Thread: Vintage Vitry Freres

Thank you Peter!

By the way I compared it with my other aluminum scaled razors yesterday and now I'm sure they are absolutely not aluminum. Compared to aluminum they are more grayish, smooth and noticeably heavier. I think they are medical grade stainless steel. Doesn't matter that much tho, I'm thinking of replacing them either with black horn or some burlwood scales. Or maybe snakewood, snakewood's appearance ofter goes well with french straights' elegance.

What do you think?

Originally Posted by hatzicho

Yes Vitry Freres was a well known cutlery from Nogent.
They existed min. since middle 1800’s. At the Exposition Universelle de Paris in 1867 they were listed as: „ Coutellerie en gros, instruments de chirugie, ……..“. In later exhibitons they are named as Fernand Schwob, maison Vitry Freres.
In Camille Pages book -La Coutellerie depuis l’origine jusqu’a nos jours- you can take a look in their polishing and sharpening workshop (for knifes) in the late 19’th century:


Source: BNF


As for dating your razor, I would say somehow in the early 1900’s.

Regards Peter

Can't say any better :-)

For the scales, I'd rather go with black horn or bone (similarly to what could be done at the time), reproduicing the original shape. :-)

Originally Posted by Ozgun

By the way I compared it with my other aluminum scaled razors yesterday and now I'm sure they are absolutely not aluminum. Compared to aluminum they are more grayish, smooth and noticeably heavier. I think they are medical grade stainless steel. Doesn't matter that much tho, I'm thinking of replacing them either with black horn or some burlwood scales. Or maybe snakewood, snakewood's appearance ofter goes well with french straights' elegance.

What do you think?

Well (stainless) steel would fit since it was used for medical instruments as scales. Also the typical chirugical razors i.e. from Aesculap have been mounted in stainless steel scales because of the antibacterial effect. Stainless steel was used for razors and scales somewhat after 1910. So that would also fit to the timeframe of your razor imho.

As for the scales I would also tend to horn since this matches somehow the history of these old razors better than maybe a snakewood.

Regards Peter

If those are the original scales, in good condition -- and they seem to be, on both counts -- I'd leave 'em (and leave new scales for "naked" blades). Just MHO... YMMV.

Originally Posted by JBHoren

If those are the original scales, in good condition -- and they seem to be, on both counts -- I'd leave 'em (and leave new scales for "naked" blades). Just MHO... YMMV.

Yeah, I kind of agree. Original is always a good choice. Still, horn would look really nice..and period correct. For me it would be
Option A) leave original...
Option B) horn scales. If option B is unacceptable, see option A

Well It's gonna be either black horn or bone then. I rarely keep the original scales as I feel myself a renovator rather than a true restorer unless it's a very particular razor. Also since I'm a luthier I love working with exotic woods for scales. Never worked with bone before tho. I have some thoughs on my mind, I'll share the finished photos here when it's ready.

Originally Posted by Ozgun

Well It's gonna be either black horn or bone then. I rarely keep the original scales as I feel myself a renovator rather than a true restorer unless it's a very particular razor. Also since I'm a luthier I love working with exotic woods for scales. Never worked with bone before tho. I have some thoughs on my mind, I'll share the finished photos here when it's ready.

If you decide to work with bone, I for one would really appreciate some in-progress photos showing your process.

Of course!