Thread: Does anybody know the history of their vintage blade

I loved wondering the same stuff with the pre-1800 razor I had. How many faces did it shave? Even more, how many times had it been discovered and forgotten, then discovered again? History in out hands gentlemen! My ancestor that brought my line of the Evans name to America did so in 1824. I like thinking about him owning a John Barber like the one I have. Fun to ponder for sure......

My second straight razor was given to me as a gift from my father in-law. He received it from his father in-law, who purchased it in Germany and if my math is correct, he purchased it in 1913 when he was 16 years old. From what I have been told, my wifes grandpa shaved with this razor from the time he purchased it until he passed away. It's pretty cool to know that my razor traveled acrossed Germany, escaped Nazi capture and made the trek across the ocean before landing in my hands. It has definitely seen better days and has severe hone wear and pitting. I hope that I can get it cleaned up and shave worthy so that one day I can pass it on to my son with a little bit longer story and a little bit more history.

I have three that I know a very basic history of. 1) presentation gift to a barber 2) Lodge member gift 3) Bought from Widow of the man who bought it new. Its not much, but trying to get history out of Ebay blades is like Glenns finding a 7/8 Thistle. It dont happen often!

My uncle recently passed down my great grandfather's Shumate. As near as I can figure he purchased it new sometime in the thirties and used it 'til he passed away. My grandfather used it until he went to safety razors. Since then it has been in it's original coffin until I got it. It has some rust along the edge and I'm just getting down to good steel. I hope to use it within a few days myself. Another piece of history back in working order and one I hope to pass on.

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Here we see ever so great grand parents. He was a taylor in Hutchenson Ka.

These are his razors. Lynn honed the white one for me, and I'm working on the (fax)tortoise shell one. They have this expression in all of the photos I have of them. Very formal Germans. He bought all of these razors in the U.S., but they all came from Germany. Do you think he wore those glasses when he shaved?

Ice if his eyes were weak I'm sure he did wear the glasses or probly had a barber he went to? Why is it all those men from early 20s never smiled? I call it the "serious face" man.
I've few 100-150+ yr old SRs. And from what I've been told by the Bay seller is many people procure these in mass bulks from sellers who are not into SRs (selling lot of old stuff in yard sales etc). And then many are fixed up and sold. My Geo I do wonder how it survived in 1 piece being a 9/8+ loosing 1 scale and yet is here now. Probly if the SRs could talk back and tell their autobiography would be like nice. Or each owner kept a log. And was passed on to the next seller/owner. =D Maybe a section like this for future on the board? A individual id system for SRs like Vin no's for car. .... For those that are parents you can help your kids do a autobio of a metal piece and live ur dreams thru that =D ... I rem in 2nd 3rd grade I wrote stuff like this in English class. My fav. was Rambo Knife

They didn't smile cos the camera exposure was damn long at the beginning of the century. For the pic to get out right the model had to stay still for some time. Kinda hard to hold up a smiling expression when there's nothing to smile about cos your whole body aches and you'd be a lot more pleased to shoot the photographer rather than pay him.

On topic, I hate that most of my blades come from Ebay and like someone said above, finding history there is like finding a needle in the haystack. My ancestors used Russian razors or German military ones, of which there's no trace left. So I had to buy Sheffield after Sheffield - even sold Filis for Sheffields - and I keep imagining they belonged to Dickens' characters. The feminine ones.

Owned by Axel Augustson, born in Stockholm, Sweden March 16, 1876 (mother Inger Marie Swensen Augustson, father Carl August Augustson). He arrived in NY on the Germanic from Liverpool Mar 13, 1896 (24yo?) id# 102879012178. Lived in Murray, Utah Sept 18, 1898 where he served as assitant to president of Goteborg Branch. Might have lived in Salt Lake City and helped organize Scandinavian Jubilee, June 23, 1900. (Fools - Carl Axel Alfred Augustson). May have worked as Longyear Runner and Drill Foreman for E.J. Longyear Company in San Francisco, 1914. Might have been a playwright in San Francisco, 1920.

He would have been happy as a clam in a shit-bed had he sold it to me directly on Ebay

Originally Posted by IcemanOkC

...Do you think he wore those glasses when he shaved?

beautiful heritage... you sure you aren't thomas edison

Originally Posted by groovyd

He would have been happy as a clam in a shit-bed had he sold it to me directly on Ebay

Now that's what I call an inspired comparison.