Thread: Identification: 3 razors (1800s era)

From basic googling, I couldnt find too much besides info just about the brand. Im looking for opinions on these three razors, their composition (specifically the handles), quality, and era from which they were from. Apparently they were my great grandfathers, which would place them someplace in the 1800s.










Lets call them Marbled, Bone, and Wood for reference. Just looking for any information I could find on em out of curiosity

Hey there. I'm guessing you did the same thing I did, in that you need to stay signed into whatever account you posted the image url from so that we can see it here. I ended up putting my pics on photobucket and just posted a link to them as well "just in case." I'm curious to see what you have as I've got a few older blades myself and am also looking for info on one of my blades I've also recently gotten from family.

ugh, it seems you're right, the images dont work. The entire host actually just went down unfortunately it seems. Ill upload someplace else

Images should be good now, thanks for the headsup

In the first photo the top two razors have celluloid scales. The last almost looks like wood because of the grain but I'm not sure. Could be bone and could be celluloid also.

All three are quality razors. The Morley is badly worn and would need alot of work. It's already been ground down. I think that one should be retired. The shumate has a slight frown but that could be corrected. The weltmaster looks ok. Just clean them up and then depending on your skill hone them or send them out. Hard to tell about the age but definitely 20th Century.

+1 on everything TBS said, though, IMO, that Morley is done for sure.

Here's a pretty good website that might help you find out the age of your razors. I know the Morely and Shumate are there anyway.

Straight Razor Manufacturers and Dates of Operation

Great, that website is really helpful

SHUMATE RAZOR CO
Austin, TX until 1904, then St. Louis, Missouri
ca. 1900 - 1920

My great grandfather actually was in st louis during that time period, so that would make a lot of sense.

Keep the info coming great so far folks, thanks a lot

Welcome to SRP! I agree with the above comments. Looks like the Morley was his favorite. Hit them with some metal polish like Maas (Ace Hardware or on line), get then honed and put them back in service, except the Morley. The Morley shows up in the classified section of this site form time to time. If you would like another one that would be the first place I looked.

Good luck!