Thread: What can you tell me about these

I just got these off of Craigslist for $75. I certainly hope I didn't over pay for them.
Can you gentlemen tell me anything about them? I am new to straight razors and I was hoping to use these as a way to learn honing, sharpening and restoring. My goal is to use these for shaving if they can be restored properly.
From top to bottom they are:
1) FLIC - Max Voos Solingen Germany
2) CZAR - King Mfg CO St. Louis, MO.
3) Goshen Cutlery Co. Goshen, IND
4) Peter Hahn - Duerger Bros Supply Co. Denver, CO
5) Wade & Butcher Sheffield

You did rather well I'd say.
The \wade&butcher is probably the most popular.

IMHO, you got an OK deal. On ebay, I'd have paid roughly $10-15 shipped for each of the first 4, and I wouldn't have bid on the 5th. This is knowing I can clean and hone them up myself, though. Typically, those vintage razors from random distributors seem to be a dime a dozen on the bay in those conditions, and can typically be had for under $20 shipped. Also, they seem to generally be good shavers. At least the ones I've had. Wade and butcher is a very good and popular brand, but I'm not sure of the condition of that particular one. I don't have enough experience to confidently say for sure, but to me, it looks very worn (short blade width). I could be wrong, though. Either way, it might still shape up to be shaver.

At any rate, send a couple of those babies off to a honemeister to get em shave ready!

Logistics

At $15 a pop I'd say you did OK. Too bad about the broken scale on #2 , but if it's going to be a workhorse that wont matter very much, I think the W&B was simply made 1/8th inch narrower than the others (5/8ths rather than 6/8ths from the look). I would bet on it honing up quite nicely. The others aren't from makers I know anything about, but they look alright too. I'd pick one to have honed by a professional, and put the others away until I had the skills and the gear to hone them myself.

Goshawk

Junk, please send to me for proper disposal.

Its an OK deal. I also would only pay $10 for the first 4 and the last one is junk to me. Blade is too small and it has uneven hone wear. Doesn't matter if its W&B. But thats just my opinion.

The Peter Hahn with the black and white zebra stripes looks like the best of the lot to me; they are really nice shavers and come from Solingen. I have two of them. I really like the scales on yours. Let us know which ones turn out to be good shavers, thanks!

I think you got a great deal - with a little bit of work and restration you could double what you paid.

Regards,
Neil

Your Goshen is the only one I have seen besides my Great Grandfathers 4/8 hlf hlw. Mine has nice smooth feel... good quality steel. Your blade is in much better shape than my frowner...... I wouldnt give up on the narrow wade/butcher. I have some 4/8 that shave great although its not what I like... but they work fine.