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  1. #1
    Carbon-steel-aholic DwarvenChef's Avatar
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    Default 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 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

    Any thoughts on this?
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  2. #2
    Natty Boh dave5225's Avatar
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    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 .

  3. #3
    Senior Member SteveS's Avatar
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    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.

  4. #4
    Member PalmettoB's Avatar
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    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.

  5. #5
    Carbon-steel-aholic DwarvenChef's Avatar
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    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

  6. #6
    The original Skolor and Gentileman. gugi's Avatar
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    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...

  7. #7
    Carbon-steel-aholic DwarvenChef's Avatar
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    Ya having one in like new would be another story 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

  8. #8
    The Hurdy Gurdy Man thebigspendur's Avatar
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    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.
    No matter how many men you kill you can't kill your successor-Emperor Nero

  9. #9
    Carbon-steel-aholic DwarvenChef's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by thebigspendur View Post
    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.
    Thats what I was thinking myself. Thanks for the clarification.

  10. #10
    Heat it and beat it Bruno's Avatar
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    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... ) 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.
    Til shade is gone, til water is gone, Into the shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath.
    To spit in Sightblinder’s eye on the Last Day

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