H.G. Kroncke HDWE Co. / Sperry and Alexander

Good evening and nice to meet you! I found this forum through a friend of mine from a greek shaving forum, and I thought of asking for some information on an old straight razor I have, which belonged to my great-grandfather, and as far as I know he haw bought it in New York in the 10's or 20's. On the one side it writes BLUE STEEL SPERRY & ALEXANDER Co. GERMANY
and on the other H.G.KRONCKE HDWE CO. MADISON,WIS.

any information on this razor, the company and its age would be really helpful!And some photos:

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/5404/s6306633.th.jpg
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/9113/s6306629.th.jpg
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/1525/s6306625.th.jpg
http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/3959/s6306620.th.jpg
http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/7233/s6306641.th.jpg

Hello Dimitri, nice to to see you arround SRP.

I hope expert members could help you find information about this old razor. Moreover, to have an explanation about the shortening of the blade. Was it made like this? Or did extensive honing reduced so much the blade?

Hi and here Slur! I hope that I will get the answers I am looking for here from the experts, and yes, you're right, if anyone could tell us if the razor had this size and new, it would be possible to hone it and make it shave-ready!

Most likely, the razor was made by H. G. Kroncke Hardware Co. for Sperry & Alexander. The last company was importer in New York City, 1893-1927.

Thanks Manah! Any comments on the width of the blade?

There is a lot blade wear. As I see on the photo, the blade geometry is wrong.
But it possible to make the razor shave ready.

And how could this happen?
How could such wrong honing be applied?
I guess somebody put it on the wheel and did a disaster.

Who knows...40-50 years ago in a village in Greece I suppose they didn'y know about honing stones and grits!

You're right, as I know, about Russian villages, they used any hones. The most important, was the shave capability of the razor.

As far as i know, they used some stones they found in the rivers, they were dark grey. Don't forget that the means were not as today! However, the elder still hone their (not shaving) knives using them!