Thread: A nifty little A. Witte

Found this one in an antique mall today... an A. Witte JustRite -some surface rust, but it wasn't pitted and came off cleanly in the store, so I took it home for short money (edit!). (Nice!)


I love the scales! The thing that got me is that it's so slim! I rather like a slim blade, as there is less maneuvering required under the nose. Still, for being so slim, it's got some steel to it and should be a good shaver. I gave it an edge on the 4K, then polished it on the 8K. It took a great edge, and I was considerably impressed while scrutinizing my work under magnification. I'm about to go shower and try a shave with it right now!

I've got a sweet little Torrey on the way, too.

That cell pattern is commonly referred to as "end of day". The story goes that at the end of a day's run, they mixed all the celluloid that was left from the other runs and let it mix. Whether that is true or not I have no way of knowing, but it sounds plausible.

There was a Witte Engine Works in KC, MO company that made one cylinder engines about the same era as that razor is from. They ran at a higher RPM than the Fairbanks-Morse engines. Used to be one on a pumpjack a few miles from where I lived. It had a sound all its own. The crank shaft broke on it one night and the flywheels ran off about a quarter mile from where what was left of the engine was bolted down. It got replaced with a Fairbanks-Morse.

Be interesting to know if there was a connection.

Nice little razor.

A nice little razor, indeed... I just had the single best shave ever. It feels as though there was never even any hair there!

While it may be that my technique is improving, (only two little nicks, nothing that aftershave didn't cure,) I'll say that having such a slim profile to a blade really helps you to meet the contours of your face. I just knew this blade would do well when I honed it -it took an edge so well.

Wow.


PS: Neat little story about the Witte engine. That must have been hilarious from a distance. I'll bet the guy near it had to change his boxers!

A. Witte

Most likely, The razor was made by Carl Friedrich ERN (trademark 'JustRite'), Solingen-Wald by the order of Alexis Witte Cutlery Company.
The Alexis Witte Cutlery Company, 1880-1930. Located at 81 Warren Street, New York City. The main item of trade was razors. In 1917, a new factory was built in Brooklyn to manufacture razors, and handles.

Originally Posted by scott64a

Wow.


PS: Neat little story about the Witte engine. That must have been hilarious from a distance. I'll bet the guy near it had to change his boxers!

With those things, they run pretty much unattended for months at time. They burn natural gas from the well for fuel and the pumper adds oil when the reservoir gets low. I heard it fart and die that night. It was one of those deals that you noticed you didn't hear it more than anything. Saw the pumper a few days later and he asked me to help him drag the flywheels back to the well site as he didn't have a chain with him. Probably wasn't near as exciting as when lightning hit a tank battery full of casing head gas one afternoon. It launched that sucker like a big fat rocket. LOL