Thread: Anyone heard of larkin?

I did a search on this and nothing came up...Does anyone have a razor marked larkin on the tang? I got this in a set of three and I'm not sure of if it is a quality razor. It has black scales and was in the best condition of the three I got.

Thanks in advance!

Hone and shave with it. You will soon know what quality it is!
Sorry, but that is the best I can do for you.

I have had a few Larkin razors through the shop over the years. They are at the lower end of the "food chain" for sure. There is no information on them in Goins. Interestingly, most of the ones that I had were nudes.

yeah I thought it was, for some reason the steel just doesn't seem high quality like the other razors I have. And I have had a real stuggle with honing it. I'm a newby to honing but I have managed to get a couple razors shave ready so far, but not this one.

The other day I found my great grandfathers razor and it is marked "Larkin" on the blade. My father told me that he was a barber and used that razor, he said his grandfather could get that razor "scary sharp." I don't know anything else about the brand name but it was usable enough to be owned by a professional barber.

I've had two or three Larkins come through my hands, and they have been great shavers for me. English, if I'm not mistaken.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

I've had two or three Larkins come through my hands, and they have been great shavers for me. English, if I'm not mistaken.

Pretty much the same experience, they are good.

I had one with a chip in the blade it hone up lovely nice smooth shaves, after a few months of using it I dropped it in the bathroom and got another ding in the blade honed it again no problems second time round nice smooth shaves again. I can’t tell you any more than that really don’t know much about them.

I've owned two of them. Both had plain black scales like this:


The razors did not thrill me. I thought the shaves were good, but neither was one that rivaled my perennial favorites.

Chris L

Hello, all.. I stumbled upon your site while researching a Larkin straight razor I picked up for my collection of Larkin ephermera. I thought I could shed light on your Larkin mystery. The Larkin Soap Company was founded here in Buffalo, N.Y. in 1874 by John D. Larkin.It was one of the first mail order companies. They sold soaps of all kinds, perfumes, toiletries,cosmetics, etc. that were manufactured by him, and included giveaways when you purchased certain amounts of their products. It started with dishes,(Buffalo China), and grew to include large furniture, such as desks, secretaries, chairs, music cabinets, etc. Eventually, they stopped farming the manufacture of giveaways out, and made everything in house, In a huge conglomeration of buildings they built .Their administration building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, who also designed a house and summer house for Larkin's V.P. Darwin Martin here.Elbert Hubbard of Roycroft fame (here in East Aurora) was a higher up in the Larkin Company.The razor is one of their giveaways, along with shaving mugs (which I'm still looking for). They survived into the early to mid thirties.With cars becoming more popular,people could to get to brick-and- mortar stores, so mail order business declined.Eventually, they became just a few stores, closing for good in 1963.
I feel the story is quite ironic, with brick-and-mortar stores giving way to mail order (internet) shopping today.
I hope I was able to help!