Flea market finds. One with ivory?

Greetings everyone,

I picked up three razors at the Mansfield, CT flea market today. I paid $25 for the lot, so I think I made out pretty well. They are presently in the condition I found them in.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f2...t-razors-1.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f2...t-razors-2.jpg

I believe that the third one, a Schneider, has ivory scales. It seems to have been part of an Italian seven day set. The seller had three more from the set, but they were in worse shape. He tried to tell me that all of the razors were "new", then he said they have never been used. Obviously, he didn't know what he was talking about.

I thought of buying another from the partial set, just to get a replacement scale. Unfortunately, every one of them had cracks on the left scale. They each had big cracks at both of the left pins.

Assuming the scales are ivory, what is the best way to deal with the crack? Superglue?

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f2...er-Razor-1.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f2...er-Razor-2.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f2...er-Razor-3.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f2...er-Razor-4.jpg

Here are some more pictures of the Gold Bud and the Joseph Smith & Sons:

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f2...Gold-Bud-1.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f2...Gold-Bud-2.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f2...th--Sons-1.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f2...th--Sons-2.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f2...th--Sons-3.jpg

Congratulation each razor worth double of your payment and more. great catch. clean it up and go to test. Gold bug is a shaver.

Fantastic finds! The Schneider is part of a French set, I believe. Mardi being Tuesday. The Italian would be Martedi.

That Gold Bug is gorgeous, & an absolute steal. Well done!

I know that Smith's are great shavers first hand, I've heard lots of great things about Gold Bugs, and I would assume that any razor from a good vintage set should be a solid shaver. You made out like a bandit! Congrats.

Strange, I'm reading that as "Gold Bud" not "Gold Bug"?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChayesFSS

Strange, I'm reading that as "Gold Bud" not "Gold Bug"?

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That is indeed what it says. Either we made an assumption on it being "Bug" due to it looking identical to one, or it's a really rare one, with mis-stamp!

Well spotted.

All I find at flea markets is fleas.

Or a copycat razor.

Great finds. I like them all.

Great score and great price. I expect all to be great shavers. Aren't flea market finds GREAT!

Thanks guys! The Crown Cutlery razor is indeed stamped "GOLD BUD". I thought it was a Gold Bug when I bought it. Who made the Gold Bug razors, was it Crown, or someone else? The might tell us whether it's a counterfeit, or if one brand was trying to ride on the other's coat tails.

Should I superglue the crack in the Schneider razor, or is there some better fix?

Ben.mid, thanks for the correction. It's no wonder I failed French in high school. :rolleyes:

Congratulations on your find. :) That is a great haul you got there! Now if I just had some *good* flea markets in my area.......

Glad to see someone pickin up great blades at great prices.

Very sweet! I'm always jealous of these finds. The local antique stores/fle markets look at me like I'm some kind of mass murderer when I ask about straights...

Also, I think that Schneider is from a Swiss set, as they do speak French in Switzerland (Along with German, or rather Schwitzer Tutch, Romansch, and Italian.) and that razor is marked "Geneve", or Geneva.

I bet the gold bud thing is a copy cat thing, you know like everyone loved the gold bug, so they came out with the gold bud to combat it. It's all marketing. Just like there is the "Franz Swaty 3-Line Razor Hone" because people called the WbW ones 3-line Swatys lol.

I believe the scales are ivory . I've read that cracks at the pins are not uncommon on old ivory scales . As long as you handle the razor with reasonable care , I don't think the cracks will get any worse . I don't know how well super glue would work , but I don't think it would do any harm . Just be careful if you use it at the pivot pin area , so you don't accidently glue the blade to the scales .

As I recall Gold Bugs were S.R Droesher razors.

Ivory is a problem because it is brittle and becomes more so with age unless you oil it periodically. The best way to repair it is use a liner under it and attach the ivory to the liner and glue it which will stabilize the crack. You can try supergluing it as it is. Its not a long term fix but should last for a while.

Gentlemen,

I have never been one to float through a flea market. From what I have read in this forum about great razor finds at such cultural institutions, however, I will add the practice of visiting them to my list of hobbies. Perhaps someday I will proudly report my own great score.

Also, I must thank you gentlemen for sharing your expert knowledge of straight razors, antique or otherwise. It is a pleasure learning from you.

