Thread: My new old Whipped Dog Catteraugus. Any thoughts?

Any idea about how old this thing is?

I'd guess late 1800's to very early 1900's (teens) based on the design of the scales. That's a beautiful razor, and if you received that as part of a "sight unseen" razor deal, I'd say you got a score. Part of the fun of shaving in an "old-timey" fashion is the chance to use real "old-timey" razors. Looks like a great shaver to me. I love the smiling blade and the fancy old west style pattern on the scales. As far as sending razors packed in the obit section, well, probably not the best marketing practice while sending razors to potentially wary first time users, but I got a hell of a laugh out of it.

Originally Posted by JoeBass

I'd guess late 1800's to very early 1900's (teens) based on the design of the scales. That's a beautiful razor, and if you received that as part of a "sight unseen" razor deal, I'd say you got a score. Part of the fun of shaving in an "old-timey" fashion is the chance to use real "old-timey" razors. Looks like a great shaver to me. I love the smiling blade and the fancy old west style pattern on the scales. As far as sending razors packed in the obit section, well, probably not the best marketing practice while sending razors to potentially wary first time users, but I got a hell of a laugh out of it.

What I don't get is, I thought the smile comes from uneven honing? I'm completely new at this so I really don't know..He said to me that the razor was never honed before he honed it to send it to me? Don't get me wrong ,He was a super gentleman, and helped me allot. Even discounted the razor, because he sold one that I initially wanted. There mustve been some mistake, I can't see 100 year old razor never being honed before...

That being said, I can't believe this thing is that old!! 1800's? Really?And still usable..Im that much happier I chose this over a new one...!

Thank You Whipped Dog!

Originally Posted by JoeBass

As far as sending razors packed in the obit section, well, probably not the best marketing practice while sending razors to potentially wary first time users, but I got a hell of a laugh out of it.

Cracked me up to Joe!!! Talk about a portent of evil, boowaahhhaaahahah!!

M

I really like razors with a smile, and it's possible that it was never honed before, I've received old razors with a smile that haven't been honed. Great start!

I don't know about the razor never been honed before. The honing flats on the spine are very small, but still slightly uneven and the bevel is very small, but I just dislike when people just market up without any evidence whatsoever. Never honed razor means you were the one who opened the sealed package from the factory (and I have had the fortune to do that on a number of old razors, some from the late 1800s).
This one has severe pitting on the blade (most likely makes no difference to the edge and is just cosmetic) and kink at the transition at the heel just looks odd. May be factory made, but from all the vintage razors that I've seen the rule is that the curves and the transitions are smooth.

Finally I wouldn't even base production estimate on those scales. They have obviously been repinned, so who knows if they are the original ones.

Cattaragus cutlery was a family owned business that didn't move or change hands for about 100 years, they simply closed in 1960s when they couldn't compete anymore. May be you can find a catalogue with that blade and then you can have a narrower estimate for the period, but this is a very hollow ground razor with pronounced humped shank so the first part of the 20th century would be when this style is most appropriate.

The curvature of the edge should have nothing to do with honing abuse and be there by design. It is very common with the vintage razors, especially when there was a lot of competition. It's fairly harder to do, so later on it seems to have disappeared and nowadays pretty much all razors are stamped with straight spines and ground with straight edges

Originally Posted by Snuff

I really like razors with a smile, and it's possible that it was never honed before, I've received old razors with a smile that haven't been honed. Great start!

Thank You,

Cattaruagus is one of the Case brothers family of razors, along with Kinfolks and George Korn, they are best known for the Green Lizards and Seneca line of razors...

From the lines and tail of the razor it is most likely ca 1920's

Originally Posted by gugi

I don't know about the razor never been honed before. The honing flats on the spine are very small, but still slightly uneven and the bevel is very small, but I just dislike when people just market up without any evidence whatsoever. Never honed razor means you were the one who opened the sealed package from the factory (and I have had the fortune to do that on a number of old razors, some from the late 1800s).
This one has severe pitting on the blade (most likely makes no difference to the edge and is just cosmetic) and kink at the transition at the heel just looks odd. May be factory made, but from all the vintage razors that I've seen the rule is that the curves and the transitions are smooth.

Finally I wouldn't even base production estimate on those scales. They have obviously been repinned, so who knows if they are the original ones.

Cattaragus cutlery was a family owned business that didn't move or change hands for about 100 years, they simply closed in 1960s when they couldn't compete anymore. May be you can find a catalogue with that blade and then you can have a narrower estimate for the period, but this is a very hollow ground razor with pronounced humped shank so the first part of the 20th century would be when this style is most appropriate.

The curvature of the edge should have nothing to do with honing abuse and be there by design. It is very common with the vintage razors, especially when there was a lot of competition. It's fairly harder to do, so later on it seems to have disappeared and nowadays pretty much all razors are stamped with straight spines and ground with straight edges

Wow, that's a lot of technical razor lingo for an amateur, but the heel is what struck me odd..I guess it doesn't really matter much. I'm only going to learn with it, and probably buy many more..do you have any reccomendations where I can buy an antique razor that's in mint original shape?

Thank you for all your help. Very, very thorough information!

Yeah Glen, but the other way around, Case split from Cattaragus, I think in 1925 or so.