Thread: Old Razors, Original Finish

Was wondering if anyone has come across any old (19th century and before) razors with their original surface finish, and if so if someone could post photos. Wondering if they still had grind lines visible in the steel or not.

This W&B retains its original finish ( Crocus )

Only cleaned with 3M metal restorer/ polish

No, there are no grinding lines. Very typical for a Crocus finish, which I see most often with older razors. The ones I have seen, are very faint and hard to see. (polished/buffed away)

I found this thread from some time back that goes into a lot of detail on the crocus finish. I don't (or shouldn't) have time to got through the whole thing right now, but it is interesting. https://sharprazorpalace.com/worksho...ml#post1569437

Outback, pardon the dumb, but the razor on top and in the second pic is the W&B with the crocos finish, yes? What is the lower one, the "senator's razor" with that smoky finish on it?

Thanks

That is a Wm. Hargreaves, before it was restored. Lost the etch, it was wasted, anyhow.

Here is a George Wostenholm & Sons Celebrated IXL Razor with its original finish.

It is a commemorative razor from the Know Nothing movement between 1853 and 1860. It was probably made as a gift to a wealthy benefactor for the election of 1856 so probably made somewhere around 1854 to 1855.
I found an article about the movement online written by someone for Villa Nova University library. I wrote to the guy and asked him if he knew anything about the razor and he said he did not but that if I cared to make a donation of it to their university they would accept it......yeah, I BET you would.