Regards,

Obie

What a nice haul! I looked up Crown Cutlery, and they did own the Gold Bug trademark. They went out of business in 1930. You appear to have an "error" stamp on the tang. Rare! Too bad the error was not on an actual postage stamp; those are worth a lot of money sometimes! The Schneider does have ivory scales. You may want to stabilize the crack to prevent breakage, if you are going to use it. It looks like it could be a good shaver too. The Smith will be a good shaver, and give you lots of exercise restoring it! I have had good luck with every Joseph Smith I have bought. Congratulations.

The one on the right, the Schneider razor, is genuine ivory. The scales will clean nicely with Maaas or Flitz. You can use very thin superglue to glue the ivory but it will always be visible because it has darkened. Many older ivorys caled razors crack like this and the peculiarity is that it's almost always on only one side and only on the wedge pin. After some time I realized that this happens when the razor is jammed into the scales too hard, prying them apart. Something has to give and the side that cracks first at the wedge relieves the pressure, preserving the other side. Any sharp rap or dropping them so they hit spine first, driving the blade into the scales is likely to break them at that pin because the pieces of ivory are wafer thin.

sometimes you will find bone and horn scales cracked in a similar fashion and it's because of the same thing. As a result of this, many people think ivory is very easily cracked, but that's not so. You'll almost always notice that the rest of the scales, including the full opposite scale from the cracked one are quite nice.

Ivory is very sensitive to humidity and will expand and contract depending on atmosphere. If the pins are fixed and do not accommodate this movement, tension on the scale will provide a source for pressure to either warp the scale or to help the crack propagate.

A very thin penetrating superglue will offer some stability to the crack, maybe keep it from getting bigger. But, the best fix will be when this razor is restored. Either as Robert suggests, a liner backing, or drill the pin holes a thousandth larger than the pin diameter so the scales can move around with the weather and there won't be any tension applied between the pins. You can cover any gap with a washer. Or both.

I think on the ivory scales there is no true repair method, but I could be wrong. One thing you can try to do and I wish you luck on this is, is to find vintage replacement ivory scales or find a razor with ivory scales that has a no hope blade attached so you can salvage the scales. But however it may be best to leave the original ivory scales in place and just deal with the crack being there.

I would use it as is. You can't make the crack go away and, frankly, it's not going to get much worse unless you jam the razor in the scales again. It's been like that for decades and that's how it will end up staying without further stress. While ivory does not do all that well when pinned securely to solid materials like a fixed blade knife, with a razor, it's pinned only to itself. The problems with ivory usually come from being pinned to something that doesn't expand and contract the same way the ivory might.

As I noted earlier if you pay attention to ivory scaled razors you will find that in almost every case of cracked scales the following is true.

* It's the wedge end only
* It's only the scales on one side that crack.
* The crack rarely extends more than a few inches from the pin.

And that's because it's not cause by natural shrinkage and contraction, but by the force of the scales being wedged apart by the blade.

Agreed. Just use as is

Hmm, I see an "off side" crack on the pivot pin on that particular razor. I don't understand how the mechanical force of closing the razor would cause a crack in that spot when the relief force is causing a crack at the wedge.

Despite an acceptable explanation for most of the effects, IMO, it's not possible to completely discount the effects of nature on a natural material that moves even when it's not fixed to something solid that doesn't. Both cracks could also be explained by an overly forceful peening.

If anyone wants to see one of the ivory scaled Schneiders that I turned down, it's now on eBay. I don't know if it's being listed by the same guy I bought the other razors from, or someone who bought it from him, but it's the same razor. The seller has it listed as "Vintage super Fine Clean Straight Razor SCHNEIDER NICE". Apparently he has a much more favorable opinion of the razor than I did. :rolleyes:

http://i.ebayimg.com/17/%21BZvVF8w%2...1%7E%7E_12.JPG

http://i.ebayimg.com/21/%21BZvVRSQ%2...g%7E%7E_12.JPG

Vintage super Fine Clean Straight Razor SCHNEIDER NICE - eBay (item 370255291204 end time Sep-10-09 18:45:32 PDT)

good find. they all look like good shavers.let us know after you have them honed.have no suggestions on the ivory one. hope one of the experts can help you. GOOD LUCK !:)