Thread: A couple old family razors

My grandma got these out of a box when she found out I was interested. They both seem in relatively good shape. What can anyone tell me about them? Age? Potential quality? Origins? Scale material? The wedge sticks out through the scales which makes me think they're not original, but they are bent. It also has a very light stamp sort of thing on the blade that doesn't show up in the pics. Like an acid wash or something. It's a bunch of ribbons and a flying eagle and covers the whole blade. It repeats the name from the maker's mark. The other is just an extra hollow. Both spanish point, barber's notch, slight smile. Seems like they would have both belonged to the same person who knew what he wanted and liked the variety in blade thickness. Or maybe that was just what was available when these were bought. Pretty interesting, but no way to know I guess.










So whatcha got?

Very nice razors. Both being Sheffield made razors guarantes they are made with high quality carbon steel. Both razors are excellent quality in my opinion. Both sets of scale appear to be original and made of horn. It looks like the wedge is sticking out on the first razor due to the scales being warped. Both razors scales being made of horn dates them at a minimum to late 1800s. Hope that helped some.

1850-1900.Both very good shavers (I dohave that Reynolds). With scales I agree with previous reply. Clean them, hone them and enjoy. What a present.

Steve. As others said - they're both excellent blades. Some don't like to wield the tall blades, but even as a relative noob, I've enjoyed them alot.

The spacer protrusion can also be from different rates of shrinkage from the materials drying out. Lead was a common wedge material then, and likely helps balance the big wedge. The first pic sure looks like ebony, and the inset looks nice. If I could save those scales, I would.

There are several guys that do original restores. Because of their history within the family, I would seriously consider this. Yes, you could Guccify them w/ pretty scales, etc. but it would lose the originality and that part of the link to the family history. There are others, but Glenn's work on originals is just wonderful (gssixgun).

There's also a thread for 'family jewels' - those blades that have passed down and found their way to current forum members. Post before & after pics w/ these - they're wonderful razors. On a more personal front, If any family members are still with you that could tell you about any habits and methods that were used w/ the blade's original owner, it would be something very nice to write down. Any children you have might or might not choose the path of the straight, but would likely hang on to it - maybe preserved in a frame box with those notes about the original owner, maybe some other bit of his shaving life.

Congrats on both fronts. The link to your roots, and two really really nice blades.

Great info guys, and I like the suggestions, pinklather. I'd love to get them restored and try them out. They feel really nice in the hand and look nice, too. Sadly they were given to me to research only. She was pretty reluctant to let them go, but couldn't resist my big goofy grin, I guess. We don't even really know who used them. She's been doing a lot of genealogical research for about the last decade. I think they just worked their way down the family somehow. As for now, here are some closer pics of the scales on the wedge. The wood grain pattern seems to be peeling off. They seem quite hard.