Thread: Razor Identification

Hello,

I recently acquired a razor owned by my grandfather who passed away recently, I found this when clearing out his things.

I was hoping someone had some background on this, My Mother says she doesn't have any memory of him using it in her youth so I believe its from before then, maybe the 50's?

Any information would be grand, looks in good knick but I don't think its anything special, just hoping to get some background on it.

It’s always nice to have an heirloom piece.

Much older than 1950's. Early 1800's. Don't know maker. They marked 'WARRANTED CAST STEEL'.

Yep, made before the 1840s. That's when it became more common to put maker's mark on them.
By the way welcome to the forum. Hope you stick around. Maybe even decide to take up the straight for yourself. Don't try to restore that one yourself unless you already have some experience doing it. It would be a shame if it went badly. We've all had it happen to us and you don't want it to be with your irreplaceable heirloom. Maybe put that one away and buy a good used one. Lots of good ones here for sale used at a reasonable price and just about anything you buy here will be truly shave ready. You can always come back to it later.
Make sure to do some reading up in the beginner section if you're new to it which I assume you are. Also the shave library is a good place to find information. You can do a search in the top right corner and there's an advanced search option. This is probably the best place on the web to find information about it so if there's something out there there's probably at least a reference to it here somewhere. Of course it's always okay to ask questions. Good luck with it and I hope you find what you're looking for. I have one similar that's marked the same way. No name on it either but it's not as old as yours.

Thank-you for all your responses, its nice to think that it could potentially be that old.

Im a little confused about the handle though as i'm quite sure its plastic.

Originally Posted by tomhx

Thank-you for all your responses, its nice to think that it could potentially be that old.

Im a little confused about the handle though as i'm quite sure its plastic.

They could be replacement scales as it is not unusual for scales to break. Sometimes horn scales can look like plastic too.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

They could be replacement scales as it is not unusual for scales to break. Sometimes horn scales can look like plastic too.

Bob

Hot pin test will let you know for sure... poke a hot pin in the inside of a scale where you won't see the mark... horn won't melt or let the pin in.

Originally Posted by BobH

They could be replacement scales as it is not unusual for scales to break. Sometimes horn scales can look like plastic too.

Bob

Yep, horn if it's polished can look like plastic. There have been plastics around longer than you may think. Celluloid was first made in 1856.
Bob is right though. I have 2 razors on the way that have horn on one side and wood on the other. One side broke and it was repaired using something else.