was something I liked as well. It kind of added a little bit of a uniqueness to it compared to the other 20+ straight razors they had there. Plus only spending $20-$25 on a razor that is stamped worcester (which usually depicts a good quality blade from my understanding) told me jump at it. Thanks for the input