Thread: Brown Brothers Straight Knife

Hi All! I would appreciate any help to date this knife. It's marked Brown Razor Co. Little Valley, N. Y. The only thing I could find on the company was that they were in business from the late 1880's through perhaps 1939. Then the name was changed to Union Cutlery Co. I know nothing about knives. My husband got this when he was stationed in Alaska in the late 60's. I believe the tortois patten is celluloid. And I know that the blade IS sharp. It looks like it was stored dirty and needs a good cleaning. Thanks in advance, Betty

I'd say it's from the '30's. The blade is a bit haggard to say the least. With pitting that bad on the edge, you might have a hard time getting it honed up past the pitting.

Thanks for the reply! Most of the time I can't take detailed pictures for nothing. But these sure showed every pit on it. I'm not interested in getting it honed. Was thinking of listing it on a site to sell and I like to include all the information I can. Thanks again and I probably will post other knives when I can get hubby to let of of them. lol Betty

PS- It's a Razor, not a knife! Good luck with your treasure, there.

I moved your thread out of the club forum and into the "Razors" forum for more visibility.

I don't know about Brown Razor Co. specifically but hopefully someone else can give you more information about them. I do know that Union Cutlery had some good little razors. I have a Union Cutlery Spike and love it -- not sure about their other razors, but the Spike is pretty easy to find even today.

The Brown Razor Co. of Little Valley appears to be a brand name used by the Union Cutlery Co. prior to 1902. After 1902 it became the Brown Razor Co. of Tidioute, PA, and later Oleon, NY. I hope I'm wrong, but that pattern of rust could be the result of celluloid rot, a degenerative condition of the celluloid scales (or handles) that causes the blade to rust. I have seen it most frequently with scales with a mottled pattern such as these. It's hard to tell just from photographs, but it raised a red flag in my weary brain when I saw it.

Regards - Walt

Thanks for the info! I knew you needed to keep celluloid from extrem heat and such but never gave it a thought that it might interact with metals. Nice to know. Betty

It does look like cell-rot . Do you notice a strange , somewhat acidic smell coming from the razor ?

If it was cell rot I believe the bottom half of the blade would be eroding away and less on the top half. This doesn't really look like cell rot. You can find some examples of cell rot in this thread: eBay 101 - Straight Razor Place Forums

Edit: On a second look the edge of the blade may ne showing signs of cell rot. Scales with the appearance of this one are notorious for having cell rot but the pattern of rust still looks a bit unusual for cell rot.

Cell rot or not that razor's edge is toast in terms of shaving. Its best use is as a letter opener. Under no condition should it be sold as a razor that can be used for shaving.

Just my $.02,