Thread: Razor Hunting - A story

As I sit here the night before the Thanksgiving holiday sipping a glass of Amontillado Sherry (a good balance of dry and sweet) I thought I'd recount the first half of my day today. There's nothing overly exciting to report, but for fellow razor fans and those that have tracked a herd of razors before, you'll probably enjoy.

My Dad and I travel by car individually for business across the state of Minnesota quite often. Although he has no interest in razors, I've armed him with enough knowledge about them for him to stop at antique shops along his routes. It's not uncommon, then, for him to call me on his cell at some small antique shop, describe the razors they have and the prices and ask me if I want him to buy them for me. A few months back, he was in a shop where he had little time to look. He picked up a nice Bismarck square point for me but said it looked as though there were 20-30 razors there and the prices seemed reasonable. The trouble is, the place was a three hour drive from me and no where close to anything else that I could take care of to justify heading up there. Of course, the "20-30 razors and reasonable prices" stuck in my mind.

I decided to take today off and extend the Thursday-Friday holiday one day early. After several investigative phone calls, I found the owner of the shop worked at a real estate office in the same town (population 180 deep in lake country). He seemed to be an affable sort and although he closed his shop down in the winter months, was more than happy to have me stop by the real estate office and open his shop for me.

I planned the latter part of the day with my family, so I woke up at 5:30 this morning, showered and had a close shave with a Tonsorial Gem square point and MWF soap and set out about an hour later. There was snow in the forecast, but thankfully none materialized. I arrived on time and met Mr. Krause, a man in his late sixties. We walked together down to his nice shop about a block away and having a friendly chat from the get go.

Mr. Krause welcomed me into his back office where he had put the heat on earlier that morning (34 degrees farenheit outdoor temp). We chatted for about 30 minutes, all the while I enjoyed opening each razor box to see what each box revealed. This is not the first time that I've had the opportunity to look at and pick from a razor lot. Generally, I've found in my experience that at least half of a razor lot consists of damaged razors in one fashion or another to the point of being worth very little, parts value or plain worthless. This razor lot was no exception. I singled out 8 razors out of the 25 or so. I came away with the following:

• J.A. Henckels 5/8 square point with dancing twins "trademark" inlay on french ivory scales with Graef & Schmidt on the backside of the tang.
• 5/8 square point wedge grind (similar to a Bowdins) McKeever Bros. Mingo, IA green translucent scales with "Black Boy" embossed on the scales.
• 5/8 square point "DELUXE" Solingen Germany with the dancing twins logo on the tang (no mention of Henckels in word on the razor, only the twins logo) and The Deluxe Co. Youngstown, OH on the back of the tang. Cream celluloid scales.
• 5/8 square point "Queen Bee Warranted" with the dancing twins logo on the tang (no mention of Henckels in word on the razor, only the twins logo) and E.E. Bruce and Co. Omaha, Neb. Made in Germany on the back of the tang. Black bakelite scales.
• 5/8 square point "Koh-i-noor" H. Boker & Co. Bakelite scales.
• 5/8 square point with barbers notch J.R. Torrey with ornate raised relief cream colored celluloid scales.
• 5/8 square point DD Dwarf two pin with the blonde colored scales.
• 5/8 square point "Fit-U" Geo Korn Razor Mfg Co. Little Valley, NY USA french ivory scales.

I traded Mr. Krause this razor and some extra bucks in order to take home the razors I've described above:

You see, this Boker is a looker to be sure; however, this pretty razor for a straight razor user rather than a strict collector, has a flaw that can only be seen under small magnification. About 1/4" from the toe, there is a crack extending up from the edge about 1/32". Could it be honed down past that point and could the remaining blade be intact? Maybe. Maybe not. I explained the flaw to Mr. Krause, and he agreed, to a collector, such a non-visible flaw would be more or less inconsequential.

He had two DD Satinedges both of which had blades that were suffering from severe cell rot. I have seen quite a few Satinedges where the scales ravage the steel. It seems to be characteristic much like the Case Red Imps in the blonde scales which seem to warp more than the Starship Enterprise.

A final note: I've seen two razor boxes in the last year that have a stamp saying that the razor was ground by Alfred J. Krank in St. Paul, MN at 142 E 6th St. It's interesting to me that apparently, Alfred J. Krank was actually grinding razor blanks and finishing the razors in St. Paul Minnesota?

Long post, I know, but hey, it was fun. Until the next hunt.........

Chris L

I know, I know, pictures or it didn't happen. I'll post them back on this thread, hopefully sooner than later.

Great story! Thanks for sharing!

I'm going over to Paris next month and I'm going to stop by the flea market at St Ouen to see if I can track down some razors there.

If I do, I'll let you guys know..!

I really enjoyed the part about your dad telling you when he found some razors. That's great. I like it when our families get involved - my girlfriend would sit with me while I looked at every single straight on ebay; she seemed to quite enjoy it for some reason.

Hey Chris! That was a great trade!

Regarding Alfred Krank. I also have had a couple of razor cases with that same label on it. It turns out that he was located in East St. Paul where I now live. I asked Hess Sr. about Krank and Hess Sr stated emphatically that no one in the Twin Cities, including Krank, ever ground razors!

For what it is worth,

My dear Chris,

What a delightful story. I loved reading it. Also, congratulations for the good hunting.

Regards,

Obie

thats awesome story man... i used to go to antique stores and thrift stores all the time at my last base! this is off topic but one time i found a corck pot with the cord(they never have the cords) for 4$ two old school nylon lawn chairs that sit real low to the ground for 2$ you never what deals you can find!

Thank you for posting this little adventure. It is always gratifying to know that some more good blades are about to come out of retirement.