Thread: Info and help for a Newbie

Can I get some help here? I don't know anything about straight razors and wondering what do I have here. Do I have anything of value?
I'm not really looking to sell them but more restore or clean up, sharpen, and maybe use them.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
I have a box says W.S. Brown pittsburgh PA "special" I don't know what blade goes with it (shown in last pic).

1st pic
Geneva cutlery co
Genneva NY USA

2nd pic
Gold bug
S.R. Droescher. Inc
New York NY

3rd and 4th pic
Platinum carbon steel blade
J.A. Henckels. Twinwork
Solingen. Germany
401

Welcome to SRP. I am a Glock man myself. In my opinion the Geneva at the top may be worth the cost of pro honing to shave ready if the rust at the bevel isn't so severe that it makes swiss cheese out of the edge. The rest may be able to be honed to shave but the hone wear would make them worth less than the cost of bringing them to shave ready. Again, that is just IMO.

If it was me I might take a shot at having the Geneva done and/or buying a shave ready razor from an SRP supporting vendor or out of the classifieds. Put those in a drawer for the time when you've learned to hone your own razors.

+1 what Jimmy said.

While these are good makers, they are showing alot of hone wear that can be a bugger at times. Hang on to them as they are of use. Practice honeing and at the worst, Scales collers and bits

Welcome to the site

What Jimmy said.

Those razors are in pretty rough shape. Heck, you might even pack them ALL up and send them to a qualified honer and have him evaluate what you have and choose the one that will most likely be honed back to where it needs to be.