My new interest in life...straight razor shaving

My father passed away last February and I inherited his 1890's roll top desk. Hidden in one of the secret drawers, I found the beautiful straight razor pictured below. It captured my imagination and made me wonder what it would be like to shave with it since I am tired of paying for over priced shaving cartridges with four blades that have never satisfied my desire for a nice shave. According to the SRP data base, it is a razor produced by Carl Friedrich Ern's company but I could not find anything about the connection with Wald-Solingen marked on the other side of the tang.

The Crown Sword inlay is one of ERN's trademarks. Does Wald-Solingen indicate that Wald was a smaller manufacture absorbed by Solingen or ERN? Also, I am curious about the American Indian with headdress engraved on the blade next to SOLINGEN. Anyone know the story behind this?

To make a long story short, I finally found the SRP community and have been reading as much as I can before my first shave...thanks to all for the wonderful articles, resources, and information. I recently found a Simmons Hardware razor in an antique store with a Damascus (engraved) blade made in Germany and a cameo of a general's head (looks Napoleonic) among swirls on one of the yellow celluloid scales. My intentions are to restore this razor (as a novice) and develop honing and stropping as well as shaving skills so as not to use the ERN.

But I am rethinking the plan since I really want to start shaving soon and I do not see any reason why I should not use the ERN for my first shave (as long as I do not drop it!) after having someone with experience do the honing. Are the razor sharpening services through Classic Shaving recommended??

Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
Al

welcome to srp

nice razor. wald is a region which was integrated into solingen, for the exact dates you should probably do a search.

lynn had a thread a day or two ago in the vendors section that he is discontinuing to hone for classicshaving, so they'll probably be hiring somebody else if they haven't already. you can just ask them.
alternatively there are a bunch of members who offer this as well (classifieds->member services)

Welcome to the SRP.I hope in finding this gorgeous razor that you also find and enjoy this wonderful hobby that we all share that turns a daily chore into a relaxing and exillarating pleasure.Good luck on your new found adventure.:tu

Wow! What a beautiful first razor!
Have a look here. There's a good selection of fellas that can hone for you. It is a good idea to get this done before your first shave. A dull blade will cut you & may put you off forever! With a little perseverance it really is very rewarding to shave with a straight. Good luck & enjoy it.

by the way, that pouch is made of awesome leather, i suspect it was meant to serve as a strop (the back side) w/o the clasp.

DRN's are great razors.

Excellent find! There are a lot of good people that could hone that razor up for you. Where are you located? That should help point you in a good direction for honing services, as well as help save on shipping (depending on which country you live in.)

wonderfull razor even better story. as a noob i would recomend using one of the honemeisters listed in the classifieds on srp you would not go wrong with max, lynn or glen. all will protect your precious blade and you wont be disapointed with the results. good luck and i hope you enjoy it.

Your hidden treasure razor has everything; a good manufacturer, worked spine, beautiful etching, 3 pins for stability, and appears to be in near mint condition. Very, very nice! +1 on getting it professionally honed by one of the resident honemeisters before use.

Holy crap is that beautiful. My green eyed monster is showing.

BTW - how about a shot of that old desk?:D