Brand new to the forum, and new to Straight Razors, did I do good?

[DroneShotFPV]

Hello everyone! This is my first post here, and I have been lurking a bit to get some info. I have always loved Straight Razors, and bought some cheapie Stainless Amazon types just to mess with. I am a professional knife sharpener and also sharpen these types, but never owned one personally... Well that has changed recently. I bought a couple vintage razors, and I got this new one and was curious if I ended up with a good razor.. Can ya'll help me out?



I saw some info stating they are good razors, but this seems like it might be an earlier model than the ones marked "J.R. Torrey" ?

Anyway, any advice or opinions would be awesome, thank you!

[BobH]

Welcome to the forum. From the one photo the razor does not appear to have any major defects and should hone up very well considering it is a Torrey razor.

I always cringe a bit when someone who is a professional knife sharpener also hones razors. Sharpening a knife is related to honing a razor but not exactly the same thing. Just something to keep in mind.

Bob

[DroneShotFPV]

Welcome to the forum. From the one photo the razor does not appear to have any major defects and should hone up very well considering it is a Torrey razor.

I always cringe a bit when someone who is a professional knife sharpener also hones razors. Sharpening a knife is related to honing a razor but not exactly the same thing. Just something to keep in mind.

Bob

I totally understand that cringe and could see why, but I actually "sharpen" them properly. I just interchange honing and sharpening. I have Belgian Coticules, JNATS and of course Synthetics.
I am a long time follower of DrMatt57, Murray Carter and all the in betweens when it comes to sharpening / honing. I have been sharpening and honing for many years. To this point I probably couldn't count anymore how many razors I have honed as well as restored, but this is my first ever "personal" ownership of a true "real" straight razor. I had mentioned above that I had owned cheap junk ones, or at least, "not so great" ones, which did ok and taught me how to properly hone them and all before taking on a customers of course, but putting a fine edge on a razor is not a new thing for me fortunately.

I have however seen things that are probably why you cringe, when you see the sharpening guys apex a razor blade with a ton of pressure, kitchen knife push / pull techniques and what not, can make a guy feel bad for the razor! lol

I appreciate the welcome. I don't know what these are worth, but I am not in it to resell it, simply to keep it, use it and pass it down, but I would be interested to know it's manufacture date or around about when.
I had read that before J.R. came on to take over that it said "The Torrey Razor Co." like mine, but apparently whether or not it was arc'd, and other variables matters.
I searched around the forum and didn't see exactly what I was looking for, so if anyone knows, that would be awesome, or at least a link to point me to.
I look forward to getting to know all the people here and learning so much more!

[stoneandstrop]

Welcome to the forum!

[Johntoad57]

Welcome and a very nice razor you have there. With some TLC that razor will be outstanding! I love my Torrey's. Excellent shavers if they"re honed properly. Hell, just dive in! What's the worst that can happen? It's a razor, not a pot of gold!

[DroneShotFPV]

Thank you! I recently prior to this Torrey purchased an inexpensive "Vintage Geneva Cutlery Corp Geneva NY USA Razor 1903" which was dated to 1920's at the latest (supposedly anyway).
I cleaned it up a bit and honed it to hair popping sharp and I am always blown away at how well vintage carbon steel sharpens up, so when I saw this Torrey it spoke to me in dirty, dirty ways, I couldn't say no! Plus the price I felt was more than fair even though I know jack squat about these and their values (I paid $40, not bad, right? feel free to lie to me if it was.. lol)
Anyway, I am super excited to get this bad boy honed and on my face.. hell I might shave my legs if it works good enough!

[outback]

Between the Torrey and Geneva, You have 2 of the finest "American" made Razors. Torrey was my first straight razor, about 40 yrs ago. Shook like a dog crapping glass, my first shave.

I decided to fully restore it, but destroyed it in the process. Now I darn near have enough razors, that I could shave with a different one, each day of the year.

They can be addictive.

Welcome to the forum.
I too, hone knives n such. If it takes a edge, I can usually hone it.

[DroneShotFPV]

Between the Torrey and Geneva, You have 2 of the finest "American" made Razors. Torrey was my first straight razor, about 40 yrs ago. Shook like a dog crapping glass, my first shave.

I decided to fully restore it, but destroyed it in the process. Now I darn near have enough razors, that I could shave with a different one, each day of the year.

They can be addictive.

Welcome to the forum.
I too, hone knives n such. If it takes a edge, I can usually hone it.

Good to know my eye wandered towards something decent and not hot garbage! lol To be fair I had scoured these forums for a while, and knowing that Solingen steel is definitely not something you DON'T want.. that probably helped some, but I had never heard of Torrey before this razor, so I am excited to check it out!
The Geneva required some restoration, and if I am honest i still have work to do, but the test run removing some surface rust, as well as getting some of the pitting high up on the spine "less noticeable" has been a great success. There wasn't any pitting "on the blade" either, which is good news for sure.
The Torrey looks like it's good to go, I could probably give her a polish with some diamond paste I have laying around (0.5µm, 0.25µm, 0.1µm, 0.05µm lol) and be happy. I love using my Mikawa Shiro Nagura, Aiiwatani Kiita Tomae, Awasedo and Chu Nagura with razors, and these babies seem to crave those stones. Coticules and my Blue will be the next round, I may even just do it just because I love doing it so much.

I actually do sharpening videos on YouTube as a past time and have a small following, nothing huge, but I love doing it. Sharpening, blacksmithing my own knives, and making videos are how I relax in my older age. If you would have asked me 20 years ago if I would be doing this, I would have laughed at you. lol
Anyway, sorry for the long winded replies, and thank you all so much for the warm welcomes. I look forward to emptying my bank account even more and sharing as well as seeing all you guys have!

[PaulFLUS]

Welcome to SRP.
There is a lot of cumulative information here to help with identification as well as guides for repair, restoration, honing, scale making, you name it. One place to check out is the "what are you working on," thread in "the workshop," forum. That thread has been going for a long time and many good techniques are demonstrated there.
As you may or may not have heard, we do not give valuations here as rules prohibit it. Many here are sellers and it would be a conflict of interest for that reason (and others). There are tricks to finding out this information though. One good way is to search the auction sites but set the search settings for sold items, previous/completed sales, whatever that particular site is calling it, and see what similar items actually sold for, not what a seller asks for it. Sometimes asking price is out of whack with real market value. It takes some time to develop an eye for assessing condition for accurate comparison but at least that should provide a range for comparison sake.
Plenty of good fellas here and at one time at least there were a few ladies in our midst. We are willing to help and pass on the knowledge. Plus there are other topics we share and discuss. Look around and feel free to jump in. Hope you enjoy your stay and happy trails to you.

[CrescentCityRazors]

The Torrey and Genco or I should say Geneva are both classic mass produced American razors with solid reputation. Nothing fancy, but they will gitter done. And shaving in the manly fashion will help you to improve your edges. Welcome. Good Luck and Happy Shaves.