OLD razors... To shave or not to shave...

Below is an old and maybe not so rare (no clue) Clark and Hall. From what I've seen in a book at the library this puppy is around 200+/- years old. I didn't want to hijack another thread so I made a new one :D I know I started something simular to this a while back, but this I think is a bit different.

Now I'm not a true collecter of razors, like Lynn I hone and use everything I get so I know what it's like. I'll sell it if I don't like how it handles. Sometimes I get a group buy with a bit of icing with it. This is one of those razors that was a bonus to the group.

I'm wanting to keep this razor in as original condition as I can so when I pass it on later in life (or other...) It will still be a classic original. Would honing it up and shaving with it ruin this status? I wouldn't think so, but understand that die hard pure collecters would cry over such treatment.

I'm going to to do all I can to keep this is as good or better shape than when I got it, but I really want to try shaving with it :D

Any thoughts on this?

My vote is to keep it as is . You don't find 200 year old razors every day . I have one with the same blade as yours , but it has one piece wooden scales . I'm getting the live rust off the blade with WD-40 and a cotton cloth , a slow laborious process , but it won't screw up 200 years of patina , too bad .

I cringe at the thought of being a Collector (which I define as someone who has things for the sake of having them rather than for the sake of using them), so I'd use it.

Ordinarily, I am a user only. I have some old W & Bs and an old Frederick Reynolds that I still use. I'd vote clean it up and use it.

I have touched it to the 8k norton (taped) and did a couple passes, thats how I know the edge is uneven, and it sharpened up right away. So the edge is still right there, I don't think it would take much to make it shave ready. I don't want to grind off so much to make the bevel flat, hence wanting to go with a skinny stone. Not that I shave much near the heel anyway, so I'm not much worried about that spot.

I'm pretty much going to leave it as is, finding a way to hone it while doing the least amount of damage to it. Tape will be it's friend :p

iirc you love patina :)
may be if sth. happens to it you can chop some onions and have the blade pick it up again :)
I think shaving with an old razor beats having it sit on the wall. old artifacts can always be marveled at at the museum.
I'm not sure about my position on patina - I very much like it on some razors and as long as it is hygienic (which I think it is) I'd certainly leave it on this one. Even better - find a duplicate and have one sparkling shiny and the other one black. Now duplicates finally start making sense to me... :)

Ya having one in like new would be another story :D but once they have wear on them, I think with good maintanance they can be used with no guilt.

I'm not going to polish this puppy at all, any trace of bad rust was removed when I got it, the patina stays :D

I think if you had received the razor with it looking as good as the day it left the factory then using it and honing would reduce the value but in the condition its in I don't think anything you do to it is going to affect its value which probably ain't too high to begin with.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I think if you had received the razor with it looking as good as the day it left the factory then using it and honing would reduce the value but in the condition its in I don't think anything you do to it is going to affect its value which probably ain't too high to begin with.

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Thats what I was thinking myself. Thanks for the clarification.

Hone it and use it.
As one bladesmith told me: another name for something that you can't use for one reason or other is 'useless'

Sometime ago I almost bought a roman era steel razor that I wanted to restore and put in my rotation. I was outbid at 140 euros by a museum director who would probably be revolted by what I was going to do.

I asked 2 respected bladesmiths (who would they be now... :hmmm: ) what they would appreciate more (assuming that they would know): to have one of their razors up in a display case 200 years after their deaths, or to have someone clean it up and use it.

They both chose the latter.

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Originally Posted by Bruno

Sometime ago I almost bought a roman era steel razor that I wanted to restore and put in my rotation. I was outbid at 140 euros by a museum director who would probably be revolted by what I was going to do.

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:) I wish you had told him!

But if you want to get historical you can just cleave a flint rock and shave with it, preferably after getting soaked in the rain.

I believe the right place for some (as in rare and historically significant) artifacts is indeed museums.

We were just talking about this last night. We went to an auction, my wife has a button collection that she uses in her sewing and knitting hobby. She gives a bunch to her friend that also uses them. She got outbid on 2 lots of buttoons by collectors. I said, it was sad that those ladies were going to put those buttons on cards and put them in to an acid proof bag and they would sit on a shelf. She would have used them. I said I was glad that we collect things that were intended to be used, and use them. I have some old razors, old tools, our china pattern hasnt been made for 50 years, etc. etc.

The most expensive razor is the one you never use.

The collectables I have squirlled away are coins and a few stamps. Everything else I use, carefully mind you but I use it. I don't have room or time anymore to devote to collections.

Rare and historicaly important items of quality should be in a musium. I'm not saying nothing should go to waste sitting on their shelves. If a piece in well used condition (like most of them) and taken care of, USE IT.

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Originally Posted by DwarvenChef

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Rare and historicaly important items of quality should be in a musium. I'm not saying nothing should go to waste sitting on their shelves. If a piece in well used condition (like most of them) and taken care of, USE IT.

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This is why I asked folks their opinion on use of an old razor. Your advice led me to a number of fine shaves with a wonderful historic tool. It just don't get any better.

Well you've decided to shave and I agree with you. The more you do to it will likely devalue it, but I'd say you're doing the blade a service by maintaining the edge. You might not want to make it your daily duty razor, but enjoy it!

X

I have quite a few vintage razors in my collection that I don't shave with. Its not that they are "no good" they just simply are not my type. But I still find them beautiful and importaint as an artifact to me.

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Originally Posted by hozzman

I have quite a few vintage razors in my collection that I don't shave with. Its not that they are "no good" they just simply are not my type. But I still find them beautiful and importaint as an artifact to me.

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The key to a great collection, the stuff you like :D hard to argue with that :)

I do not have a collection only razors I shave with..

I have both :D . None of the 6 razors I'm currently shaving with are new , in fact I don't own any new razors . The youngest razor I use is a 4/8 Heljestrand that dates around 1950 . The oldest is a 6/8 Joseph Elliots , Best Silver Steel that dates to the 1850's . I have 5 other razors I'm rescaling and making shave ready (for my own use) , that are around 100 years old except for the Wostenholm "meat chopper" and the Fredrick Reynolds 9/16 , which may be a little older . So as you see I don't have anything against restoring and using old razors . I just wouldn't do it to a razor that's 200 years old , but that's just my personal choice . I'm not saying it's the right or wrong thing to do .

I have several that are above 180 years old other than removing active rust and replacing a broken scale or two they are as i found them. and they get used. that is what they were made for and it would almost feel insulting to the memory of the craftman who made them if i just put them in a case and looked at them.