Thread: Question on an OLD Straight Razor

Hi guys. (First post actually after lurking around here for a week or so.)

So I've been thinking about trying the Straight Razor shave...only problem with Straight Razor shaving for me at the moment is making the initial financial plunge into something I may not like (I've learned enough from these forums that the $5 straight razors on Amazon.com may not lead to a good first experience).

Then I remember my mother in her youth (I'm 31, she's 64) went to barber school and may have had a straight razor with her old Barberschool set. Sure enough she said she'd let me borrow it. As an added bonus she told me my father (who passed away in 1999) gave her HIS grandfather's straight razor (my great-grandfather, who also happens to be my namesake, a Spanish-American War Veteran) to keep. This little tidbit had me excited for sentimental reasons...

Well today I finally got ahold of this Barber Kit that's been sitting in a garage since the 1960's...and I found two straight razor boxes. Before I opened them I called and ask my mother if she remembered which is which..she couldn't.

Here's a pic:
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/9108/img4946zu1.jpg

I opened up the Blue Temperite Box first and got this unfortunate suprise:
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/7307/img4955tf3.jpg


So then I moved to the red box expecting a similar result but go this instead:
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/9545/img4951qp1.jpg

Basically a Solingen razor in what I'd say is GREAT shape. The metal has some discoloration...but NO noticeable rust. The edge is keen and without chips. My question (and I think I know the answer) is which one is probably the old of the two and there fore my great-grandfathers (While I don't know when the razors were purchased I'd expect the one that my mother got to be from around the early 1960's--the Solingen I have no idea.

The one with the chips in it is toast. Its way beyond any kind of restoration or repair. Even if you cut it down to a 3/8s the rust looks to advanced. The other looks pretty good. Some cleaning up and polishing and honing and you'll have a good razor. The one with the chips is undoubtedly you Grandfathers. The Solingen razors like that are generic german razors probably from the 1960s or 70s.

Whoops...had my pictures reversed.

Yup, that Temperite Razor is absolutely toast....the handle looks Acrylic/Plastic (and it is shattered up pretty badly too).

I was hoping the nicer Solingen one was the older of the two.

Sell the Temperite to an eBite antique dealer. They'll come up with a story for it, describe it as "good condition for age," and list it for $50.