Thread: Vintage -Boker razor information and restorability questions

Hello folks. I am brand new to the forum, a recent convert to DE shaving and I am interested in learning the art of straight razor shaving. As of this moment I have exactly zero experience with it.

While at a local antique store looking for vintage DE razors, I came across quite a few straight razors. One in particular caught my eye, as it seemed by far in the best condition of the lot and I thought the scales were unique. I picked it up on impulse and have been trying to find out more about it, but have had no success in matching it up. I believe it may be from between 1924-36, but am not certain. I am hoping that you can help me in dating it and identifying it beyond being made by Boker.





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I have found the following dating charts:




Whatever light or information you can shed on vintage, model, history, etc would be of interest to me. I am not looking for appraisals, just history.

I would also like some opinion on whether it is worth restoring (polishing and honing) and, if so, what should I use for polishing, who should I use for honing, and would it be suitable as an occasional shaver or would I be better suited to look for a new, shave ready razor? I know I am asking a lot, but hey, you are here because you are interested. Thanks in advance.

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Hi there. Not sure about the history, but if I were you, I would try to get it cleaned and honed up. You should probably inspect the edge, I suspect there's some pitting below the patina and it is relatively close to the edge there. There's really no way to tell from the distance, I've had a few razors pass through my hands, looked lovely on the pictures, but closer inspection revealed issues. Nice razor nonetheless.

I'm not much help on dating Bokers, but that one looks like a pretty easy clean up. I have seen those scales a few times before. They're not very common and they're really cool looking. If I saw that for the right price I would have jumped on it as well. There are several of us that offer honing and restoration services in the classifieds section.

Hi and welcome.
I don't wanna be a spoilsport but the corrosion so close to the cutting edge might be a sign of celluloid rot. Desintegrating celluloid releases acetic acid into the air that causes rusting. You may be able to smell it.
If so you need to rescale the razor and chuck the scales.

Nice score! I had a set of scales that needed cleaning, dishing washing liquid, a toothbrush and elbow grease did the job in no time.

If you would like to clean it before you send it out to get hones, blade only, you can get some mothers polish and a rag and some elbow grease and get most if not all of the patina and potential rust off of the blade. If any of it looks like it is really deep you can add 0000 steel wool to the mothers and get it off and then go back to straight mothers. It should not take much, or you can get it cleaned and honed at the same time. It looks completely worthwhile.

Very nice find. All of the Bokers I have are great shavers. The first thing I always do now before any heavier restoration work is give a razor a quick polish with a rag and some metal polish. It can give you an idea of what might need to be done. Hard to tell from the pictures what might be hiding under the patina, but here's hoping a quick polish is all it needs. Those scales I think originally had a brownish color to them around the embossing so I would go easy on the cleaning to try and not remove the color to much. Light dishsoap and a tooth brush will work nicely as stated above, but I would stay away from the harsher stuff like scrubbing bubbles cause it can strip the pigment. I found that out the hard way.

Thanks for the feedback, gentlemen. I would like to polish it first, but wanted some insight into how to best do it. From what I understand, the blade has some real silver and I don't want to tarnish it. Where is the best place to get mother's polish? The scales seem quite clean. Just gonna hit it with a tiny bit of Dove, polish the blade and then send it for honing. Is it kosher to give honing recommendations versus private message?

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Are you asking if you can get honing recommendations on the open forum?
I am not sure of the rules on that. Likely there is someone near you that can do a beautiful job of it. However I have no idea where you are so go to the classifieds and open the member services page and you can pick from the list. http://straightrazorpalace.com/class...wcat.php?cat=4

The blade doesn't have real silver in it. Silver Steel in another name for stainless steel.
You can get Mother's Mag and Wheel Polish at just about any auto part's store or Walmart.