Thread: Worcester Razor Co. Red Devil Tobacco

It needs a little love but this one should clean up pretty well. Worcester Razor Co Red Devil Tobacco 9/16" square point, 1/2-3/4 hollow with minimal pitting. Mainly surface rust. And it has the original box.

This really should be in "What Are You Working On" thread but I'm not technically working on it anymore. I think it cleaned up pretty well.


I like these quick shine em up, hone em up, strop em up projects. I'll probably shave with it in the morning.

Something I learned from this one or at least it occurred to me when I got this one. To keep from removing the engraving... actually I think it is etched but whatever. The point remains that I wanted to just get the surface so I took sand paper and wrapped it around a brass pipe 5/8" in diameter and used it to sand the hollow.
Maybe this is old news to everyone but it was a new one for me for this application at least for sanding the grind. I have laid paper flat on a flat surface for the tang and tail but for some reason it didn't occur to me to use something round for the hollow.

I started hand sanding with wine corks as a backer, and then Richard sent me some hair curlers and that has been my go to since.

I use a synthetic wine cork, wrapped with a 3x3 inch piece of 6mm craft foam wrapped with a 3x3 inch piece of wet and dry.

The Synthetic corks are harder and smoother than cork, corks and have a flat end for getting into the corner of a stabilizer.

The foam has just enough give to conform nicely to the curve of the belly or a flat and is thick enough to give your fingers something to grab onto without cramping.

I usually start with 600 and go up or down from there, 600 will get most small scratches out without causing any deep scratches. From 600 I go to 1k or the buffer with green compound. 600 grit scratch pattern is easily removed.

A sheet of 9X12 6mm craft foam $2 is a nice working surface and can be covered with a paper towel for messy work.

So I shaved with this little gem this morning and it worked quite nicely. When put on the hones it proved to have no warp and took a nice even bevel. After heavy sanding on a blade I usually do the pyramid progression on the Norton 220 x 1000 then do The pyramid on the 4000 x 8,000. This time I didn't go to the 12K to finish. It sounds strange but I've found some razor shave better without finishing and some need to be finished. I don't really understand the minutiae of honing enough to know why. I just try it until it works best and then stick with that for that particular blade

Interesting that this one is in the original box but it has this sticker on the inner sleeve of the box.
Kraut & Dohnal were cutlers but they did not make this one...unless this was a contract razor. Although I read some other stuff from people that had a Kraut and Dohnal Razor that was made in Germany so that was apparently contracted TO them. Apparently they were more in the line of surgical instruments. However I also saw in Google books from Life Magazine, 1906 an advertisement for a shaving set for $5.

That was a lot of money in those days. I'm wondering if they more sent this razor to hone and put their sticker on the box or my son pondered if perhaps they had a storefront where they sold razors from other makers. I'm going to continue to look but if anyone knows something that would be helpful.