Thread: Suspect Shumate

I ran into a Shumate straight razor the other day that was really odd. It was metallically plated, like a US quarter. It had new appearing shiny silver metal on top, about 1/64 inch thick - it was a fairly thick layer, and a darker metal blade underneath. The tip of the razor was jagged and raspy. When I honed the razor, because of the bevel angle, the plating was very noticeable. The final odd thing was that the razor would not take an edge. It honed like a cheap Pakistan "wonder."

Are there counterfeit razors?

Possibly, someone took a Shumate that was rusted and plated it.

Has anyone run into razors plated like this, and/or with similar features?

I think the posts I've read regarding counterfeiting all resulted in the conclusion that it'd be ludicrous to counterfeit a razor -- especially a Shumate in this cae -- as there's really no profit to be made.

I believe that some of the Clauss USMC razors were chromed which I learned recently in someone's thread (too lazy to dig up the link), so there is a precedent here. Do you have any pictures of the razor?

EDIT: The Clauss post:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/show-...tml#post618149

Originally Posted by commiecat

Do you have any pictures of the razor?

No. I thought about it. But, the only feature that might have shown up on a photo is the plating at the bevel. Even that would have been difficult, with questionable value.

Did the stamping on the tang appear to be suspect? That might be something someone could use to determine if it's a fake.

I know Geneva also plated some razors with chrome as well, so plating doesn't strike me as odd.

The lettering looked shallow and not like lettering on the tang usually looks. But, when indented lettering is plated, I am sure it would tend to fill in the letters and make it look shallow and different. So, I decided not to mention this aspect.

During a certain period plating was the thing to do with razors. It was thought it would protect it better. It wasn't an uncommon practice though we don't see many today. I would guess over the years most plated razors would have lost the plating in places causing the owner to trash an ugly looking blade so we don't see many today. Just my guess of course.

But I don't see the purpose in making a counterfeit. I don't think they would sell that many to begin with and if they were going to do it they would pick a well known very high quality brand like TI or Dovo.

Old barber text from the turn of the century noted that plated (not just chrome, but other metals as well) razors were to be avoided. This tells me, as noted above, that plated razors were marketed at one time, and would explain your razor.

I have honed several razors with gold plating on them before. The plating was very thin, like a thin gold wash. I have never had any problem with that type of plating. But, this razor was entirely different. The plating on the blade was shiny metallic color, and much thicker than I've seen before. I was primarily interested in the reason why the blade didn't hold an edge, so didn't mention that the tang was also coated with thick gold color plating that also looked brand new.

I can't imagine anyone counterfeiting a straight razor either, as I can't come up with a motive. Is it possible that someone, maybe a collector type, plated the razor for looks then later sold it?

Would plating be done by electrolysis, or would it be done using melted metals and high heat?

I know Genco plated their better razors with nickel. It was a guard against corrosion.