Thread: inherited blades

Hi all, just signed up here and this is actually a re-post because I put it up in the member introductions too but thought I might have a better chance getting a response in here. I've got a couple of razors I inherited which sparked my interest, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with them short of take them out every once in a while and look at them...

The boxes I have for these are labeled:
1) Gullatt Razor Co.
Union City, GA
with the "top" part reading:
Novelty
Cutlery Co.
Canton O.

and 2) Quality
Wilbert
Guaranteed
and the top as :
Specially Hand-Forged
Best Sheffield Steel
Price: $3.50.

My guess is that these are both around 80-100 years old. Anyone familiar with these brands/blades and have any input? The handles seem to be just cheap plastic, but the one that came in the Wilbert box and has American Beauty on the blade itself and Silver Beauty on the base part of the blade (pardon my ignorance about the different parts of the razor...) seems to be pretty solid and in decent shape. I'm trying to determine if these are worth spending some money to restore/clean/sharpen and maybe even get a new handle for. Any thoughts at all appreciated!

WILBERT CUTLERY CO
Trademark used by Sears, Roebuck & Co.
Chicago, Illinois
ca. 1908 - 1921

Should make decent shavers. Just sand the blades up, or dremmel. Soft sand the handles (scales) and tune them up with a lil' gun stock varnish to bring out the shine. You could have some one in the classified here hone them...For that matter if you don't want to do a restore on your own, I am sure there are plenty of guys here who wouldl take on the work.

Welcome to SRP. A close up of the blades would help come to a firmer conclusion. The one on the bottom has a lot of hone wear judging by the blade profile. Might could hone it up but I don't know if it would be worth putting $ into unless there is significant sentimental value.

The uppermost one has a nice blade profile. Any pitting around the cutting edge ? If it was mine I would use metal polish to clean them up and as long as the scales (handles) weren't cracked keep 'em. Get one or both honed up and that would be it.

What is stamped in the thin part (tang) that is riveted to the scales ? In many cases the boxes are mismatched to the razors. The tang stamp is a sure indicator of who made the razor.

The top one has a lot of rust, and I think some "pitting" if you mean if the edge is a bit uneven. It's hard to tell without cleaning off the rust, but I've been hesitant to do much with it out of fear of damaging it more than helping it.

The lower one has Silver Beauty on the tang and American Beauty on the blade itself. It seems to be in a lot better shape than the other one, although they've both definitely seen some use. The American Beauty one has held up well though over the years in comparison. I'll try to get a higher quality photo, but for some reason my crappy digital camera wasn't focusing well earlier.

If you have some sort of metal polish like Maas, Semichrome or Flitz.... even compound like turtle wax or mother's give them a cleaning with a paper towel and then post pix of the blades. If the rust hasn't caused deep pitting in the bevel you ought to be alright to have them honed and put back into service.

Meanwhile if you haven't done so already check out the SRP Wiki beginner's guide here.

BobbyMac,

I'm glad you inherited your Silver Beauty, or I'd never be able to find any information about the one I picked up today! My family and I went to an antique shop and I got mine for $25.00 and the store owner said that it came with its original box. The only thing is, my original box has "English Steel" embossed on it. Did mine come with the right box? Who makes our straight razors? Mine has dark stains on the blade but no: nicks, chips, rust, pits, the acrylic handle is unbelievably clean and everything is intact! I really like the "American Beauty" gold and silver writing on the blade, it looks really sweet! I'm just trying to get more information on how old it is, who makes it, etc... Here are some pic's! I'd like to leave the dark stained patina and just sharpen the blade.