Grandfathers Razor..

For over a year now I have been waiting for my uncle to find his fathers straight razor.

My uncle is now 94 years old and quite a character as was my father.
He is a MBE and still produces a quarterly magazine, "The Assyrian Observer" and at 90 years of age completed the London marathon.

He finally found the razor. Yesterday I went to visit him, expecting a well worn rusty Solingen . (That is the picture I had in my head)

To my surprise it is a Kropp and in excellent condition. No bevel to speak of and it must be an extra hollow because the edge is paper thin .

Considering the history of this blade.
My fathers side of the family are Assyrian my mother English.
So this razor started out in Sheffield then made its way to Northern Iraq where it lived in the desert for decades and then made its way to London and to me.
Bare in mind also the lives my father/uncle/grandfather lived and their amazing stories which could be made into films . Life in the desert was not for the faint hearted .

Last night I cleaned it up with Mass and oiled it.
Then set the bevel on the 1k Chosera with a slurry, no circles, it didn't take too long and I could keep a close eye on its development.
Then the 5k/10k ... 16k Shapton and onto the Escher 75 laps with a slurry and 50 with water. The whole time being really gentle with minimum strokes.
50 linen / 50 Cordovan .

Today I shaved with it. Pre shave I thought if its no good ill take it to the Nakayama and so on..
Used my best gear.. Acqua De Parma cream / Thater brush ...
The shave was amazing , ill be BBS tomorrow still, it was one of those shaves..

I will de pin it and clean it properly after my brothers have tried it out...
Result....
Pictures below...
Thanks for the interest :)

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What an excellent heirloom find, enjoy.

Bob

Your family must have a tradition of taking good care of their razors.
Beautiful heirloom!

Very cool story and razor!


Mike

Great story. Thank you for sharing.

Aloha!

Wow! That's a very nice story and a beautiful razor. A true family heirloom.

I have my grandfather's straight razor, a Solingen from about 1930 (ish). I have shaved with it many times, mostly in the 90s. These days it's tucked away in a case with his gold pocket watch. I only stopped using it because, to me, it's priceless and I wanted it on display for enjoyment.

Thanks for sharing this.

Mahalo!

-ZipZop

Awesome! Looks great. I'm sure it gives an extra special shave due to the history :)

Just got my hands on my Great Grandfathers DE. My dad brought it over last time he visited. Its nice to have a connection to past like that. I barely remember him. Its cool to have this link. Now Dad needs to find great grand-Dads straight i know he stashed away somewhere :)

Congrats, great story and a fine razor to pass on to your kids.

Beautiful razor and great story.

Kropps are, generally speaking, very well made razors and this is a great looking specimen.

The fact that it has so many stories to tell about your family is simply priceless and very, very cool. Take good care of it, and use it in good health!

Best regards,

Pieter